Amid reports that federal immigration agents may return to the Chicago area, Northbrook officials have reiterated that local police will not assist them unless a judicial warrant is issued.
The Village Board approved a proclamation Jan. 13 reminding the public that Northbrook will follow the Illinois TRUST Act and condemning actions that “intimidate, target or divide” members of the Northbrook community based on their immigration status or background.
The proclamation, which is modeled after a statement read by Village President Kathryn Ciesla in November, represents the Board’s “desire to codify the statement into a proclamation,” according to the proclamation.
“This proclamation is not directing action,” Village Manager Cara Pavlicek said. “It is the Board speaking in a statement. This is a topic that everybody felt the same about and felt the words were important enough to put onto a piece of paper that could be read by others. This has a little more permanence to it.”
Ciesla’s statement and the proclamation both express “deep concern regarding reports of recent immigration enforcement activity in our region, including in and around Northbrook, both in incorporated and unincorporated areas.”
“Recent immigration enforcement activity and related actions create fear and uncertainty among our residents and businesses and undermine the trust that is essential between our community and some of those who serve it,” the proclamation reads.
In November, Pioneer Press reported that armed federal immigration agents sped up their vehicles and detained a man as school kids waiting for the school bus watched, during an incident in unincorporated Northbrook. In a second incident in unincorporated Northbrook, federal immigration agents stormed an apartment complex, occupied its parking lot and pointed rifles at bystanders.
Concern over the trust between people living in Northbrook and village officials who provide service to them is a “fairly common theme” among village residents, Pavlicek said.
“Regarding immigration enforcement, we can’t interfere in these matters, nor are we participants in these matters,” she said.
The TRUST Act, which was signed by Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner in 2017, “specifically prohibits our assistance with federal immigration enforcement unless there is a judicial warrant,” the proclamation states.
“We all take an oath of office,” Pavlicek said. “We don’t get to pick and choose which laws we oppose or stand with. At the end of the day, the law stands.”
If a judge issues a warrant for the arrest of anyone accused of breaking a federal law, including immigration laws, Northbrook police are required to comply with following the orders of the warrant, she said.
Several North Shore communities, including Evanston and Skokie, approved resolutions last fall banning U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, from using municipal property to conduct their law enforcement proceedings.
Pavlicek said Northbrook village code already prohibited the use of village property for “unauthorized purposes or without prior approval.” The proclamation approved Tuesday did not contain such a ban because it was unnecessary, she said.
“This was not action to do that,” Pavlicek said. “This was action for the Village Board, from my perspective, to make sure everybody understands that we follow the law.”
Northbrook has no authority at the local level in immigration enforcement, she said. Village law enforcement is “geared toward local issues,” Pavlicek said.
“(TRUST) is what local law enforcement has been required to comply with in regard to any federal enforcement of immigration law,” she said. “We don’t instigate, nor do we impede.”
Tuesday’s proclamation was a symbol of Ciesla and village trustees “trying to speak from compassion,” Pavlicek said.
“The Board, also uniquely seated as individuals together, believes in fairness, dignity and respect for all people,” she said.
“They are asking for compassion in our community and saying what they believe in. They believe in the Constitution and the rights that each individual has.”