No public record shows Naperville's ICE-ban ordinance has been triggered since the city council passed it June 2.

The Due Process and Municipal Property Ordinance bars federal immigration agents from using city-owned parking lots, buildings, parks and facilities as staging areas or processing sites. It passed 6-2. The debate that preceded it centered on specific Naperville locations where ICE agents detained residents during Operation Midway Blitz: a Menards parking lot on Sept. 17, 2025, a residential roofing job site on Sept. 19, 2025, and a home where a father was arrested on Oct. 25, 2025, while his children cried out to him.

Whether the ordinance has changed anything on the ground remains an open question across the suburbs. A Chicago Tribune survey published Sept. 13 found Naperville among at least eight suburbs that adopted ICE-ban measures after Operation Midway Blitz, the federal immigration enforcement campaign launched Sept. 8, 2025. Aurora, Arlington Heights, Batavia, Downers Grove, Elgin, West Chicago and Wheeling also passed ordinances or resolutions. Hoffman Estates declined.

What the ordinance does

City Attorney Michael DiSanto called the measure a "focused, home-rule measure that regulates only the city's own property and personnel," according to NCTV17's coverage of the June 2 vote. A staff memo prepared before the vote stated the practical effect would be largely declarative and symbolic, since federal agents could still operate on public sidewalks, streets and open public forums.

The ordinance does not require city staff to intervene or confront federal agents. It requires only documentation based on a reasonable, good-faith observation that ICE is using city property. City employees cannot assist with federal enforcement unless a judicial warrant or court order requires it.

Councilwoman Supna Jain, who voted yes, acknowledged the symbolic dimension but argued it carried real weight. She noted that ICE had stopped alerting Naperville police before conducting local enforcement operations.

"Our community is telling us they do not feel safe," Jain said at the June 2 meeting. "This ordinance is in response to clearly communicate that they belong."

A divided council

Mayor Scott Wehrli and Councilman Josh McBroom cast the two no votes. Councilman Nate Wilson was absent. Councilmembers Mary Gibson, Ian Holzhauer, Supna Jain, Patrick Kelly, Ashfaq Syed and Benny White voted in favor.

At the June 2 meeting, Wehrli said the city's own staff had confirmed the ordinance would not stop a single federal agent from doing anything. McBroom called it political signaling on a national issue.

Supporters pushed back. Lili Burciaga, president of the Alliance of Latinos Motivating Action in the Suburbs (ALMAS), told the council at its April 7 meeting that the issue was not distant for Naperville. She said she had spoken with children whose parents had been taken and employers whose workplaces were disrupted. Diana Torres Hawken, ALMAS vice president, told the council June 2 that a symbolic ordinance still establishes expectations and gives residents a framework to hold their government accountable.

One year after Operation Midway Blitz

The ordinance debate unfolded against the backdrop of Operation Midway Blitz, which Block Club Chicago reported detained over 3,800 people over roughly 68 days. Most were Latino, according to Department of Homeland Security records. WBEZ reported that 2,700 were deported.

In January 2026, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul filed a 19-count complaint against the Department of Homeland Security over enforcement actions during the operation. That case remains active in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. In April 2026, the Illinois Accountability Commission found patterns of illegal and violent conduct by agents, including high-speed vehicular pursuits and use of chemical agents.

Christopher Goodman, a professor of public administration at Northern Illinois University, told the Tribune that local governments are constitutionally disadvantaged in dealing with federal immigration enforcement and that the state is in a better legal position to challenge the federal government.

Art Janura Jr., corporation counsel for Hoffman Estates, was more direct. He told the Tribune that ICE-free zone signs are "nothing but a feel-good issue. One hundred percent PR."

What's still unknown

The most direct measure of the ordinance's impact would be whether any city department has filed a violation report since June 2. That information has not been made public. Naperville residents can request it through the city's Freedom of Information Act portal at naperville.il.us.

No upcoming council action related to the ordinance has been scheduled.