Law & Border, host Ben Bergquam took his camera to the streets of downtown Chicago, right in front of Trump Tower, where yet another chaotic protest broke out. The footage shows hundreds of demonstrators waving upside-down American flags, chanting against President Trump, and marching through the streets — all without a permit. The kicker? Chicago Police Department (CPD) officers admitted directly to Bergquam that the protest was unauthorized.
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Despite that, the city deployed what looked like 200 officers — lined up on bicycles, clad in bulletproof vests — to protect the marchers while everyday Chicagoans were left stranded at bus stops, waiting for routes that never came.
Bergquam’s commentary was fiery, but the real gut punch came from the people just trying to get home after work. One man at a bus stop said flatly, “I just want to go home.” Another added, “It’s not working — it’s just pissing people off.” Their frustration boiled over as chants and bullhorns echoed off the buildings, drowning out commuters’ attempts at a normal evening.
The irony wasn’t lost on anyone watching: Chicago, a city drowning in violent crime, is spending tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars to babysit what Bergquam described as “illegal-alien supporting jihadists,” while shootings plague neighborhoods nightly. “Why,” he asked on camera, “are we wasting police resources protecting people who hate the police, instead of protecting American citizens?”
That sentiment was echoed by the cops themselves. One officer, almost in resignation, admitted that before being reassigned to protest duty, he and his unit were working homicide prevention. It’s hard to ignore the optics — Chicago’s leadership redeploying law enforcement from fighting crime to blocking traffic for demonstrators who couldn’t even be bothered to secure a legal permit.
Then came the theatrics. A man in a keffiyeh scarf locked eyes with Bergquam and flipped him off, a gesture caught clearly on video. It was a snapshot of the hostility directed not just at Trump supporters, but at anyone daring to report on the spectacle. Bergquam didn’t flinch, noting that the anger wasn’t really aimed at him personally — it was symptomatic of a movement that thrives on belligerence.
The larger theme from Bergquam’s footage was unmistakable: average Americans are fed up. The police looked demoralized, the commuters were openly angry, and the only people satisfied were the protesters who managed to hijack the city streets for hours. “America’s sick of it,” Bergquam declared, amplifying the words of a man at the bus stop who shouted at the mob to “go home.”
The video leaves viewers with a bitter taste of what’s become routine in big cities: leadership bending over backward for activists who block traffic, shout through megaphones, and demand endless concessions, while working-class citizens can’t even catch a bus ride home.
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Chicago didn’t just witness a protest that day — it witnessed a symbol of a broken system. And thanks to Bergquam’s reporting, the mask slipped: no permit, no accountability, and no relief for the people footing the bill.
Read more about Bergquam’s reporting in Chicago: