A federal judge has ordered the fence outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility in Broadview to be taken down immediately.
The fence, erected in September, was still up as of late Friday morning. Protesters and state police and sheriff’s police scuffled earlier, and a few people were arrested during a protest outside the facility at 1930 Beach St.
U.S. District Judge LaShonda A. Hunt of the Northern District of Illinois issued a temporary restraining order Thursday night. The court found that ICE placed the fence on municipal property without permission, exceeding its authority. Hunt ruled that the move violated local safety codes by restricting access to first responders. Hunt emphasized that the fence caused irreparable harm to public safety and that the public interest favored its removal.
“DHS’s Beach Street gate creates a quasi-federal zone where the Village’s ability to respond to emergencies is hindered and only allows it to provide lifesaving services at the whims and fancies of the Federal Defendants,” the ruling stated.
The opinion states that the entrance gates at the facility are only 16 feet wide, below the 20-foot width required by the International Fire Code adopted by the village. The gate width would prevent fire department officials from being able to use ladder trucks at the site that would be necessary in the event of a fire, conflicting with local ordinances designed to ensure public safety, the opinion states.
Another example cited was an ambulance delay when ICE agents could not provide gate access codes. On Oct. 4, an ambulance responding to an emergency at the facility was unable to navigate through the Beach Street fence because “the ICE agents on duty were unable to grant them access because they did not personally know the code to the padlocks used to lock the Beach Street fence.”
The village said the fence was built by ICE on Sept. 23 outside the facility at the Beach Street address, which DHS uses for the intake and processing of people detained by ICE.
Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson said in a statement that the judge’s decision validates local law and said it is “a decisive win for public safety.”
“The judge’s decision confirms that the illegal fence constructed by ICE is not only a clear defiance of Broadview’s ordinance but an unacceptable and escalating risk to our Beach Street businesses, their customers, and our first responders,” Thompson said in the statement.
“The law of probability dictates that the danger increases daily. The court has spoken clearly and unequivocally,” Thompson said in the statement. “Now, it remains to be seen if ICE will respect the judge’s order and dismantle this hazard immediately, or if they will continue their pattern of defiance.”
The ICE facility is the site of ongoing and often tense demonstrations, with agents deploying chemical irritants and rubber pellets, since President Donald Trump’s administration aggressively ramped up his deportation campaign in the Chicago area last month under the name “Operation Midway Blitz.”
Since then, protesters have arrived at the facility in the early morning hours, sometimes as early as 5 a.m., and have clashed with federal authorities into the late night hours.
Representatives from the Department of Homeland Security, Border Patrol and ICE did not immediately respond to questions about the fence ruling or provide comment.