U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have been spotted in Forest Park, as recently as Oct. 13 — Forest Park resident Betty Alzamora said at a village council meeting held that evening.
“As early as this morning, we had confirmed presence of ICE in Forest Park,” Alzamora said during public comment. She’s a volunteer advocate with PASO West Suburban Action Project, co-leading the rapid response team, and is co-lead for the near west suburbs for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. “We had two abductions in River Forest in late September. Last weekend, I personally worked in two cases of abductions in the Melrose Park area, and this is on top of the continued presence that we see across the city, on the northwest side and in the far south suburbs.”
Alzamora shared the information as a way to advance her discussions with Forest Park government officials about updating the village’s welcoming resolution language and adding signage in the village that restricts ICE from certain areas. Alzamora and other Forest Parkers created a petition asking for those updates in August.
“I don’t want to sound like an alarmist here. I just want to continue to remind everybody that we need the urgency of your actions to accelerate any progress for Forest Park, sooner rather than later,” Alzamora said. “The activity is increasing, as I mentioned to you the last time I was here. Even though it may not seem as public to all of you, we are seeing an accelerated rate of abductions across the Chicagoland area, and that’s a nationwide trend.”
At the last council meeting on Sept. 28, Alzamora said, “In the last two weeks, I’ve had reports of two encounters, both of which were documented, of ICE presence in the village of Forest Park. Both families were very rattled by the situation. As we have said before time and again, it’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when.”
Village Administrator Rachell Entler addressed Alzamora’s comment during her report at the end of the Oct. 13 council meeting. It was Entler’s first council meeting in about six weeks, as she has been on medical leave.
Entler said she met with Police Chief Dan Pater to review the language Alzamora provided for an updated welcoming resolution and signs for ICE-free areas in Forest Park.
“I have some comments to send back to the elected officials,” Entler said of her discussions with Pater. “I also got some information from Commissioner [Jessica] Voogd that I need to look over as well, and so we’re certainly working on it. I got on it as quickly as I could, so hopefully we’ll get some feedback from the commissioners and the mayor in the next week or so, and we’ll be able to really start kind of honing in on what we want to accomplish here.”
Alzamora is also an elected member of the Park District of Forest Park board.