SPRINGFIELD — An Illinois House committee on Wednesday advanced a bill that would prohibit the federal government from owning, leasing or operating an immigration detention center within 1,500 feet of any home, school, day care center, park, forest preserve, cemetery or place of worship.
The legislation, sponsored by House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, moved to the House floor on an 8-3 vote, with all Democrats in favor and all Republicans opposed.
“This is not an abstract policy debate for me,” Welch told the committee. “This is personal and it is deeply local.”
Welch’s district includes Broadview, the west suburban village of about 8,000 that became a central point of conflict during Operation Midway Blitz last year.
Welch acknowledged, however, that the legislation is not retroactive, meaning it would apply to future facilities, but not the existing facility in Broadview or others currently owned or leased by the federal government.
The state is also extremely limited, however, in its ability to restrict the federal government from operating within its borders. And it is unclear whether the proposal, if passed and signed into law, would pass constitutional muster. Generally, the federal government is exempt from local zoning restrictions.
The Trump Administration sued the state late last year a seeking to nullify a new state law that allows Illinois residents to sue federal immigration agents who arrest them in or near courthouses or if they believe their constitutional rights were violated. That case is ongoing.
Broadview facility
Immigration and Customs Enforcement used a facility the agency owns and operates in the community to detain undocumented immigrants swept up in the aggressive immigration enforcement campaign that targeted the Chicago region.
Many detainees described inhumane conditions inside the facility, which had previously been used to quickly process and send them to their next destination. But, by the end of last year, a federal judge said it had “really become a prison,” with some detained there for as long as three weeks during the height of Midway Blitz.
Outside the facility, masked federal agents and protestors clashed repeatedly and often violently. The situation quickly overwhelmed the local police department, and Illinois State Police troopers and Cook County Sheriff’s deputies were called in to maintain order.
Read more: Judge orders ICE to clean up conditions in Broadview facility that’s ‘become a prison’ | Charges dismissed for 2 of ‘Broadview 6’ ICE facility protesters
“This bill says something very simple and very reasonable: Detention facilities do not belong in the middle of our neighborhoods,” Welch said.
“It doesn't just affect the people inside that building,” Welch said. “It affects every child walking to school, every senior looking out their window, and every family trying to live in peace. This bill is about public safety. It is about human dignity, and it is about drawing a clear line and saying that Illinois communities should not be forced to serve as staging grounds for fear and intimidation.”
Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson told the committee that some residents live as close as 600 feet from the facility. And she estimated that the village has lost more than $700,000 in direct and indirect impact associated with the facility, including a strain on public safety resources and economic disruption. She said the bill “recognizes that communities deserve a buffer, especially in areas where families live, learn, worship and gather.”
Illinois already bans privately-owned immigration detention centers. And under the Illinois Way Forward Act, local governments are prohibited from entering contracts with ICE to detain immigrants for the agency in county jails.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
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