Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials removed a man Tuesday from an Elgin residence.
While the man taken from the home in the 300 block of Silver Street was not the fugitive being sought by the U.S. Marshals Office on an attempted murder charge, the ICE officers who accompanied them took him into custody, according to Belkis Sandoval, public affairs officer for the U.S. Marshals Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force.
She referred questions about the detention to the ICE office, but calls to the agency went unanswered Tuesday afternoon.
The operation being conducted by the marshals office “pertained to an individual wanted on a parole violation warrant,” Sandoval said. ICE officers are part of the marshals office and accompanied them on the detail, she said.
“(The suspect being sought) has an attempted murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and unlawful use of a weapon by a gang member warrant out of Elgin,” Sandoval said. The Elgin home “is his registered, patrolled address,” she said.
ICE released a statement earlier this week about its operations in the Chicago area.
“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, along with federal partners, including the FBI, ATF, DEA, CBP and the U.S. Marshals Service, began conducting enhanced targeted operations today in Chicago to enforce U.S. immigration law and preserve public safety and national security by keeping potentially dangerous criminal aliens out of our communities,” the release said.
City of Elgin officials confirmed they were aware the marshals office was in town for an operation but that the Elgin Police Department was not and would not be involved.
“The Illinois TRUST Act generally prohibits local law enforcement agencies like the Elgin Police Department from assisting in the enforcement of federal civil immigration law,” City Manager Rick Kozal said in a statement.
The act expressly states that a “law enforcement agency or official may not participate, support or assist in any capacity with an immigration agent’s enforcement operations,” Kozal said.
The village of Carpentersville released a similar statement in the wake of reports that ICE was serving warrants Monday in the Golfview Lane area.
Earlier in the day Tuesday, a rumor that ICE agents were at Creekside Elementary School in Elgin circulated but was later debunked in a letter that Principal Joel Pollack sent to parents.
“Please know that, as of this afternoon, no federal authorities have approached our school property, and we have not been contacted directly by anyone associated with a federal agency,” Pollack said in the letter.
“If federal authorities were to request to enter Creekside’s property, or request information from our school, School District U-46 has established legal processes that will be followed,” he said.
Elgin police officers were at the school Tuesday, he added, but that was a coincidence and not related to any immigration issue. “The purpose of this visit was for a presentation to our 5th and 6th grade scholars, which was scheduled in the fall,” he said.
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
