At a special meeting on Wednesday night, the Aurora City Council unanimously approved a City Ordinance that prohibits the use of City property for civil immigration enforcement activities.
The Ordinance is specifically tailored to prohibit the use of any City-owned and controlled property, including parking lots, buildings, or parks, as a staging area, processing location, or operations base for civil immigration enforcement activities.
The Ordinance also asserts that the City will make an effort to compile, document, and share any records of attempted or actual unauthorized use of City property by federal agents, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), with the State of Illinois’ recently established Illinois Accountability Commission. This will assist in supporting the State’s work to create a public record of federal conduct and consider policy recommendations for preventing future harm to Illinois residents.
City Departments will collaborate on identifying vulnerable City properties and installing signage that affirms the Ordinance. The City’s Corporation Counsel will develop implementation procedures, with the Mayor’s Office or its designee(s) leading enforcement efforts and serving as the final reporting contact for attempted or actual unauthorized use of property.
Additional language, added through an earlier amendment from Alderman Michael B. Saville, calls on the Aurora Police Department to adopt procedures to document violations of the Ordinance when sworn officers on duty observe them.
At the same meeting, the City Council also approved a lease agreement with the Illinois Workers In Action (IWA) for space located at 5 S. Broadway Avenue in downtown Aurora. Through this agreement, IWA will pay the City a small rental fee to utilize the office, while providing residents with no-cost legal aid, visa and immigration assistance, and detainee and deportation defense.
— City of Aurora government