A bill barring new immigration detention centers from being placed close to homes, schools, churches and other facilities in Illinois is headed to Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk.
Should he sign the bill, which the Legislature passed in the early hours Monday, new detention centers would become illegal within 1,500 feet of schools, churches, daycare centers, cemeteries, public parks, forest preserves, private residences and public housing. Existing facilities like the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center in Broadview would not be affected by the legislation.
Democrats supported the bill, while Republicans opposed it. During debate when the bill first passed the House, Republican House Floor Leader Rep. Patrick Windhorst argued it would be found unconstitutional because state laws can’t supersede the federal government and its branches, like ICE.
Democrats disagreed, because the bill doesn’t ban detention centers entirely, and just restricts where they can go.
Steven Schwinn, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Illinois Chicago, said he thinks the legal question is up in the air. He said the federal government usually voluntarily complies with state laws or works out a compromise so they can maintain a good relationship.
“I don’t know that things are going to work themselves out exactly that way in the Trump administration,” he said. “This is an administration that is very aggressive, particularly with regard to immigration enforcement and ICE efforts.”
Schwinn said “If the federal government really wants to push it, yes, they probably have a good chance of prevailing.”
Momentum for the bill came in response to the Trump administration’s Operation Midway Blitz that brought mass deportations and ICE raids throughout Chicago last fall. In that time, the Broadview detention center became a flash point for anti-ICE protests.
“Beginning late last year, residents in the village of Broadview woke up to chaos at their doorstep,” said state Sen. Kimberly Lightford, who represents parts of Broadview and was the bill’s Senate sponsor. “The village of Broadview contains the only detention center in Illinois, and the village contends it has been forced to incur significant burdens and expenses as a result.”
Officials from Broadview noted that Operation Midway Blitz cost the municipality $361,536 and an estimated $353,813 in losses for local businesses Reynolds Advanced Materials and Wagner Brass Foundry Inc. Both are within two blocks of the ICE facility. Neither company was available for a comment.
Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson has since asked the federal government for reimbursement for costs related to the operation.
Windhorst and other Republicans who spoke against the bill also called for Democrats to rethink the way they view the federal administration and attempt to work with it instead of against it.
“We are continually picking fights with the federal government,” said Windhorst, a lawmaker from Metropolis. Failing to “work together with the federal government to resolve the issues, particularly related to immigration and enforcement of our laws, has resulted in huge problems in our state.”