SR0588 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0588 LRB104 19055 ECR 32500 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, In response to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the United States Congress passed the Homeland Security Act, which abolished the Immigration and Naturalization Service, replacing it with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and included the establishment of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, now known as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); and

WHEREAS, According to the ICE website, "Congress granted ICE a unique combination of civil and criminal authorities to better protect national security and public safety in answer to the tragic events on 9/11. Leveraging those authorities, ICE's primary mission is to promote homeland security and public safety through the criminal and civil enforcement of federal laws governing border control, customs, trade and immigration"; and

WHEREAS, Even prior to the reelection of Donald Trump as President of the United States in 2024, ICE has had a troubled history, which has been criticized by both sides of the political spectrum, and has been mired in controversy by using its funding to detain immigrants in egregiously inhumane conditions and deport immigrants with little to no due process or consideration for their familial and community ties to the United States; and

WHEREAS, ICE has long had a culture of abuse and has been referred to as an unaccountable agency that has treated detained individuals, including children, inhumanely, bordering on crimes against humanity; and

WHEREAS, On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed numerous immigration-related Executive Orders, including Executive Order No. 14159, entitled "Protecting The American People Against Invasion", which requires the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security to ensure that sanctuary states do not receive access to federal funds and to undertake any criminal or civil actions they deem warranted based on any sanctuary state's practices that they deem interferes with the enforcement of federal law; and

WHEREAS, On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order No. 14163, entitled "Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program", which indefinitely suspends the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) and requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to suspend decisions on applications for refugee status until USRAP resumes; and

WHEREAS, On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order No. 14165, entitled "Securing Our Borders", which reinstates the Migrant Protection Protocols in all sectors along the southern border, ends the use of the CBP One application as a method of paroling or facilitating the entry of immigrants and refugees, and terminates categorical parole programs, including the program known as the Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans; and

WHEREAS, On January 21, 2025, the Trump Administration ended a policy that previously protected sensitive locations, including schools, hospitals, and churches, from ICE operations; and

WHEREAS, Due to lax federal oversight, ICE has routinely engaged in deceptive practices which mislead the public, including posing as local law enforcement despite not being trained or deputized as police officers, misrepresenting administrative warrants as judicial warrants, and pressuring local and state law enforcement to violate due process rights by holding and transferring people who are being released to ICE; and

WHEREAS, In collaboration with other federal agencies, ICE has used deportation or the threat of deportation as a tool to pressure immigrants, especially those of Hispanic, Arab, Middle Eastern, and South Asian descent, to spy against their own communities for the United States government; and

WHEREAS, On September 8, 2025, DHS, under the direction of President Trump and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, formally launched "Operation Midway Blitz" with the purported goal of hunting, arresting, and deporting "illegal criminal aliens" in the Chicagoland region; and

WHEREAS, In publicly available data obtained by the Deportation Data Project through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to DHS, at least 1,600 people were arrested in Illinois during Operation Midway Blitz from September 8 through October 15, 2025; and

WHEREAS, In publicly available data obtained by the Deportation Data Project through FOIA requests to DHS, it was reported that 66% of the people detained during Operation Midway Blitz had no prior criminal charges, while only 17% had a prior criminal conviction and only 3% had prior criminal convictions for violent crimes; and

WHEREAS, On September 12, 2025, Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, a 38-year-old with a limited record of traffic violations and father of two sons, was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Franklin Park during a traffic stop and arrest attempt; and

WHEREAS, On October 4, 2025, Marimar Martinez, a 30-year-old American citizen, was following DHS agents before being shot by a DHS agent five times, leaving her with seven wounds; criminal charges were brought against Martinez for her behavior leading up to the shooting, but all federal charges were dropped with prejudice in November 2025; and

WHEREAS, On October 21, 2025, Rey Estrada, a 20-year resident of Chicago with no criminal record and father of three boys, was detained by ICE in Rogers Park in Chicago in the 7th State Senate District while performing paid landscaping work; following his arrest, he spent three hours in the back of an ICE SUV, the next 48 hours in the Broadview processing center alongside 150 other men, and the next ten weeks in federal custody in the North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin, Michigan until he obtained release on $1,500 bond following a successful habeas corpus petition; and

WHEREAS, On January 7, 2026, Renee Nicole Good, an American citizen and mother of three children, was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, Minnesota while acting as a legal observer of DHS immigration enforcement; and

WHEREAS, Under the direction of President Trump, DHS Secretary Noem, and Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller, ICE has consistently and continuously demonstrated an inability to fulfill its duties without violating due process, human rights, transparency, or public accountability, and the agency fails to adhere to domestic and international law; and

WHEREAS, The United States of America does not need an opaque and rogue agency operating in our communities, dehumanizing and deporting our neighbors in immigrant communities, and acting lawlessly without consequence; Illinois, being home to one of the largest and most diverse immigrant communities in the nation, has enacted policies to protect immigrants and refugees from the inhumane treatment and aggressive tactics of ICE, but there are still countless stories of brutal detentions and unjust deportations; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge the 119th United States Congress to abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); and be it further

RESOLVED, That we urge Congress to implement an orderly and just transfer of essential and basic legally required functions in a manner that upholds values of due process, equality under the law, and family unity upon or before the abolition of ICE; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be delivered to the President of the United States, the Vice President of the United States, the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate, and all members of the Illinois Congressional Delegation.