Last Friday, with a newly purchased gas mask in my backpack, I went to the ICE building in Broadview, Illinois—which is so close to my Chicago suburb that I could have walked there. The ICE facility is in an industrial part of this working-class enclave, in a nondescript area with lots of low-slung warehouses and workaday businesses. If you’ve ever rented a party bus in Chicago, that vehicle likely lives in Broadview.

Right near an entrance to Highway 290, one block from the town’s main drag on 25th Avenue, is a squat building with an American flag in front. The building on Beach Street is visible from 25th Avenue and is surrounded by a tall fence. The windows and doors are boarded up so that nobody can see in.

According to various reports, food is scarce inside, and there are neither

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