Politics

Clergy, Advocates Protest Chicago-Based Investment Group Over Potential Out-of-State ICE Facility

Religious leaders, community members and worker and immigrant rights advocates gathered Friday in Evanston to protest the Chicago-based real estate investment group Highlands REIT over potential plans for one of its out-of-state facilities to be used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“Any company, any contract that profits from ICE is an acknowledgment of one’s complicity with ICE’s cruel and corrupt actions,” said the Rev. Jason Coulter, senior pastor at First Congregational Church of Evanston, during a news conference. “If you profit from them, you are with them.”

The Friday demonstration was held at the Highlands REIT-owned Sherman Plaza in downtown Evanston. Highlands REIT, or Highlands Real Estate Investment Trust, has a portfolio of investment properties in several states that also includes an empty correctional facility in Colorado, according to advocates.

Highlands REIT did not respond to requests for comment to confirm its plans for the Colorado facility or its response to community pushback. The local coalition reached out to Highlands REIT CEO Robert Lange for a meeting prior to the Friday press conference, but did not receive a response, according to Coulter.

“No human being should be taken against their will and thrown in a detention center,” Evanston resident Jose Patino said.

Patino was taken into custody by ICE in September and was detained for 53 days, he said.

Patino, who immigrated from Mexico, described being held at the Broadview ICE facility for four days before being sent to a facility in Clay County, Indiana. Patino said the Broadview ICE facility was “brutal,” and that there was little food, no showers and no privacy when using toilets.

Evanston resident Jose Patino, who was held in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention last year, speaks during a press conference on March 20, 2026. (Eunice Alpasan / WTTW News)

Patino said it was important for him to use his voice to help others who might not have the opportunity. Patino said he was “still gathering myself” from the experience of being held in ICE detention, which includes going to therapy and helping others in the community.

“Immigrants are no different than everyday Americans,” Patino said. “Yet, we get targeted by the simple factors like the color of our skin, the language we speak and the places we work at.”

During the height of “Operation Midway Blitz,” the Trump administration’s aggressive federal immigration enforcement campaign in the Chicago area, north suburban Evanston was also impacted by immigration raids, notably on Halloween.

“After that happened, word spread quickly, and we came together the day after as an interfaith community of leaders and activists and justice-seeking people to say: this type of terrorism is not going to be tolerated in Evanston,” Coulter said. “If ICE ever comes back to try to attack our neighbors, we will stand in their way.”

Coulter said he assembled a local coalition to speak out against Highlands REIT after a fellow clergy member of First Congregational Church of Greeley in Colorado reached out to inform him about the company’s Chicago-area connections and if local community members and groups would be willing to stand in solidarity.

Another gathering will be held March 29 at 2 p.m. at Fountain Square in Evanston to further protest Highlands REIT, bring more awareness to the public and to call on business tenants of Sherman Plaza to also speak out against the real estate investment group, according to Coulter.

Contact Eunice Alpasan: [email protected]

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