The Village of Broadview is being sued in federal court over its recent restrictions on protests near the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility, saying it violates the First Amendment.
The lawsuit was filed Monday in U.S. District Court by attorney and Chicago Council of Lawyers board member Rob Held and seeks to overturn Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson’s executive order establishing time limits and designated areas for protests outside the suburban facility, as well as $1 in damages.
It argues limiting protests to select zones and within the hours of 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., doesn’t provide a reasonable alternative for people to protest who work “traditional employment hours” from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The suit also points to the lack of guidelines from Thompson in determining rules for protests, giving her “unfettered discretion to rescind the time restrictions whenever she personally ‘deem[s] the restriction no longer necessary.’”
“It is the definition of a restriction that sweeps far more broadly than necessary to achieve any legitimate governmental interest,” the lawsuit states.
In a statement, Village of Broadview General Counsel Michael Del Galdo called the lawsuit “performative and meant to generate media attention” because Held “failed to give us the courtesy of sending the village the complaint.”
“The village will vigorously defend and intends to move to dismiss once it is served with the complaint,” Del Galdo said. “It’s clear the plaintiff, who is an attorney, went to the protest site near the ICE facility and manufactured for himself a ticket from a Broadview police officer solely so he could bring this performative lawsuit and scrape out 15-minutes of fame.”
Broadview Police Department Chief of Police Thomas Mills, who is also named in the lawsuit, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Held is not suing any of the federal agencies involved in the processing center.
Held was cited by Broadview Police for disorderly conduct while standing in one of the designated free speech zones outside the facility shortly before 8 a.m. on Oct. 6, though the lawsuit claims he stood alone demonstrating “peacefully.”
He was also detained by federal agents and released without charges during a protest at the facility late last month.