The morning of July 30, 16-year-old Sam Luhmann recorded a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer get out of his car, walk into Forest Park village hall and report that Luhmann was stalking him. The video then shows a man walk out of the police department and claim the ICE officer’s car as his own before driving it to the back entrance of the police station so the ICE employee could depart.
Over a week later at the Aug. 10 village council meeting, Mayor Rory Hoskins said the village is looking for more training for Forest Park Police Department officers.
“We’ve spoken with at least one union about our expectations and incorporating new training standards and expectations into bargaining agreements,” Hoskins said during his commissioner’s comment at the end of the meeting. “We’re going to have to see some better training for those employees, not only with police officers but also civilian employees of the village.”
During public comment at the same meeting, five Forest Parkers denounced the village for accommodating ICE, calling for a safer space in village hall and its police department in order to gain residents’ trust.
“Across Forest Park and the near west suburbs, a fragile trust was shattered,” said Betty Alzamora, a park district board member and volunteer with PASO-West Suburban Action Project, a community organization that provides legal services and advocacy for immigrants. “For many of the immigrant families that I work with directly, it felt like a direct signal that this village is no longer a safe place.”
Alzamora said she would email Hoskins, Police Chief Ken Gross and commissioners to meet with her individually to talk about designating ICE-free zones in municipal buildings and modernizing Forest Park’s welcoming resolution. Last updated in 2017, Alzamora said the resolution “needs an immediate update, as being proposed by immigration expert lawyers.”
“Trust is hard to build yet easy to break. I feel this incident sadly diminishes my trust in the Village of Forest Park, and it will take some time for me to be able to trust the public officials again,” said Forest Park resident Naoto Hasegawa, who emailed in a public comment. “Seeing a village official moving the vehicle for the officer and not accurately conveying the intent makes me feel extremely uneasy about walking into village hall to take care of things for me and my family. What now goes through my mind is if a village official would call ICE based on their suspicion, my accent, or my foreign appearance, then use an excuse to delay my leaving the village hall until an ICE agent can come over to interrogate me.”
“Police personnel broke the Illinois Trust Act and the spirit of our own village welcoming resolution,” said Kimberly Adami-Hasegawa in an emailed public comment.
The Illinois Trust Act says that municipal police cannot assist with federal immigration enforcement efforts. This includes not letting immigration agents use municipal facilities or equipment.
Hoskins said during his commissioner’s comment that he and Village Administrator Rachell Entler met with Gross and Deputy Chief Chris Chin the week after the incident.
“They emphasized that Forest Park complied with the Trust Act. No information was shared,” Hoskins said. It “essentially was an instance where law enforcement was deferential to other law enforcement. We discussed what was going on in terms of the legality. Monitoring law enforcement is legal in this state.”
“As the wife of an immigrant, I have seen firsthand what these ICE raids have done to shape my partner’s sense of safety and security in our community,” Adami-Hasegawa said. “After seeing what happened at village hall last month, and after seeing Lieutenant Dan Miller pull a gun on an innocent woman while he was off duty in another community, I believe the village and the police have work to do in rebuilding trust with our community.”
Lt. Miller remains on paid administrative leave after an incident in April.
Forest Park resident Geoff Binns-Calvey said, “ICE agents in general are a far cry from professional police forces, and local trusted police departments risk diluting their trust with their communities if they are perceived as being allied with ICE. I ask that our police department tread very carefully in dealing with ICE.”
What commissioners think
Commissioners Michelle-Melin Rogovin and Jessica Voogd thanked the public commenters for sharing their views during their commissioners’ comments. Both said they spoke with Hoskins and Entler about the ICE incident.
“I just want to make sure that we are doing everything we can to restore folks’ trust and to feel safe in our community,” Voogd said.
“This is something I’ve been hearing concerns about from residents, that they’re worried and concerned and feeling unsafe in general about the increased presence of ICE and wondering what this means about their ability to visit village hall. I believe very strongly that village hall needs to be a welcoming place for everyone seeking services in Forest Park,” Melin-Rogovin said. “This occurrence has created uncertainty and fear, and we need to work together to address it. I commit to working with my colleagues and village staff to be a part of the process, and I welcome any residents who would like to share their thoughts with me to continue to do so.”
During his comment, Hoskins said, “We expect our employees to be truthful, especially when they’re wearing the Forest Park logo on their garments. And as a council, you know we’ve gone out of our way to give the police the tools that they need to be successful — things like cameras and modern equipment. But at the same time, we expect their behavior to be cognizant of community standards and community sentiments. So, having said that, let’s continue to support our first responders. We live in a tough neighborhood.”
“ICE has had some really aggressive enforcement,” Hoskins added. “Those tactics have resulted in deaths, and unfortunately, from the perspective of municipal leadership, you have a federal agency that doesn’t even allow state and local governments to investigate deaths. For that reason, it’s really troubling to think that this community is perceived as really cooperating. That cooperation is a two-way street. We expect law enforcement to be constitutional above all.”