Berwyn City Council members adopted a proclamation forbidding the use of city-owned entities for federal immigration enforcement and moved to draft tighter local limits on immigration-related operations on city property, city leaders said at the Oct. 2025 meeting. The council also considered a separate resolution to suspend and terminate the city's contract with Flock Group Inc., the license-plate reader vendor, a measure that resulted in an 4-4 roll call before the mayor intervened.

The proclamation, introduced by Mayor Robert J. Libero and co-drafted with City Clerk Leticia Garcia, affirms that "city-owned entities and facilities shall not be used to facilitate federal immigration enforcement operations, including but not limited to staging or operational activities of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)," and passed on a voice roll call.

The issue came after more than a dozen residents described recent encounters they said involved federal immigration officers and heavy police responses. Speakers said community volunteers handing out "know your rights" materials outside Morton West High School were confronted by Berwyn police, and several commentators recounted reported ICE detentions at local intersections, businesses and near schools.

Deputy Chief Michael W. Fellows told the council the Berwyn Police Department maintains control over its Flock license-plate reader data and said the department has safeguards intended to prevent data sharing with federal agencies. "We have never shared our data with federal agencies ensuring that our residents' privacy is never compromised," Fellows said, adding the department formally committed to those safeguards in December 2023.

Council members and residents disputed whether that assurance is sufficient. Alderman Mike Caldwell cited the Illinois Secretary of State's finding that Flock shared license-plate data with federal immigration agencies in other jurisdictions and argued that the company's actions amounted to a material breach of contract. "Once our data leaves Berwyn and is stored on a centralized, privately managed cloud, we lose control over it," Caldwell said during debate.

A motion by Alderman Rob Pabon to immediately deactivate Flock cameras and terminate the city's Flock contract drew extensive debate. The roll-call before the mayor recorded four ayes and four nays. Council discussion showed sharply divided views: supporters said Flock's data-sharing violations pose an unacceptable privacy risk to immigrant residents; opponents, including members who praised the police department's use of the technology, said the system helps recover stolen vehicles and solve violent crimes.

Minutes and the roll-call transcript show the vote deadlocked at 4-4 before Mayor Libero said he would cast a tie-breaking vote. The transcript does not include a single explicit, unambiguous readback of the final tally after the mayor's tie-breaking comment; the council's formal minutes record that the motion did not pass as presented. The meeting record shows, however, that council later voted to direct the city attorney to draft amendments to the city's welcoming-city ordinance, including language that would prohibit immigration-enforcement operations on city-owned, leased or controlled property without a valid judicial warrant, and to return that amended ordinance for a vote on Oct. 28.

Residents who addressed the council asked for clearer enforcement mechanisms and training for police officers on constitutional rights and local ordinances. Dr. Kayla Navarrete, a criminology professor, urged the council to cancel the Flock contract and called for comprehensive training for officers on the First Amendment and other protections after multiple speakers described being told to leave public sidewalks or threatened with arrest while distributing literature.

Several speakers also described specific incidents: one resident said four police cruisers and nearly 10 officers arrived when volunteers gave flyers on a public sidewalk; another said a Berwyn officer called a volunteer a profanity and threatened arrest for "solicitation." Parents and school community members described fear that ICE activity had discouraged students and families from attending school or events.

Council action summary: the mayoral proclamation banning use of city-owned entities for federal immigration enforcement passed; a Pabon resolution to deactivate and terminate the Flock contract was not adopted after a tie vote; the council approved a directive to draft a warrant requirement amendment to the welcoming ordinance and scheduled it for a future vote.

The topic remained unresolved at the meeting's close: council members asked the city attorney to prepare ordinance language that would explicitly prohibit immigration-enforcement activity on city property without a judicial warrant and to include the proclamation and the child-endangerment resolution discussed earlier. The item will return for formal consideration at the next council meeting on Oct. 28, according to the motion made on the record.

The council also took unrelated routine actions that night including appointments in the police department and approving equipment leases and public-works pay estimates.

Notes: The article summarizes council debate and public comment as recorded in the meeting transcript. Where the transcript contains ambiguity about the final, recorded result of the Flock contract termination motion, this article reports the roll call counts and records that the mayor said he would cast a tie-breaking vote; the transcript does not include a clear, verbatim final readback of the tie-breaking vote.