Oak Park was listed alongside hundreds of other American communities accused of violating federal immigration law in a since unpublished Department of Homeland Security report.
The list sought to identify cities and counties across the country the agency deemed to not be complying with federal immigration enforcement, especially communities that have passed measures making them “sanctuary cities” for undocumented immigrants. The list, which was removed from the DHS’ website days after its May 29 publication, comes after an April executive order signed by President Donald Trump threatening to pull federal grant funding to sanctuary cities.
“These sanctuary city politicians are endangering Americans and our law enforcement in order to protect violent criminal illegal aliens,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement last week. “We are exposing these sanctuary politicians who harbor criminal illegal aliens and defy federal law. President Trump and I will always put the safety of the American people first. Sanctuary politicians are on notice: comply with federal law.”
Nearly every county in Illinois was included on the list, as was the state government. Neighboring cities like Chicago, Evanston and Berwyn also joined Oak Park on the list.
Oak Park passed an ordinance in 2017 that prevented village employees from assisting “in the investigation of the citizenship or immigration status of any person unless such inquiry or investigation is required by an order of a court of competent jurisdiction.” At the time, immigrants’ rights advocates called it one of the strongest sanctuary city ordinances in the United States.
Oak Park Village President Vicki Scaman said she is not intimidated by the federal pressure.
“Of course I’m going to do everything I can to fight this and stand by our immigrant community,” she said.
On the heels of Trump’s second inauguration, Oak Park released a statement reaffirming the village government’s commitment to the ordinance.
“Every resident, regardless of immigration status, is entitled to access village services without fear of deportation or other immigration-related consequences,” local officials said in February. “The village will continue to uphold the principle of confidentiality for residents and ensure that any personal information shared with the village is not disclosed to federal immigration enforcement agencies, except in cases where disclosure is mandated by law.”
The village released an update to that statement Friday in light of the DHS list.
“The Village of Oak Park is aware that it appeared on a recently released list of sanctuary jurisdictions issued by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Notably, the list also includes the State of Illinois, Cook County and six other in-state communities including neighboring Chicago and Berwyn, as well as Evanston, Skokie, St. Joseph and Urbana,” officials said.
The DHS list appeared amid increased federal pressure on sanctuary cities. On March 5, mayors of several major cities, including Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, were questioned by the U.S. House Oversight Committee concerning sanctuary city policies.
“We cannot let pro-criminal, alien policies in obstructionist sanctuary cities continue to endanger American communities and the safety of federal immigration enforcement officers,” Committee Chair Rep. James Comer (R-KY) said.
Johnson defended Chicago’s statutes during the hearing, saying sanctuary policies keep the city’s law enforcement focused on local priorities.
“As mayor of Chicago, nothing is more important to me than the safety and well-being of all residents,” he said. “We must not let mischaracterizations and fear-mongering obscure the reality that Chicago’s crime rates are trending down. We still have a long way to go, but sensationalizing tragedy in the name of political expediency is not governing, it’s grandstanding.”
On April 24, cities across the country received a letter from the Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy vowing to withhold infrastructure funding from communities that don’t comply with federal immigration enforcement or which support “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” programs.
“Whether or not described in neutral terms, any policy, program, or activity that is premised on a prohibited classification, including discriminatory policies or practices designed to achieve so called ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion,’ or ‘DEI,’ goals, presumptively violates federal law,” Duffy said in the letter. “In addition, your legal obligations require cooperation generally with federal authorities in the enforcement of federal law, including cooperating with and not impeding U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal offices and components of the Department of Homeland Security in the enforcement of federal immigration law.”
Before it was removed from the DHS’ website, the list drew criticism from a prominent law enforcement organization — the National Association of Sheriffs. The group issued a statement criticizing the DHS list on Saturday, May 31.
“This list was created without any input, criteria of compliance, or a mechanism for how to object to the designation. Sheriffs nationwide have no way to know what they must do or not do to avoid this arbitrary label,” the association’s president Sheriff Kieran Donahue of Canyon County, Idaho said in the statement. “The completion and publication of this list has not only violated the core principles of trust, cooperation, and partnership with fellow law enforcement, but it also has the potential to strain the relationship between sheriffs and the White House administration. This is an unfortunate and unnecessary erosion of unity and collaboration with law enforcement and the enforcement of the rule of law at a time when that unity is needed most. This decision by DHS could create a vacuum of trust that may take years to overcome.”
The list was also criticized for other inaccuracies, including its inclusion of Represa, CA, which is not a proper city or town, but rather the name of the post office that serves Folsom State Prison and California State Prison, according to the Los Angeles Times.
