Batavia city officials told residents Tuesday they’re aware of ongoing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in neighboring communities.

The city notified the public of ICE activity in a Sept. 16 Facebook post, pointing to the Illinois TRUST Act, which restricts local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration agents in certain situations.

“Our public safety officers do not engage in civil immigration enforcement,” the post stated. “We encourage all community members to understand your rights as immigrants or refugees.”

The notice came the same day that federal authorities continued the Operation Midway Blitz immigration enforcement campaign in the Western suburbs, including a raid in Elgin attended by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

Regular immigration-related arrests have been recorded outside of the Kane County Courthouse in recent months. A Carol Stream man who’d been personally documenting the arrests recently was arrested himself in St. Charles, he shared in an exclusive interview with Shaw Local News Network. The man said he’s been alarmed by the way it appeared federal agents treated those they arrested.

Kane County Chief Judge Robert Villa, speaking at the Aug. 14 Judicial and Public Safety Committee meeting, spoke about federal law enforcement at the courthouses.

“If you don’t know, ICE, in particular, has been operating in our courthouses for 20-some years,” Villa said. “There’s nothing new about federal law enforcement coming to our buildings to arrest people who have federal warrants. It’s just the way it’s conducted now is different.”

Before the 2021 Trust Act, law enforcement would come when a person was in custody or if somebody showed up for court, “they would calmly and quietly identify themselves to the sheriff’s office,” Villa said. Then the sheriff’s office would let the judges know that there’s an ICE or FBI or some other warrant for someone, Villa said.

“And that person would be taken out through our jail system out back to the van and transported,” Villa said. “So those agents who are performing the duty that they have been doing for the last 20 years, now come to our public spaces to find these individuals.”

The city of Batavia’s post also referred residents to the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights, which provides resources in multiple languages at icirr.org/fsn and operates a hotline at 855-435-7693.