Anish Kapoor likens Border Patrol agents who took selfies at his Chicago bean to Nazis

The British artist Anish Kapoor has likened the U.S. Border Patrol agents who celebrated an immigration raid with selfies in front of his monumental sculpture Cloud Gate to Nazis.

News of the selfies at Cloud Gate, colloquially known as the Chicago bean, was first reported by Block Club Chicago as part of its series of daily recaps of U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement activity in the Chicago region.

Block Club Chicago reported that the Border Patrol agents gathered in Millennium Park early Monday after raids over the weekend on the Mexican-American neighborhood of Little Village on the Southwest Side of Chicago. During the raids, Border Patrol agents repeatedly used teargas on Chicago residents.

“Everyone say ‘Little Village’,” one Border Patrol agent said as the group took photos, Block Club Chicago reported. In an email to Urgent Matter, Kapoor called it “particularly tragic” that Border Patrol “thugs” shouted “Little Village” as a “fascist battle cry.”

While the Border Patrol agents were taking their selfies, a Millennium Park worker warned them that Kapoor has previously filed lawsuits against people who misuse his work. Kapoor told The Guardian that he was considering taking legal action after the Chicago incident but did not respond to questions from Urgent Matter asking what legal measures he might take.

"I am deeply horrified and saddened that U.S. Border Patrol has chosen to rally in front of Cloud Gate for their self-congratulatory photo-opp. In my view they are no different to SS Nazi troops, intimidating citizens and the people they deem to be immigrants,” Kapoor told Urgent Matter.

“Cloud Gate in Chicago is a place to which citizens and visitors for 20 years now have come together as a place of gathering. … I stand with Mayor Brandon Johnson in his denunciation of Border Patrol's activity in Chicago, Chicago will not be silent, indeed the world will not be silent.”