Illinois State Police were among several state and local agencies in Broadview Friday morning during a protest in what’s becoming a series of near-daily demonstrations at the suburban ICE processing facility.
State troopers joined police from Broadview, the Cook County Sheriffs’ Dept. and the Northern Illinois Police Alarm System (NIPAS) as they assisted ICE to control the crowd of roughly 100 people.
The tensions flared in the morning following the installation of concrete barriers along Beach St. near the ICE facilities in an attempt to create a protest zone to keep people out of the roadways.
Why were state police there? Doesn’t state law prevent them from helping ICE?
Top Illinois Democrats have said for months that local police won’t participate in immigration investigations, but they also won’t stand in the way.
Illinois State Police officers were in Broadview Friday morning with other local agencies as part of a temporary unified command to handle public safety at the site. The village of Broadview requested the concrete barriers as part of the plan.
“The agencies involved in this operation will neither assist nor obstruct enforcement of federal immigration statutes in compliance with state and federal law,” said Illinois State Police spokeswoman Melaney Arnold.
But State Police officers were seen on video controlling the crowd – standing alongside federal officers in camouflage gear as multiple agencies, local and federal, attempted to control the protest.
What do Illinois’ sanctuary laws say about this?
Local police aren’t allowed to get involved in federal civil immigration enforcement under the Illinois TRUST Act. They can’t arrest people solely based on their real or perceived immigration status, and they can’t give information to the feds that isn’t already public.
However, those laws don’t prevent police from helping ICE in other ways – in this instance, helping control crowds around the Broadview facility.
What are Illinois’s elected leaders saying?
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has long said that state and local police cannot help federal immigration authorities under the TRUST Act.
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul also released a statement Friday supporting ISP’s efforts in Broadview. He said their presence is crucial to protecting local homes and businesses.
“In accordance with the TRUST Act, the purpose of the activities conducted by the unified command is to maintain public safety and the ability to lawfully exercise First Amendment rights – not to engage in federal immigration enforcement,” Raoul said in the statement.
“State and local law enforcement do not violate the TRUST Act by establishing and maintaining designated protest areas and ensuring the unobstructed use of public roads – even if federal immigration enforcement activity is occurring nearby.”
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