West Chicago votes to prohibit immigration enforcement on city property

The West Chicago City Council has passed a pair of resolutions prohibiting immigration enforcement on city property.

Following a string of public comments from residents seeking “ICE-free zones,” the council Monday voted 11-1 to approve a resolution prohibiting federal civil immigration activity on “restricted city property,” including city hall and police station.

Council members then voted 10-2 to pass a second resolution that prohibits the use of city property “for purposes unrelated to City business.” It’s related to the use of city property to hold public forums.

Both resolutions noted that city officials would not interfere with the execution of legal warrants or criminal law enforcement. City properties also would post signage stating the prohibitions.

“What we are doing comes from a desire to support our (due process) law,” Mayor Daniel Bovey said.

Bovey said that since U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement first swept over West Chicago in mid-September, 40 people had been taken without any of them having been served a warrant.

Of those people, Bovey said two — one a United States citizen, the other a legal resident — had been released while 38 had been deported or detained.

In one case, Bovey said, federal authorities denied that a federal agent had been in West Chicago despite photographic evidence to the contrary.

The mayor said that in a city where 53% of its residents are Hispanic, some are “self-deporting,” and that the federal effort has caused mental stress among residents, including children, and economic uncertainty in the business community.

In speaking with Hispanic business owners, Bovey said more than a dozen were operating at 40% to 50% of their typical revenues.

“It could be economically disastrous for our community,” he said.

Bovey acknowledged that the city would not have the authority to arrest federal agents who do not comply with the signage or intent of the resolutions, which were a “statement of community support,” he said.

“The primary thought is that we would go out there and ask them to move,” he said.