Oak Park’s role as a “sanctuary city” for both immigrants and members of the LGBTQ+ community was highlighted at the June 3 village board meeting.
Both residents and elected leaders spoke to the importance of codifying the village’s commitment to progressive stances on immigrants’ rights and acceptance of gay, queer and transgender people. Amid President Donald Trump’s crackdowns on undocumented immigration, transgender rights, diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, residents and board members said Oak Park must double down on its commitment to them.
The village government faced a direct challenge from the Trump administration in late May as it was included on a list of local governments the Department of Homeland
Security said is violating federal immigration law. The list was unpublished from the DHS’ website days later, but Oak Park Village President Vicki Scaman still formally responded to it during the meeting.
“I remain in constant contact with the governor’s office and I’m grateful for their support, our designated contact with the governor’s office was the first person to call me Friday morning after the Thursday release of a Presidential press release wrongly and irresponsibly calling out sanctuary city politicians,” she said. “Our ultimate goal is to build a stronger, more inclusive Oak Park and position our community to best serve and protect our residents. It is our engaged community, all of you, that makes us the leaders that we are and holds us accountable to never rest. I will never rest.”
The DHS list came following months of federal pressure on localities with immigration sanctuary policies, including congressional hearings and threats that locations with such policies would lose access to federal infrastructure funding. The
Trump administration won election while vowing to dramatically increase deportations, with the president calling on federal agents to increase immigration arrests to at least 3,000 a day.
Oak Park adopted its sanctuary city ordinance in 2017, barring village employees from assisting federal agents “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.
Scaman’s comments were just the village’s latest defense of its progressive policies, but several residents at last week’s meeting said the village can do more.
As the village honored Pride Month with a proclamation, residents expressed support
for the village passing a sanctuary ordinance dedicated to protecting transgender people and other members of the LGBTQ+ community.
“I’m here to ask you as well for sanctuary and to really understand what a pivotalmoment this is,” said Aaron McManus, who helped organize Oak Park’s Transgender Day of Visibility celebration earlier this year. “I’m here to ask again that we formally add transgender sanctuary city status to our municipal ordinances and begin a public discussion on noncooperation policies. We must ensure that our data systems, public institutions and staff are prepared to protect and not expose the people who are fleeing persecution. This is much more than symbolism and needs to be much more than just using the LGBTQ+ community to boost businesses. It is about affirming the safety, dignity and humanity of trans people, immigrants, Black people, disabled people and all those facing systemic targeting.”
One of Trump’s earliest executive orders of his second term targeted “gender ideology” and cracked down on federal support and acceptance for transgender people in several ways.
The order purged all references to transgender people in federal government publications, programs and online media, blocked transgender people from receiving passports that correspond with their gender identity and laid down a ban on transgender people in the military, forcing an estimated 4,200 service members to decide whether to leave their posts voluntarily or stay and fight the ban following a June 6 deadline.
Colette Morrow, an Oak Parker who works as a professor at Purdue University Northwest, said she fears for the safety of her transgender students across the state line in Indiana. She said a sanctuary ordinance would help keep Oak Park’s transgender young people safe.
“I want to echo the plea to Oak Park to establish itself as a trans and gender queer sanctuary,” Morrow said. “We cannot offer those young people and their families much because we are on the other side of the line, but we can stand up and do what is right! We may not be able to give them any concrete protections, but for them to know that there is a whole community in their region that cares and will stand up to the U.S. government and proclaim a commitment to resisting the hatred. It may make a difference in a person’s life.”
Scaman said she would lead the board in considering a sanctuary ordinance that “meets all needs.”
“Thank you very much for being with us this evening and joining us to highlight the importance of uniting together as one community in full support of our trans community,” Scaman said. “I appreciate the partnership and holding us accountable in our preparedness to live our values, support and protect all members of our community and refuse cooperation with any agency that does not operate consistently with our shared values and out of the constitution of the United States. I want to work together to ensure our language meets all needs as a sanctuary city.”
