CHICAGO — About 3 miles from the west suburban immigration processing center that has become a flash point for protests in recent weeks, a Cook County judge sat across from a woman who had been arrested there and ordered her to stay away from the Broadview facility.

“I am not stifling you of your right to protest,” said Judge Ralph Meczyk, adding that she can still exercise her First Amendment rights elsewhere.

The 28-year-old woman is among the first wave of protesters arrested by state or local agencies to appear in county court after the state stepped in earlier this month in an attempt to help control the large and chaotic demonstrations that have seen federal agents deploy tear gas and other measures.

So far, Illinois State Police, the Cook County sheriff’s office and the Broadview Police Department have arrested around 70 people at the protests, which have happened periodically since the September launch of “Operation Midwest Blitz.”

The majority of the initial charges have been for resisting arrest, misdemeanors that at least on paper could mean a short amount of time in custody. At least three cases have been filed as low-level felonies. At least four arrests are listed for battery or battery to a police officer, and other charges include disorderly conduct and disobeying a police officer.

The majority of the arrests have been made by the Illinois State Police.

That fact creates a politically fraught situation for Gov. JB Pritzker, who oversees the state police and has been a vociferous critic of the heavy-handed tactics federal immigration agents have used against demonstrations.

State police are working with local law enforcement “to protect the protesters, who, as you’ve seen in some of the videos, they’re getting pelted with gas pellets, with rubber bullets, even when they’re not doing anything wrong,” Pritzker said earlier this month during an extended interview with the liberal podcast “Pod Save America.”

But protesters and advocacy groups have criticized the role state and local police agencies have played, arguing they have used excessive force on protesters and increased the number of arrests.

“They allegedly are there to … protect protesters and intervene between federal agents and protesters, and so what we’ve seen happen is now it’s the Illinois State Police subjecting protesters and legal observers to force and arresting protesters,” said Amanda Yarusso, a civil rights attorney and volunteer with National Lawyers Guild Chicago. “So it’s just shifted who is actually perpetrating acts of force.”

Attorney General Kwame Raoul, though, has defended the need for Illinois law enforcement agencies to establish a “unified command” to address public safety concerns.

And the unified command agencies pushed back on the criticism. In a statement, an Illinois State Police spokesperson pointed out that no chemical agents or rubber bullets have been used since the state got involved and said the purpose of the unified command is to “protect the safety of the residents of Illinois.”

The Cook County sheriff’s office said in a statement that the office is working “diligently to protect and maintain public safety” and noted that people who engage in unlawful activity are subject to arrest.

Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson in a statement said the village’s police officers “have demonstrated restraint, compassion and professionalism.”

It largely remains to be seen how the Cook County state’s attorney’s office will handle the influx of protester cases, as most of those arrested have not yet had an initial appearance.

A policy document provided by the state’s attorney’s office, though, sets out guidelines for prosecutors when making decisions in cases that result from First Amendment activity, requiring them to consider factors such as whether a civilian or law enforcement officer was injured, whether a weapon was used and other aggravating or mitigating circumstances, among other issues.

Local prosecutors “must also recognize that the First Amendment right to free speech is a fundamental right that prohibits government from hindering expression based on subject matter content,” the policy says. “The law is clear that criminal statutes cannot criminalize speech. However, the right to freedom of speech is not absolute and does not protect against prosecution for criminal conduct.”

Those arrested are generally cited and released at a police station and given a court date, sometimes a month later. Many of those arrested so far have court dates in November and December.

A spokesperson for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office said misdemeanors are directly filed by police agencies, while prosecutors are involved with any felony cases.

On the federal side, government prosecutors have dropped charges against at least three protesters, including those filed against an Oak Park man with intellectual disabilities who was accused of assaulting federal officers.

In the case of the 28-year-old woman who appeared at the county’s branch courthouse in Maywood on Monday, she is facing a felony count of criminal damage to property.

A police report said she damaged a concrete barrier that was set up in the vicinity of the federal detention center.

Meczyk denied her request for a public defender, noting that she is employed and not indigent.

An assistant state’s attorney said the office was seeking standard conditions of release, including that she stay away from the site of the arrest.

In another case that has gone before a judge, a 34-year-old man is charged with a felony count of aggravated battery to a police officer. According to a report, the man squirted a clear liquid from a water bottle at a state trooper.

A University of Chicago professor is also charged with a felony, accused of spitting at a trooper.

The National Lawyers Guild Chicago, a group of legal workers that has been monitoring the protests, has called on local and state agencies to “reevaluate how they are responding to these demonstrations.”

In a press release, the group said that legal observers have seen state police officers “clubbing demonstrators with long wooden batons, throwing people to the ground and in one instance, dragging a woman across a concrete barrier and through the street.”

Of particular concern, Yarusso said, police have been witnessed clubbing people over the head.

She also said the “free speech” zone set up by police has been the subject of confusing dispersal orders by officers, and the limited amount of space offered to protesters poses a risk in itself.

Melaney Arnold, a state police spokesperson, said state police leadership has offered to meet with the National Lawyers Guild Chicago.

“Those who act illegally by obstructing roadways, disobeying lawful commands, or failing to comply with curfew requirements may face arrest,” she said in a statement. “Law enforcement officers in Broadview will continue giving loud, clear, consistent, and repeated directions and commands to crowds and provide individuals numerous opportunities to comply with the law.”

Thompson in the statement called the allegations from the lawyers group unsubstantiated, and said her office has never been contacted about their concerns.

“We know the difference between genuine advocacy and performative outrage,” Thompson’s statement said. “For more than six weeks Broadview police officers have worked to defend the constitutional rights of protesters and the rights of Broadview residents to live and work in peace, because, unlike the out-of-town protestors who have the privilege to return to calm, undisturbed rest in their communities, Broadview residents do not.”

In a statement earlier this month, Raoul said the unified command structure was established at the request of the Broadview Police Department “to create a safe space for the exercise of First Amendment rights while also protecting businesses and access to nearby roads.”

Raoul said the state’s involvement in the demonstrations does not violate the Illinois TRUST Act, which prohibits coordination on federal immigration enforcement.

In a filing Monday responding to the Trump administration’s request for the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a lower court’s decision temporarily blocking the deployment of National Guard troops in Illinois, ostensibly to protect federal agents and the ICE facility in Broadview and elsewhere, Raoul’s office noted that a top ICE official in Chicago contacted the state police days after the unified command was established, praising the effort.

The ICE official wrote in an email that “it was ‘clear’ the State Police were ‘the difference maker in this scenario,’ that ICE was ‘grateful for their leadership,’ and that he hoped to ‘keep it up for the long-haul,’” according to the state’s Supreme Court filing.

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