Wilmette’s Village Board unanimously approved a measure on Wednesday, Nov. 12, that goes further than current law in restricting the village’s cooperation with civil immigration enforcement.
The rules, which prohibit federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement from setting up on village property, among other new restrictions, mirror earlier efforts by neighboring Evanston and Skokie to mitigate the effects of federal immigration authorities’ Operation Midway Blitz. An outcry by residents over several recent reports of ICE activities in the village spurred the creation of the ordinance.
Aside from the rule akin to the “ICE free zones” established in Evanston and elsewhere, the measure forbids village staff from asking people about their immigration status or withholding services based on any person’s legal status. And the village has urged residents to call Wilmette police if they witness civil immigration enforcement in action.
“Two weeks ago today, those seemingly impossible scenes that we have witnessed in other communities came to Wilmette,” Village President Senta Plunkett said at the meeting. “The juxtaposition of the image of a safe, peaceful street in Wilmette with masked and armed federal agents targeting landscape workers is striking.”
Since the initial reports of immigration enforcement on Oct. 29, village officials confirmed subsequent actions on Oct. 31 and Nov. 7. As of Monday, Wilmette has not seen any ICE activity since, Plunkett told Pioneer Press in a statement.
Landscape workers emerged as another focus of the ordinance, which lifted the requirement, through the end of 2026, that Wilmette landscapers get a business license. Village Manager Michael Braiman cited the “fear permeating the landscaping community” in his presentation of the change.
Along similar lines, residents will not need to display construction permits through 2026.
Other aspects of the measure do not have an end date, and it does not prevent the village from working with federal officers on criminal matters.
The timing of the ordinance drew the attention of some trustees, who unanimously supported the policy during their discussion. The federal government’s Chicago-area surge appears to have started winding down, but Trustee Mark Steen said the ordinance would contribute important steps against future ICE activity. He also said that the village could have acted sooner.
“We have to recognize that even if the federal agents can’t handle a northern Illinois winter, they will be back when it becomes warmer again,” Steen said. “When that happens, we can, and I think we have to, do better.”
Facing residents in mid-October, before federal agents came to Wilmette, Plunkett said she didn’t want to “put a target on ourselves” for immigration enforcement. Her comments during the State of the Village event cast doubt on whether anti-ICE policies in neighboring suburbs would make the situation safer.
When asked by Pioneer Press on Monday about the shift in village policy and its timing, Plunkett wrote in a statement that it was a “rapidly evolving situation” and lauded residents, the board and Wilmette staff for “quickly” coming to a consensus. The new measure could even “serve as a model to other communities in the region,” she continued.
“I’m proud of how our community stepped up and came together to support neighbors as well as all those who work here,” Plunkett added. “While our local authority to regulate much of what we have seen in our community and elsewhere is limited, our power, effectiveness and values as a community far exceeds the reaches of our local government.”
