Arlington Heights weighs ICE ban on municipal sites

Some Arlington Heights trustees want to ban federal agents from using municipal property to stage immigration enforcement operations, but most village board members said they want to study the issue further before taking action.

The proposed prohibition on the use of village-owned sites would mirror measures enacted by local governments in recent days and weeks, including Wheeling on Monday night, and Chicago, Evanston, Cook County and Lake County before that.

Village officials said they’re aware of at least three operations by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and related agencies that have taken place within village limits — one of which involved Drug Enforcement Administration agents making an arrest then transferring the individual to ICE custody in a village parking lot.

Village Manager Randy Recklaus acknowledged there may have been more immigration arrests within Arlington Heights, but the feds do not inform the police department when they’re in town, nor do local police assist with civil immigration enforcement under the Illinois TRUST Act.

Trustee Wendy Dunnington, who proposed the ban, said federal officers have been more active in neighboring towns including Mount Prospect and Rolling Meadows, and Arlington Heights — from schools to youth sports — is intertwined with those areas.

“To be good neighbors, we want to make sure they aren’t setting up here and going to our neighboring communities,” Dunnington said at a board meeting Monday night. “We need to be leaders and stand up and do the right thing.”

Dunnington said approval of a resolution or ordinance would give clear direction to village staff how to respond if federal authorities ask to use village property — like they did at a Wheeling fire station Saturday. She argued that such a measure would also protect trust between immigrants and local law enforcement that’s essential for community policing.

Dunnington also asked that information about the TRUST Act be posted on the village website and social media channels, and called on the village to host “know your rights” training sessions for residents, businesses, churches and nonprofits.

Her request to get involved in such programming followed cancellation of a Día de Los Muertos Celebration Saturday at the Arlington Heights Memorial Library. Library officials decided to cancel the event “in an abundance of caution, due to recent events in surrounding communities,” Dunnington said.

Backed by fellow trustees Dunnington and Carina Santa Maria, Bill Manganaro called for a vote Monday that would have had Village Attorney Hart Passman draft an ordinance restricting federal immigration agents from village grounds.

But four other trustees and Mayor Jim Tinaglia said they want additional legal guidance about how that could be done and how it would be enforced. All board members eventually agreed Monday to direct the attorney to research the issue and return to them with options.

Recklaus said the board could approve a policy, resolution or ordinance, install signage on village property, and provide information to village employees, but acknowledged the “difficulty in enforcement.”

“Where it runs into trouble is how does that get enforced if you don’t have a willing participant on the other side,” he said.