On Tuesday morning, a crowd that organizers said numbered in the thousands gathered outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center near Chicago’s southwest suburbs, transforming a quiet industrial stretch into a chorus of chants and impassioned speeches calling attention to health and human-rights concerns inside detention facilities.

“People are being treated like they don’t matter,” said an organizer, a local disability advocate who declined to give her full name, addressing the crowd through a megaphone. “We’re here for the mothers who have not seen their children in months, for the people with chronic illnesses who are denied basic care. This is a public-health emergency and a moral one.”

Video of the protest, shared widely on social media and captured by local news crews, showed protesters linking arms, carrying signs reading “Healthcare, Not Handcuffs” and staging a sit-in that intermittently slowed traffic on a nearby arterial road. Organizers said the demonstration was part of a coordinated national day of action aimed at pressuring ICE and federal lawmakers to increase oversight, guarantee timely medical treatment and halt deportations in cases of acute health vulnerability.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a brief statement saying the facility operates under established medical protocols and that detainees receive screening and care as needed. “We are committed to ensuring the health and safety of those in our custody,” an agency spokesperson said. The statement also urged protesters to leave lanes open to emergency vehicles and to engage through official channels.

Public-health experts who attended the demonstration said their concerns go beyond isolated incidents. “Detention settings are high-risk environments for infectious disease transmission and for exacerbation of chronic conditions when access to continuous care is limited,” said a public-health physician at a Chicago medical center who spoke on the record as an advocate. She pointed to documented COVID-19 outbreaks in U.S. detention centers during the pandemic and said insufficient staffing, delayed diagnoses and restricted access to mental-health services are recurring problems.

City officials said they monitored the demonstration and coordinated with law enforcement to maintain public safety. Police reported several arrests for disorderly conduct but said there were no serious injuries. “We support the right to peacefully assemble and are focused on keeping everyone safe,” a city spokesperson said.

For many families, the protest was personal. “He has diabetes and his medication keeps being delayed,” said a woman who identified herself as the sister of a detainee. “We keep getting different answers about his condition. We just want transparency and the right care.”

Advocates framed the rally as part of a broader push for systemic change: more robust medical oversight of detention facilities, binding reporting requirements for health incidents, and alternatives to detention that prioritize community-based care. They also called for congressional hearings to examine private medical contractors’ roles and for local policymakers to expand support services for immigrant families affected by detention and deportation.

As the demonstration dispersed in the late afternoon, organizers vowed further actions. For public-health advocates and affected families, the protest underscored a persistent tension at the intersection of immigration enforcement and community health — one that, they say, demands urgent policy attention to prevent harm and to address longstanding inequities.