Protesters leave behind one of seven bags, filled with health and medical supplies, for Illinois State Police to deliver to the ICE facility. The troopers told demonstrators they would not be collecting it. Broadview, IL, 12/6/25.

By Dominic Guanzon

Saturday 12/6/25

BROADVIEW, IL – The Chicago chapter of Healthcare Workers for Palestine gathered about 75 people in front of the ICE staging area/de facto detention center at Broadview, to protest, attempt to deliver seven bags full of donated medical supplies, and conduct an “independent medical evaluation.”

The designated protest area was filled with about two inches of snow, with only the forward-most area and a thin pathway shoveled by local volunteers. Dozens of demonstrators came in their white doctor coats, as well as nurse scrubs and bandanas, amid temperatures in the upper 20s.

Dr. Nida Bajwa (left) speaks. Broadview, IL, 12/6/25.

Protesters, one clad in a white doctor’s coat, traverse the snow-covered designated protest area, partially shoveled by local volunteers. Broadview, IL, 12/6/25.

“The conditions inside that detention facility behind me are morally reprehensible,” said Dr. Meera Sakthivel, a family medicine resident at U of I in Chicago. “Much of what we know about what’s happening in this facility comes from a lawsuit that was filed by the ACLU against the DHS in October, using testimony from people who were actually detained inside Broadview for context…As healthcare workers, we cannot remain silent while human rights abuses are happening in our community.”

“We know that ice frequently brutalizes the people that it abducts from our streets,” Sakthivel continued, “And several detainees reported seeing people bleeding, bruised, in obvious need of medical attention, who did not receive that attention.”

Dr. Meera Sakthivel (white coat) speaks. Broadview, IL, 12/6/25.

Dr. Nida Bajwa spoke plainly on the situation. “The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s existence is a threat to health, and its abolishment and closure of all its camps is the only path to a truly healthy society. Free the people, free them all!”

A table was erected for people to drop off medical supplies. Donated contents included gauze, gloves, bandages, alcohol pads, and feminine products. Eventually, seven full bags of health and medical supplies were assembled. They were then placed on the concrete barriers.

A table for protesters to drop off “DONATED MEDICAL SUPPLIES,” as well as free coffee and hand warmers to take. Broadview, IL, 12/6/25.

Organizers sort donated health and medical supplies into bags. Broadview, IL, 12/6/25.

Bags full of health and medical supplies placed on the concrete barriers. Broadview, IL, 12/6/25.

Once speeches had ended, the organizers turned towards the facility, attempting to get the attention of Illinois State Police (ISP) troopers using their loudspeaker. Multiple attempts were made, over an approximately 15 minute period, to donate the supplies and conduct an “independent medical evaluation.”

The demonstrators then left one bag of supplies, a black duffle bag with red medical crosses taped to it, on the other side of the concrete barrier, leaving the moral responsibility of it in the hands of law enforcement. ISP rejected bringing it to ICE, prompting the protesters to take the remaining bags with them.

Dr. Meera Sakthivel and other organizers attempt to get the attention of ISP troopers. Broadview, IL, 12/6/25.

Protesters left behind one of seven bags, filled with health and medical supplies, for Illinois State Police to deliver to the ICE facility. The troopers told demonstrators they would not be collecting it. Broadview, IL, 12/6/25.

A black duffel bag full of health and medical supplies beyond the concrete barriers of the designated protest area. An NLG legal observer watches. Broadview, IL, 12/6/25.

National Lawyers Guild legal observers were present for a light to moderate police presence. No incidents were personally observed.

A letter was left on top of the concrete barrier.

The letter, an ActionNetwork.org petition signed by over 200 “healthcare workers across the Chicagoland area,” according to organizers, lists the subpar conditions of the Broadview facility as described in an ACLU lawsuit.

“These conditions not only violate ICE’s detention standards, but basic expectations of safe living conditions. We object to this flagrant disregard for human rights,” the letter reads.

*A medical worker, clad in stethoscope, holds a sign: “From PALESTINE to MEXICO Border Walls Have Got To Go!” Broadview, IL, 12/6/25.*

It then goes on to name five demands:

“1) That detainees at the Broadview Processing Center be provided with 3 meals a day, potable water, access to showers, clean clothes, and individual clean bedding mats

2) That a medical intake and appropriate medical triage occur for all detainees

3) That detainees have access to prescription and over-the-counter medications

4) That in-house medical staff are hired given detainees have been held for over 72 hours

5) That legal counsel have access to health records of detainees to offer medical affidavit when appropriate”

Dr. Nida Bajwa leaves behind a copy of the ActionNetwork.org petition signed by over 200 “healthcare workers across the Chicagoland area.” Broadview, IL, 12/6/25.

A copy of the ActionNetwork.org petition. A pair of drum sticks sit on top as a paper weight. A separate protester used chalk to draw orange arrows and write “FUCK ICE.” Broadview, IL, 12/6/25.

A protester uses an empty detergent bucket as a drum to help in getting the attention of ISP. Broadview, IL, 12/6/25.

A protester wearing a National Nurses United jacket, adorned with “UNION NURSE” and a people’s fist holding stethoscope. Broadview, IL, 12/6/25.

A nurse in a protest-adorned scrub (center) holds a sign: “HEALTHCARE IS A BASIC HUMAN RIGHT.” To the left/their right, is Adelena Marshall. Broadview, IL, 12/6/25.

“Health care is a human right,” declared Adelena Marshall, a VA nurse from National Nurses United. “Our migrants are not sentenced to death. Many will die if not provided health care for diabetes, heart disease, cancer, liver and kidney. America will lower her head in shame. History will not forget that health care was denied.”

“As a child,” Marshall continued, “I remember standing in line for medical care to prevent polio. I remember HIV, I remember Ebola. And I remember COVID. I remember the trucks that chilled the bodies of those who died from COVID and from all these other diseases due to a lack of health care being provided to them at an early stage.”

“We care. We provide health care to all humans. Migrants are humans. Migrants’ blood runs through all of our veins.”

A medical worker in a white coat with the “PHYSICIAN RESIDENT” patch partially obscured. Broadview, IL, 12/6/25.

A medical worker in a grey coat with their name and hospital partially obscured. Broadview, IL, 12/6/25.

Dr. Jim Bloyd, a member of the leadership team for the Collaborative for Health Equity, Cook County, also spoke on the need for public health to be integrated into the political discussion.

“In his textbook, ‘The Strategy of Preventive Medicine,’ Dr. Geoffrey Rose wrote that the primary determinants of disease are mainly economic and social, and therefore its remedies must also be economic and social. Medicine and politics cannot be, cannot and should not be kept apart.”

“We are following the ethics of our fields,” Dr. Bloyd continued, “and we draw strength from the Chicago history of organized resistance to attacks on immigrants and on black and brown people.

“In 1979, Doctor Jorge Prieto demanded that Cook County provide health care to immigrants when County Hospital was threatened with closure…He denounced the idea that healthcare for immigrants cost too much. Doctor Prieto said that the USA owes a debt to immigrants and black and brown workers. He noted that it was their labor, their sweat, and blood that created the wealth of Chicago and the state of Illinois and indeed the United States.”

A medical worker in keffiyeh and a white coat with a “UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS at CHICAGO – COLLEGE OF NURSING” patch. Broadview, IL, 12/6/25.

A medical worker in a white coat with a “UNIV. OF CALIFORNIA HOSPITALS” patch. Broadview, IL, 12/6/25.

A medical worker holds a protest sign while adorned in a white coat that reads “Dartmouth-Hitchcock MEDICAL CENTER. Broadview, IL, 12/6/25.

A medical worker with Palestine and pride pins wears a white coat with a “UIC – PHYSICIAN RESIDENT“ patch. Broadview, IL, 12/6/25.

“I have worked with immigrants,” said Dr. Simon Piller, a Cook County primary care physician, “many Venezuelan, in the last few years, arriving in clinics shortly after passing through the absolute hell of the Darién Gap in Panama. They were exposed to rape, crime, starvation, infectious disease along with along the way. Now it is enraging, but not surprising, to hear about the conditions these detainees are subjected to here at Broadview.”

“The racist demonization of workers of color from Latin America, Haiti, Somalia, and many others, is the same way Israel justifies its genocidal action in Gaza, and the treatment of Palestinian detainees. Such policies could be Democratic or Republican, depending on the year. We need to understand: healthcare under this capitalist system is failing for those detainees here at Broadview, and for many of us, and in Palestine.”