The Elgin City Council is taking a symbolic stand against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, approving a resolution demanding laws be passed prohibiting ICE agents from wearing masks.

Proposed by council members Anthony Ortiz and Diana Alfaro, the measure was backed by the council and will be formally approved at a future meeting.

The resolution has no legal standing and it cannot be enforced locally because the city has no governance over federal government actions.

ICE’s actions are “terrorizing our citizens, in my opinion” and causing division in the country, Ortiz said at the Monday night council meeting.

“It’s a really bad situation in our nation right now with what these federal agents are doing. They are only doing it because the person at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. is giving them the authority to do this ridiculous crap,” he said.

ICE has been charged with locating people who are in the country illegally so they can be deported. Initially the mandate was to find those with criminal histories, but others who have not committed crimes are being detained as well.

Agents have been observed in the Elgin area on multiple occasions since January, and President Donald Trump’s call for increased immigration enforcement has put the community on guard. Advocates have documented ICE agents wearing masks while detaining people and not identifying themselves.

“I think with this resolution is the most we can do at the level of government we are at,” Ortiz said.

The administration’s actions are breaking the trust in the community and breaking the rule of law, Alfaro said. “No one is above the law,” she said.

“We’re trying to figure out how to navigate this,” Alfaro said. “In the position we have, how do we support our community? How do we stand with our community and publicly tell the federal administration what they are doing is not OK and they need to change?”

Alfaro said she’s been monitoring different actions taken by communities in California and elsewhere. A resolution pushing for passage of a federal law requiring ICE agents to be unmasked is a “good step,” she said.

“We want our resolution to be as strong as possible and as legitimate as possible,” she said.

Councilman John Steffen said Evanston passed a similar resolution this week.

“It’s really needed. It’s really timely,” Steffen said of the action.

Elgin is a town in which Hispanics, the demographic being most targeted in the immigrant roundup, make up a majority of the population, he said. “The importance of taking a stand is very evident,” he said.

The draft resolution states the “federal government’s actions to intentionally hide the identities of its agents make it far more difficult to challenge unlawful government acts, including holding agents accountable for arrests that do not comport with basic constitutional rights or the country’s immigration laws.”

Public confusion over whether masked, plainclothes agents are legitimate law enforcement officers makes it difficult to distinguish between a legal detention and criminal conduct, the draft resolution says. It has also contributed to a dangerous increase in the impersonation of officers, it states.

The proposed resolution calls for Congress and the General Assembly take a stand against ICE agents wearing masks. While state officials don’t have authority to enforce the change, it can urge Congress to act, city attorney Christopher Beck said.

Elgin police officers are already prohibited from wearing masks or neck coverings while on duty, Chief Ana Lalley told the council.

“If you see officers masked up and wearing vests, they are not Elgin police officers,” Lalley said. City officers wear vests with their names and badge numbers on them, she said.

Additionally, the city police department doesn’t work with ICE, Lalley said. Under the Illinois TRUST Act, local law enforcement agencies can’t assist in immigration enforcement or provide any facilities or equipment to help in the enforcement process, she said.

ICE agents do not have to tell local police about detention actions they’re taking and they are not required to identify themselves to local police, she said. The only time they can interact is if there is an incident, such as an accident, in which the police need to obtain more information, she said.

A preliminary vote on the resolution was unanimous. It will be return for a final vote in a few weeks.

“I’m pleased to see this come forward,” Councilwoman Tish Powell said. “This is a constitutional rights issue for everyone. I want to make sure people understand this is not just a Latino issue. Right now, that’s the face on this. That’s the target right now.”

Her concern is no one really knows if the people wearing masks and coming into the community to arrest people are really federal agents, Powell said.

“We don’t know if they are bounty hunters. We don’t know if they are Klan members. Their faces are covered. They are not showing their identity. That’s a problem. It should be a problem for anyone sitting in this room,” she said.

Powell said she wishes more could be done on the local level, “but unfortunately we can’t, and that angers me because there are so many people who are vulnerable and afraid.”

Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.