CHICAGO (WLS) — There were new calls Tuesday to shut down the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Broadview facility.
Protesters said the building has no beds or showers, and is designed to hold detainees for no more than 12 hours.
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The activists are urging both county and state authorities to close the ICE facility in Broadview. Although it’s not officially labeled as a detention center, it is reportedly keeping individuals beyond the duration that ICE typically allows.
On Tuesday, a group of demonstrators entered the Cook County Administration Building in the Loop in an attempt to personally deliver a letter to State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul. The letter demands that these lawmakers use state laws to close the immigration processing center in Broadview.
“ICE is detaining individuals for periods much longer than their official guidelines suggest,” stated Omar Flores, representing the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.
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For years, ICE’s Broadview facility has been used as a booking facility, where those taken into custody are processed before being taken to an official detention center. In the past, detainees rarely spent more than a day there. But, according to those gathered in Daley Plaza Tuesday, under the Trump administration, that’s changed, forcing people to live in what they say are inhumane conditions.
“They don’t have showers. They don’t have beds. They don’t have kitchen facilities. It’s not. It’s meant to be a processing center. That is really all it is. It’s not meant to hold people for longer than 12 hours,” immigration attorney Louise Carhart said.
Protesters want elected officials to use the Illinois Way Forward Act, which already forbids county and state facilities from housing ICE detainees, to shut down the Broadview facility, which, in their view, has become a de facto detention center.
“It’s overflowed. They’re not able to take people out within the times they are supposed to,” said Brandon Lee, with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
A spokesperson for ICE said, “Any accusations that detainees are treated inhumanely in any way are categorically false…There are occasions where detainees might need to stay at the Broadview office longer than the anticipated administrative processing time. While these instances are a rarity, detainees in such situations are given ample food, regular access to phones, showers and legal representation as well as medical care when needed.”
The Cook County state’s attorney said the office has no jurisdiction over the legality of the Broadview ICE facility.
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