Politics
ICE Takes Down Fence Around Broadview Processing Facility After Village Lawsuit
Personnel walk inside an immigration processing facility in Broadview, Ill., Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. (AP Photo / Paul Beaty)
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials took down an 8-foot-tall fence around their processing center in suburban Broadview just before a court-ordered deadline Tuesday night, village officials confirmed.
U.S. District Judge LaShonda Hunt last week ordered that ICE “dismantle and remove” the fence around the Broadview processing center by midnight Tuesday after local officials argued it had been constructed illegally.
While the fence remained in place for much of the day Tuesday, it was eventually removed ahead of the deadline.
“The law, including municipal law, applies even to the federal government," Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson said in a statement. "This is a victory for the rule of law in a country that is still a democracy. And it is a victory for Broadview residents and businesses who depend on their municipal government to assure public safety.”
Broadview’s acting Fire Chief Matthew Martin last month wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security demanding that the fence be removed immediately as it was “illegally built” without a permit on a public street that falls under the jurisdiction of the village, and was blocking the Broadview Fire Department from accessing businesses in that area.
“In case of fire or other emergencies at businesses located on the street, Broadview Fire apparatus would be unable to use the road to access these businesses,” Martin wrote.
The village eventually filed a lawsuit seeking the fence’s removal, which led to Hunt’s order last week.
Federal officials claimed the fence was necessary protection for ICE agents and the facility itself following numerous protests at that site. They argued that a hypothetical fire that Broadview couldn’t respond to “does not compare to the actual, ongoing emergency that the fence was put up to deal with, namely the ongoing interference with, violence against, and the threat of violence against DHS personnel and others.”
