Milwaukee Bucks coach Doc Rivers used his Monday pregame press conference to express his frustrations with the mass arrests being conducted by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Chicago. The Bucks were preparing to play the Bulls in Chicago Sunday night, and as a Chicago native, Rivers felt compelled to speak about the matter.
“It bothers me,” Rivers said. “I’m trying, I’m trying. I mean, it’s just awful what you watch and see, people getting zip tied. I mean, that’s not this country. That’s not what we’re about.”
ICE has been conducting mass arrests across Chicago since early September in a large-scale deportation effort at the direction of President Donald Trump, though a federal judge ruled recently to extend a consent decree that limits ICE’s ability to arrest people without warrants or probable cause.
Meanwhile, the Defense Department is attempting to send 200 National Guard soldiers from Texas, and another 300 from Illinois, into Chicago to aid ICE across the city. For the time being, the National Guard has been temporarily blocked from deploying in Chicago after the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a ruling from U.S. District Judge April Perry to deny the deployment of the troops, though they temporarily remain under federal control.
“I think [Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson] has done an amazing job with everything he says,” River said. “You know, I think this is starting to separate us all, which I hate. This is not, you can be pro-civil rights or what’s right and not be, like, anti-white. And I think that’s what it’s starting to become in some ways. And it shouldn’t be. It really shouldn’t be. I would hope that if this was Ukrainian immigrants being detained that everyone on both races would fight for it. That’s wrong. It’s just wrong.”
Rivers continued, “I think every American is good with if there’s criminals on the street, we want to arrest the criminals. My dad [Grady] was a [Maywood] cop for Christ’s sakes. My dad would not be proud of this. I know that. My dad would have a major problem. I couldn’t imagine my dad going to work right now and have to protect ICE agents and doing what they’re doing. I couldn’t imagine him wanting to go to work. I think he’d call in sick. And it’s just so – did you walk around the city today? This is an amazing city.”
ICE has been conducting targeted arrests in many neighborhoods across Chicago, primarily in areas with higher numbers of people of color. Protestors have been active outside the ICE processing center in the Chicago suburb of Broadview, where they’ve clashed with ICE agents, the National Guard and police officers.
“Riding down the elevator with a couple — I wish I could remember where they’re from — their daughter ran in the marathon and the couple was so proud and they were saying, ‘Man, this is the best marathon, the city is amazing, I’ve never been to this city, wow,'” Rivers said. “And the dad says, ‘But we were so scared, we thought there was civil unrest everywhere.’ And he was like, ‘Where is it?’ It’s nowhere. It’s just sad. We hate it. We hate it. I’m from Chicago. I’m very prideful about this place, so I hate it.”
