Welch Stands Up for Broadview with New Law Stopping Trump Detention Centers in Residential Areas
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – A new law championed by House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch aims to end the abusive and disruptive presence of Donald Trump’s deportation agents in Broadview by prohibiting immigration detention centers in neighborhoods where everyone should feel safe.
“This is not an abstract policy debate for me—this is personal, and it is deeply local. The Broadview detention facility sits in the heart of the district I represent. And during Operation Midway Blitz, the people who live in and around that community did not just witness aggressive federal activity—they lived through trauma,” Welch said. “With this law, we say something very simple and very reasonable: detention facilities do not belong in the middle of our neighborhoods. They should not be next to schools. They should not be near day care centers. They should not sit beside parks, public housing, places of worship, or private homes. Because when a detention center is dropped into the middle of a residential community, it doesn’t just affect the people inside that building—it affects every child walking to school, every senior looking out their window, and every family trying to live in peace.”
Coinciding with the launch of Trump’s Operation Midway Blitz in September 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have used a federal facility in Broadview as a detention and processing center—even as Broadview’s state and local leaders demand an end to the ICE presence.
The ICE presence has been especially disruptive for neighbors, as the facility is bordered by quiet residential neighborhoods and sits within a short distance of a church, a school, daycare centers, and small businesses. Neighbors and students at nearby schools have been affected by the teargas fired by ICE agents at demonstrators.
Welch stood up for Broadview residents and fighting to protect people across Illinois from similar federal incursions by passing House Bill 5024, which is now law. The measure creates new restrictions on immigration detention facilities in neighborhoods, stopping such operations within 1,500 feet of a home or apartment complex, as well as any school, day care center, public park, or house of worship.
Welch worked to pass the measure with the support of Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson, who testified before a House committee to discuss how the ICE facility has impacted the community. Thompson and Welch also worked together last October to demand ICE remove the fence erected blocking a public street.