My travels through Chicago: tear gas, resistance and Trump’s big immigration crackdown

Donald Trump recently launched Operation Midway Blitz' in the city and threatened to send in the National Guard. The mood is febrile, with fears things could get worse

At 5am on a warm September morning a small crowd of protesters assembles in the dark. They are gathering outside the Broadview immigration processing centre, a two-storey brick structure in the Chicago suburbs that has the ambience of a US outpost in a foreign war. Windows are boarded with plywood. Fences are lined with razor wire and black cloth. Masked Ice agents appear sporadically, dressed in military fatigues - tactical helmets, flak jackets and rifles.

The protesters begin to heckle each time an agent turns up for work or leaves through a chainlink gate. Quit your job!" they chant. Take off your mask!"