Illinois passes law to restrict new federal migrant detention centers

(The Center Square) – Lawmakers passed a bill last weekend that will heavily restrict where immigration detention centers can operate in Illinois, as a response to the impacts an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility had on the community in the Village of Broadview last year.

The law – if signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker – would prevent the federal government from placing detention centers within 1,500 feet of schools, homes, day cares, parks, forest preserves, homes or places of worship.

It wouldn’t apply retroactively, meaning the ICE detention center in Broadview is there to stay, so long as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s law enforcement agency continues to use the property. Instead, the new measure would prevent the creation of new facilities within most communities of the state.

Earlier in the spring legislative session, House lawmakers passed the measure that was brought by Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, who represents the only district in the state with a federal detention center.