{"id":196414,"date":"2025-09-03T09:01:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T09:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/196414\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T09:01:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T09:01:09","slug":"fourth-ward-hears-citys-preparations-for-looming-federal-occupation-of-chicago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/196414\/","title":{"rendered":"Fourth Ward hears city’s preparations for looming federal occupation of Chicago"},"content":{"rendered":"

The threat of a federal incursion to Evanston\u2019s south hung over the Fourth Ward meeting Tuesday evening, as officials spoke about precautions the city is taking ahead of an imminent occupation of Chicago by federal immigration agents and potentially National Guard soldiers.<\/p>\n

After weeks of escalating rhetoric against the nation\u2019s third-largest city, President Donald Trump said in a press conference Tuesday afternoon that the feds will be \u201cgoing in\u201d to Chicago<\/a><\/strong> for a renewed removal operation led by agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. Staging has reportedly started at Naval Station Great Lakes<\/a><\/strong> in Lake County, and Trump has threatened to deploy National Guard troops, as part of a so-called \u201canti-crime crackdown\u201d as in Washington, D.C.<\/a><\/strong> A federal judge ruled Tuesday morning<\/a><\/strong> that a similar move in Los Angeles in June was illegal under a law prohibiting the military\u2019s use in domestic law enforcement.<\/p>\n

Speaking to residents attending online and at the Robert Crown Community Center, Councilmember Jonathan Nieuwsma (4th Ward) shared information on the updated Welcoming City Ordinance<\/a><\/strong> and \u201cKnow Your Rights\u201d materials<\/a><\/strong> created to help prepare residents for potential interactions with ICE agents. He also discussed two proposed pieces of legislation focused on the increasingly common practice of federal agents concealing their faces with masks<\/a><\/strong> and hiding which specific agency they are affiliated with.<\/p>\n

Legislation and uniforms<\/p>\n

The two proposals are a resolution calling on the U.S. Congress and Illinois General Assembly to prohibit federal agents<\/a><\/strong> from wearing face masks and an ordinance strengthening the city\u2019s existing law against impersonating law enforcement<\/a><\/strong>. \u201cIt\u2019s already illegal,\u201d Nieuwsma said of the impersonation ordinance. \u201cWe\u2019ll be increasing that fine pretty substantially.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both pieces were unanimously approved by the city\u2019s Human Services Committee earlier Tuesday evening, and are expected to go before the City Council on Monday. City staff released a public statement<\/a><\/strong> with more details on the legislation after the vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe City firmly opposes anonymous enforcement tactics, emphasizing the urgent need for increased transparency and communication between federal law enforcement and communities,\u201d the statement reads. \u201cBy advocating for these changes, Evanston seeks to foster a climate of trust, ensuring that the rights and dignity of all individuals are upheld during all law enforcement operations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"The shield emblem used by the Evanston Police Department in officers\u2019 shoulder patches and on the sides of squad cars. Credit: Evanston Police Department<\/p>\n

Back at Robert Crown, Ofc. Nate Basner, who regularly attends Fourth Ward meetings to share public safety updates, also shared that Police Chief Schenita Stewart \u201csent out a general order just today\u201d reinforcing that officers\u2019 uniforms must clearly identify them as local Evanston police.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something we normally did anyway, but [the order is] just to ensure that, as I am visible to you now,\u201d Basner said, pointing to his uniform\u2019s shoulder patch, \u201cthat I have something [with] \u2018Evanston Police\u2019 on the front or on the side of my uniform that indicates that I\u2019m an Evanston police officer.\u201d<\/p>\n

EPD searching for new plate camera vendor<\/p>\n

Nieuwsma also mentioned the city\u2019s decision last week to shut down its network of automated license plate readers (ALPRs) and terminate its contract with Flock Safety. Basner said that despite it being a \u201cgood investigative tool,\u201d reports that the private vendor had \u201cpilot programs\u201d for sharing data with federal law enforcement persuaded the department to \u201cdecline to further our contract,\u201d adding that other potential vendors are being explored.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, due to Flock\u2019s misstep, we\u2019re going to have to find another ALPR company to get that investigative tool back up and running,\u201d Basner said. \u201cFlock has said they are going to amend things, but I don\u2019t know if that\u2019ll necessarily mean we enter our contract with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though the cameras are off, Flock isn\u2019t keen on letting Evanston terminate its contract, which calls for the city to pay nearly $150,000 for service through January 2029. Dan Haley, the company\u2019s chief legal officer, wrote to the city last week that the city\u2019s termination notice was \u201creplete with conclusory and unsupported assertions\u201d and that the company \u201cdenies categorically\u201d that it broke any laws or terms of the contract.<\/p>\n

Nieuwsma mentioned a lawsuit could be on the way, but was unfazed by the prospect.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll see a report\u201d on the legal challenge, Nieuwsma said. \u201cI like our chances.\u201d<\/p>\n

City spokesperson Cynthia Vargas declined to comment Tuesday on the status of the Flock contract\u2019s termination, citing it as a \u201cpending legal matter.\u201d No lawsuits between the city and the company could be found using public search tools at time of writing, but Haley wrote in his Aug. 27 letter that Flock intends to \u201ctake all necessary steps to enforce\u201d the contract.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The threat of a federal incursion to Evanston\u2019s south hung over the Fourth Ward meeting Tuesday evening, as…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":196415,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,109217,22506,5386,1818,109218],"class_list":{"0":"post-196414","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-councilmember-jonathan-nieuwsma","10":"tag-flock-safety","11":"tag-il","12":"tag-illinois","13":"tag-national-guard-soldiers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196414\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}