Protesters block detention van

BROADVIEW, Ill., April 27 (UPI) -- Protesters in Broadview, Ill., Tuesday blocked a federal detention van carrying illegal immigrants who were being deported, officials said.

The two dozen protesters, part of a larger group of about 100, chanted "Illinois is not Arizona" for about 15 minutes until the van backed into the suburban Chicago detention center, the Chicago Tribune reported.

The van was scheduled to take undocumented workers to O'Hare International Airport for a flight out of the country.

Some of the protesters were arrested, with each urging the Obama administration to revise immigration law.

"There is now a racial reign of terror spreading across the country," said Joshua Hoyt, head of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and one of the protesters arrested.

Hoyt's group opposes a new Arizona law that, among other things, lets police ask for proof of legal residence.