Joliet Township Supervisor Cesar Guerrero used City Hall as a forum to speak out on local activity by federal immigration agents and called on city officials to make their own statement.

Guerrero spoke at the end of a Joliet City Council meeting on Tuesday, a day after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents stopped a vehicle in Joliet outside City Hall and near the Joliet Township government building.

Agents smashed a window of the vehicle before taking away the driver, Guerrero said, noting the incident has been documented on video posted on social media.

The arrest was made on Jefferson Street, not on the grounds of City Hall. But a familiar sign that reads City Hall 150 W. Jefferson St. marking the north side of the building is in the background of video depicting the arrest.

Guerrero, a former Joliet city council member, asked city officials “to at least recognize the incident that occurred yesterday morning.”

Council members and city officials did not comment on the Monday arrest after Guerrero’s comments.

“I think residents would feel some assurance if they knew that their local units of government were not participating in these actions,” Guerrero told The Herald-News after the meeting.

Joliet police on Monday confirmed that the ICE arrest was made in the 100 block of West Jefferson Street while pointing out that the incident was not at City Hall and that Joliet police were not involved.

The police statement was the only official recognition of the incident until Guerrero’s comments at the council meeting.

ICE has not confirmed any of its activity in Joliet despite reports about three incidents posted on social media by local advocacy groups.

In response to requests from The Herald-News for information about the incidents, ICE has asked the newspaper to supply information, including who was detained and where, as well as video or photographs that may show what happened.

Guerrero read what he said was an abridged version of a public statement that he had issued previously “given the proximity (of the Monday incident) to both City Hall and the Joliet Township office.”

“Joliet Township government stands ready to support policy and proposals at the state and federal level that support and allow our residents to live and work without fear,” he said in part of the statement.

After completing the statement, Guerrero asked city officials “to at least recognize the incident that occurred yesterday morning and to reaffirm our commitment to our mutual constituency and to uphold their safety, their privacy and the rights that they are afforded by the U.S. Constitution.”

After the meeting, Guerrero told The Herald-News that public statements are needed so that residents at least know that local government is not involved in the ICE activity, especially with City Hall clearly identified in the background in video from the Monday arrest.

Joliet police have repeatedly said they are not involved in immigration enforcement in response to media inquiries, most recently as last week when asked the Mexican Independence Day Parade that occurred on Saturday.