A suburb outside Chicago has sued the Trump administration for erecting an 8-foot fence around an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) processing facility, alleging that the barrier blocks emergency services and patrons from accessing the site and surrounding businesses.
The Village of Broadview asked Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials to remove the fence in the lawsuit, filed Friday, and cited a lack of medical staff present at the facility as another reason for concern, according to the nonprofit news organization Block Club Chicago. The outlet also has joined a separate lawsuit against ICE for what is being alleged as the unlawful treatment of journalists.
Local fire department officials have also complained about the fence.
“ICE’s illegally constructed fence on a public street, Beach Street, in the Village of Broadview, is an unacceptable risk. The fence is currently blocking access for the Broadview Fire Department to businesses on that road,” Broadview’s acting Fire Chief Matt Martin said in a statement to Fox 32.
“In case of a fire or other emergency, our fire trucks or ambulances cannot use the street to get to the scene,” he added.
Prior to the fence’s installment, protesters attempted to block the barrier from being put in place. Demonstrators have alleged those being processed at the facility are being forced to use toilets outside and sleep in rooms without beds before being sent to other federal sites, WBEZ Chicago reported.
Broadview Mayor Katrina R. Thompson attempted to meet with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Friday to discuss the “danger created by the fence and to again ask for its removal,” Block Club Chicago reported, citing the lawsuit.
Noem, however, reportedly was unable to meet. Later in the day, the secretary posted a video on the social platform X criticizing the suburb after seemingly being denied entry into their municipal building for a bathroom break.
“It is clear that [Homeland Security], ICE, and their officials has developed, confirmed, and executed a policy, pattern, or practice of illegally trespassing on the Village’s property in defiance of the Village’s generally applicable ordinances,” the lawsuit reads.
The plaintiffs have requested a temporary restraining order in order to have the fence removed. They also asked a judge to declare the action unlawful under the Administrative Procedures Act and urged constituting the fence as a continuing trespass and public nuisance under state and local law, per Block Club Chicago.
An ICE spokesperson told the outlet the suit is “yet another political stunt by the local politicians fueling aggression against federal law enforcement in Broadview.”
“We will not apologize for decisive, lawful action to protect our personnel, facilities, and those in our custody, and to uphold the rule of law, and keep the community safe, something local authorities should be doing as well,” ICE spokesperson Emily Covington added in a statement.
ICE did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.
