A federal judge has ruled that a controversial security fence constructed around the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Broadview is violating the west suburb’s right to access its own land and ordered its removal.
In a ruling Thursday night, U.S. District Judge LaShonda Hunt said it was clear from the government’s own arguments that “there is no plan to take the fence down and that ‘Operation Midway Blitz‘ currently has no end in sight.”
In addition, the judge said, ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons wrote in a letter to the village that the agency has an issue with “unlawful assemblies” of protesters and there “will be no change in our operational posture” until the demonstrations stop.
“In other words, the (defendants’) current operations are indefinite and the protests — which Acting Director Lyons seemingly considers to fall into the category of ‘unlawful activities’ — will undoubtedly continue,” Hunt wrote in her opinion. “Under these circumstances, the court concludes that because the persistent protests are a direct response to the defendants’ ongoing operations, there is no reason to believe that they will end and that the fence will be voluntarily removed any time soon.”
The fence must be removed by Friday, the judge ordered.
Bridgeview Mayor Katrina Thompson said in a written statement the ruling was “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 wrote. “The law of probability dictates that the danger increases daily. The court has spoken clearly and unequivocally. 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.”
An ICE spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The village of Broadview last week filed a motion for a restraining order requiring the removal of the 8-foot-tall fence, which was constructed around the temporary holding facility on Beach Street that has seen daily protests and federal agents using tear gas and other weapons on crowds.
During arguments in the lawsuit Tuesday, Hunt began by warning both sides she didn’t want to get caught up in the politics of the moment.
“It is very charged, it is very challenging,” Hunt said. “There are so many words we could use here, but it is volatile. But those issues are not before me.”
Attorneys for Broadview argued that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, constructed the fence “in the middle of the night without notice,” and that it not only physically deprives the village of its right to control its own land, but constitutes a public safety hazard by blocking emergency service personnel and vehicles from reaching several commercial and industrial properties located on the other side.
Lawyers for the government, meanwhile, said the village still has access to the area through a key-card gate on another street, and that complaints that the gate was too small for fire trucks did not hold water.
Broadview residents are scared as ICE facility becomes a battleground for Trump immigration blitz
“Our understanding is that a Greyhound bus can fit through that gate,” said attorney Thomas Walsh of the U.S. attorney’s office’s civil litigation division.
Walsh said the government had “no other option” than to put up the fence because protesters were gathering day after day and accosting law enforcement outside the facility, inciting violence and slashing tires of ICE vehicles pulling in and out of a secure lot.
“This went on for weeks,” Walsh said. “If the fence comes down, it is very foreseeable that the same kind of violence is going to occur.”
Hunt pointed out the building had been there for 40 years without issue, yet no one seemed to have a plan for protesters once the Trump administration’s immigration push began.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com