OAK BROOK, Ill. (WLS) — A suburban university has decided to transition its classes to online formats following reports of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) presence in the building where it operates.

Lewis University announced that all classes and activities at its Oak Brook campus will shift to virtual platforms or be canceled through Saturday. This decision, according to university officials, is being taken as a precautionary measure.

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University representatives informed ABC7 that over the weekend, they were alerted to the potential use of office space in their building by ICE. This building is where Lewis University conducts its business and nursing courses. Dr. Christopher Sindt, the university’s provost, confirmed that their landlord validated these reports on Saturday.

“The presence of ICE in the building has been confirmed,” Dr. Sindt stated.

Dr. Sindt explained that their awareness of the federal law enforcement agency sharing the building space began circulating on social media on Saturday, prompting the university to investigate further.

“Over the weekend, the sight of numerous SUV vehicles parked around the campus and in its parking structure captured our attention and led us to delve deeper into the matter,” Dr. Sindt added.

The university has roughly 7,000 students, most of which attend classes at the school’s main campus in Romeoville. However, about 500 students attend classes weekly at their Oak Brook location. Sindt says the possibility of protests and the community’s concerns over ICE led them to their decision.

“We felt like it was a really volatile, potentially volatile environment this week for our students to attend class,” Sindt said.

Village President Larry Herman says the village first became aware of the Department of Homeland Security renting office space in Oak Brook after police were called for a report of vandalism, apparently targeting DHS, on Friday night.

However, Herman says as long as DHS continues to use the space for administrative purposes, they are compliant with the village’s zoning.

“It is not zoned for a detention facility. It’s our understanding they are not operating a detention facility there. If they were to attempt to do so, it would be prohibited by our zoning,” Herman said.

A facility in Broadview that ICE and Customs and Border Patrol have used for processing and detention purposes is about 6 miles away from the possible Oak Brook office location.

When the ABC7 I-Team reached out to DHS about the Oak Brook space, a spokesperson for DHS told the I-Team, “Is it really news that when a federal agency hires more personnel, that they need more space?”

And as for Lewis University, the preference is to use their space as they had planned for this semester, but no decisions about the future of their lease have been made.

Full DHS statement:
“Is it really news that when a federal agency hires more personnel that they need more space? Thanks to the Big Beautiful Bill, ICE will be adding 10,000 new law enforcement professionals to our ranks, thus the need for more infrastructure to continue to Make America Safe Again.”