Politics
‘Accountability is Not Optional’: Illinois Congressional Reps Tour Broadview Ice Facility Monday
Four Illinois members of Congress left to right; Rep. Jonathan Jackson, D-Ill., Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., Rep. Danny Davis, D-Ill., and Jesus Garcia, D-Ill., leave after a visit to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center in Broadview, Ill. (AP Photo / Sophia Tareen)
A group of Illinois Congressional representatives on Monday were allowed inside Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s processing center in suburban Broadview, months after they were previously turned away.
Illinois U.S. Reps. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, Delia Ramirez, Jonathan Jackson and Danny Davis toured the controversial west suburban facility Monday as part of a routine congressional inspection, six months after they said they were denied access by ICE agents without authority.
“After all that obstruction, we are here to say we were right then and we are right now,” Garcia said at a press conference following the visit. “Congressional oversight is not optional, it’s the law.”
The Broadview facility has been at the heart of the Trump administration’s enhanced immigration enforcement operations across Chicago and Illinois known as “Operation Midway Blitz.”
As federal agents detained thousands of local residents over the past few months, scores of people were hauled into Broadview — a facility that is not equipped to hold people overnight — where they were held, sometimes for days on end.
Representatives have repeatedly been denied entry to Broadview and other ICE-operated sites throughout the Trump administration’s ongoing operation.
Former detainees testified in court last month that they were crammed into overstuffed holding rooms with dozens of others, had difficulty contacting their families or attorneys and weren’t able to shower or change their clothes sometimes for multiple days.
Some detainees also said they were coerced into signing voluntary deportation forms after being lied to or threatened by federal agents.
A federal judge issued a temporary retraining order soon after that hearing that required ICE to immediately address those issues at Broadview, and the population there has since dropped dramatically.
That order was set to expire last week but has since been extended until April.
Jackson on Monday said only two detainees were present in the facility during their visit, yet he said it appeared there were still no medical personnel on site.
“I could feel in my soul, here in my own mind, that these were people that had been kidnapped, abducted,” Jackson said.
While the number of detainees has declined, ICE and Customs and Border Patrol have renewed their enforcement operations in and around Chicago in recent days, highlighted by the return last week of CBP chief Greg Bovino.
Garcia on Monday said their visit does not “end our responsibility” and promised the group would be returning to Broadview.
“Where the law has been violated, we will insist on accountability,” he said. “Oversight means consequences, not just reports. Transparency is not a threat to the government, accountability is not optional and no human dignity is negotiable.”
