Chicago Pride Parade 2022: Police department looks into potential threats after Idaho event arrests,

Thirty-one men, who police said are devout members of a white power group from Illinois and beyond, descended on Idaho. According to a police chief there, “they came to riot” during a popular pride event last Saturday. FBI agents are on the case. The group is considered a domestic terror threat, with suspects from across the nation linked to previous violence.

Dozens of men from 13 states, including Illinois, gathered in Idaho. One witness described them as “a little army.” A 23-year-old downstate Illinois man, Garret Garland, is among those charged with misdemeanor conspiracy to riot.

Garland and the others are allegedly with the white nationalist group, Patriot Front, which is connected to acts of violence and vandalism across the country. The founder, Thomas Rousseau of Texas, is also under arrest.

Chicago police are now doubling down on the city’s pride parade being held on June 26.

“We do have our Chicago officers on the Joint Terrorism Task Force here locally, and they work directly with FBI and all other federal partners,” said Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown.

A new Homeland Security bulletin lays out the summertime terrorism menace; growing threats against high-profile public targets.

“I definitely think there are more threats. I think we’ve become much more polarized as a society. We don’t look at what unites us, we kind of focus on what divides us and that motivates people to take action,” former Deputy U.S. Marshal Ed Farrell told the I-Team.

He said hatred produces threats from both the left and right, and as we just saw in Idaho, it puts pressure on the majority in the middle to react.

“Someone saw them loading up in a hotel parking lot in uniform gear with riot gear, and they called police. A lot of people are afraid to do that. A lot of people pull out their cameras and film. This person called and actually thwarted probably what was going to be a mini riot in the city,” said Farrell. “And I think after they made the detention and arrest, they learned that there was an operational plan in the vehicle to take part in these activities all along the pride fest.”

Farrell said when he started in law enforcement, these public place threats were nearly non-existent. Now, as we know, they are commonplace. He said the key is intelligence-gathering by police. Tuesday night, CPD commanders pledged to actually “push” the information out to officers on the street, a tactic aimed at disrupting those who may be planning violence at upcoming Chicago events.

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