By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – The speaker of the Illinois House has compared a fence outside U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Broadview to the Berlin Wall.

Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, held a press conference outside the Broadview ICE facility Monday and referred to the wall that once divided Germany. The speaker then echoed former President Ronald Reagan.

“Mr. Trump, tear down this fence now! Tear it down! Tear down this symbol of division! Tear down this symbol of destruction!” Welch shouted.

Reagan said, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” during a 1987 when he spoke in West Berlin, urging Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev to remove the barrier between Soviet-controlled East Germany and West Germany.

Welch called the Broadview fence “a distraction” from the havoc he said Trump has wreaked on the nation. Welch said Black women have lost jobs at a higher rate than any demographic and the Broadview community was being stripped of diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

The speaker said people were returning their animals to shelters because they can’t afford to care for them.

“We must pull back all of these fences and all of these barriers to the American Dream,” Welch said.

State Rep. John Cabello, R-Machesney Park, said people need to remember recent history when it comes to immigration enforcement by U.S. presidents.

“Barack Obama, (and) Bill Clinton have deported more illegal aliens than Donald Trump,” Cabello told The Center Square.

Cabello said that perhaps the speaker’s press conference was a distraction from Welch’s predecessor, former Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, reporting to prison on Day One of Madigan’s 7.5 year sentence for public corruption.

“Maybe we on the other side should go and have some peaceful welcoming to Mr. Madigan in prison today. Maybe we could get some coverage like the speaker of the House did,” Cabello suggested.

A federal judge gave ICE until midnight Tuesday night to remove the fence which Broadview officials said was constructed illegally.

Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson announced at Monday’s press conference that she signed an executive order to shrink protest zones near the ICE facility after she said protests last Saturday night degenerated into chaos.

“There have been far too many protesters raising a fist instead of their voices, creating chaos at the expense of those who live here. Our residents do not have the privilege to retreat to quiet neighborhoods once the cameras are gone. They live here, they work here and they deserve peace,” Thompson said.

The new order allows protests only in a zone outside the ICE facility on Beach Street and not along a busier thoroughfare, 25th Avenue, which sits just east of Beach Street.

Cabello was not impressed with the mayor’s move.

“Is this the same mayor that at first said she welcomed the protesters and now she doesn’t? She’s a disaster,” Cabello told The Center Square.

Greg Bishop contributed to this report.