Illinois House Speaker: 'Mr. Trump, tear down this fence!'
[October 14, 2025]
By Jim Talamonti | 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.
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Illinois House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch, D-Hillside, stands
with others outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility
in Broadview, Illinois, Oct. 13, 2025. Photo: Jim Talamonti / The
Center Square
“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. |
