Broadview mayor demands closure of ICE facility, reimbursement of village, business losses

The mayor of west suburban Broadview is calling on the federal government to shut down a de facto immigration detention center that was the epicenter of protests — and violent responses from federal agents — that engulfed the small village last fall.

Mayor Katrina Thompson is also asking the feds for a more than $700,000 reimbursement to make up for operational costs incurred by the village and economic losses suffered by two businesses adjacent to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility during Operation Midway Blitz, the intense deportation campaign that peaked from September through November.

She made the requests during a visit to Washington, D.C., earlier this month and in a letter to several members of the Illinois congressional delegation.

“Broadview did not ask for this operation, and our residents, our police officers, our firefighters, our business owners should not be the ones paying for it,” Thompson was quoted as saying in a news release Tuesday. “I advocated for federal reimbursement for communities like ours impacted by ICE operations, emphasizing that local taxpayers should not bear the cost of federal responsibilities. I also pushed for the closure of the Broadview ICE Processing Center, centering dignity, safety, and a stronger vision for our community.”

The municipal costs associated with responding to activity around the ICE facility amounted to $361,536, according to Broadview officials.

Records obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times through a freedom of information request show $71,185 of that sum was paid as police overtime, with more than $3,000 for additional personal protective equipment for officers. The village spent about $41,000 on legal costs, including for a federal lawsuit to remove a fence erected around the ICE facility. Ambulance transfers from the ICE facility’s address cost another nearly $250,000. And overtime for fire and ambulance personnel cost about $12,100.

Even before the requested federal reimbursement, it was still unclear whether the village would otherwise recoup any of that money, such as EMT transports that might be paid through Medicaid insurance.

Broadview officials also noted $353,813 in losses for two local businesses within two blocks of the ICE facility: Reynolds Advanced Materials and Wagner Brass Foundry, Inc. Neither business immediately commented Tuesday.

The turmoil that roiled the village of about 8,000 residents in the fall spilled onto the front lawns and backyards of many neighbors. Hundreds of people showed up for near daily protests outside the facility where the vast majority of immigrants arrested during Operation Midway Blitz were taken for processing before being moved to detention facilities in the Midwest. Conditions described by detainees and advocates as “inhumane” festered in the overcrowded building, where people slept on floors with limited access to food or water.

Demonstrators, including clergy, were met with force from federal agents with ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection who often chased protesters through neighborhoods and shot rubber bullets and tear gas into the crowds.

In her letter to lawmakers, Thompson asked for help to close the facility and transfer its ownership from the federal government to the village for redevelopment as a museum. The “Broadview Justice Corridor,” as she called the project, would turn the ICE facility into a “national center dedicated to immigration history, civil rights education, civic leadership, and cultural tourism.

“This transformation would convert a site associated with fear, protest, and division into one that promotes education, reconciliation, and national dialogue,” Thompson wrote in the letter, estimating the proposal would draw up to 250,000 visitors annually and generate up to $31 million in economic activity.

A Broadview spokesman said the Thompson has not yet received a response to her appeal to the two senators and six representatives, all Democrats. But it is unlikely to sway President Donald Trump’s hard-line administration, which has looked to open new immigration detention centers in the past year rather than close any ICE facilities. Some of the lawmakers who received Thompson’s appeal were criticized by administration officials and denied entry to the Broadview facility last year as they sought to inspect the conditions.