Oak Park’s village board approved a resolution calling for state and federal law makers to prohibit law enforcement personnel from concealing their identities in public.
The resolution affirmed the village’s status as a welcoming sanctuary community for undocumented immigrants, while advocating for higher levels of government to lay out new restrictions for masked law enforcement agents. It also asked that enforcement agencies operating in the community remain unmasked.
The board passed the measure without discussion via its consent agenda at Tuesday, Sept. 16’s meeting.
“The Village of Oak Park urges the United States Congress, the Illinois General Assembly and other lawmakers to adopt legislation, within the scope of their respective authority, to prohibit law enforcement agents from concealing their identities in public and to require agents to wear identification when enforcing the law,” the resolution said. “The Village of Oak Park urges all law enforcement agents within the Village to not wear face coverings, to not conceal their identities, and to provide their names and identify their agencies upon request.”
Last week, California state lawmakers passed a bill that seeks to ban federal immigration agents from wearing masks during raids.
The resolution comes as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has focused deportation efforts on Chicagoland in an operation dubbed by President Donald Trump as “Operation Midway Blitz.” Wednesday Journal published stories this week on reports that ICE had arrested two in River Forest on Thursday, Sept. 11 and that ICE agents had been present at Oak Park Village Hall on Friday, Sept. 12.
An ICE spokesperson denied that the agency had made any arrests in or around River Forest in an email to Wednesday Journal.
State officials have said that federal agencies have coordinated little with Illinois law enforcement, with Illinois Governor JB Pritzker saying this week that ICE agents wearing masks exasperates that problem.
“When they (local law enforcement) see skirmishes going on, they don’t know if those are real ICE officials, especially if they’re wearing masks and in unmarked cars and aren’t carrying or showing their identification,” Pritzker said Tuesday.
Oak Park’s village board also passed an ordinance on Tuesday that increased the penalty for impersonating a law enforcement officer or firefighter in the village and amended previous ordinance language that clarified that penalties apply to those who impersonate federal law enforcement.
“Penalties imposed in this Section are in addition to, and not in lieu of, penalties under State law,” the ordinance said. “It is unlawful for any person to falsely represent themselves as a local, state, or federal law enforcement official or firefighter, or, with the intent to deceive, use or wear in public or imitate any of the signs, signals or devices adopted and used by local, state, or federal law enforcement officials or firefighters, or to wear in public the uniform or badge adopted or used as the uniform or badge of any local, state, or federal law enforcement organization or firefighting organization. A person who violates this Section is guilty of a misdemeanor and is subject to a term of incarceration not to exceed six months and a fine not to exceed $1,500.”