[ChicagoTribune] Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Air Operations started using the airport for detainee removal flights in June 2013, and 12,509 people have been flown out as of June 28, 2017. The immigrant detainees are bused into Gary from a detention center about 40 miles away in Broadview, Ill.
They are then flown to Brownsville, Texas, near the Mexican border, for deportation. Although President Donald Trump has taken a hard line on immigration, more than 2 million people were deported during President Barack Obama's time in office.
Northwest Indiana Resistance's Ruth Needleman, co-organizer with L.E. Whitman, said it was upsetting to watch people climb into the plane. The group is a coalition of regional action groups organized after the Trump administration's travel ban was enacted in January 2017.
The protest drew activists from Black Lives Matter Gary, Fight for $15, Calumet Strategy Group, Northwest Indiana Federation of Interfaith Organizations, Social Action Temple Israel, among others. Other protesters arrived via bus from Chicago.
It also drew a sizable presence from organized labor — including United Steel Workers members from as far away as Houston.
Gary/Chicago International Airport spokesman David Goldenberg because it receives federal funding like other airports, they are unable to refuse federal flights from operating at the airport. 
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