When it was time for George Alpogianis to give his mayoral report to the Village Board at the Oct. 28 meeting, he spent the bulk of his time addressing concerns about federal immigration enforcement activity that residents have expressed, and tried to quell tensions by explaining the village’s role in the federal activity.

“Yes, there have been ICE agents in the area,” Alpogianis said as he began to address public concerns, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The mayor said he wanted to clarify the role Niles police play during any interaction between residents and anyone working for, or claiming to work for, federal immigration enforcement.

Alpogianis cited state laws, including the Illinois Trust Act and the Illinois Forward Act, both of which limit the authority of local police to assist or participate in federal immigration enforcement.

The mayor explained that although police in Illinois have no authority to assist in federal immigration activities, they cannot lawfully interfere with them either. So, whether police become involved in an incident as a result of a 9-1-1 call or by witnessing it directly, they would have to start any interaction by running the license plates.

“If it doesn’t register as federal, they will ask for proper identification from whoever may be there during this … fiasco. I don’t know what to call it,” Alpogianis said. “And then if they have the proper identification, once again, our police department has to stand down.”

Alpogianis asked police Chief Joseph Romano to expand on what people could expect from officers should such an incident occur.

“If we got to that point, we would truly identify what’s going on and make sure it’s not an abduction or something criminal on that end,” Romano said. “But other than that, we have to stand down.”

Alpogianis said people had come to him worried about individuals who had been “deemed” bounty hunters.

“From what I understand, people are out of uniform,” Alpogianis said. “So the question was raised … ‘What if somebody is not in uniform and somebody sees him grabbing somebody?’” he said.

Officials said they heard that rumors of ICE hiring bounty hunters to track down undocumented immigrants have been circulating. However, many of the claims have not been verified.

There is, however, no indication that the Department of Homeland Security is specifically recruiting fugitive recovery agents, better known as bounty hunters, to track down people. Also, in 1963, the state of Illinois banned bounty hunting.

The National Association of Fugitive Recovery Agents, a national union representing bounty hunters, recently posted a public notice to its Facebook page rejecting the assertion that ICE was soliciting its members for immigration enforcement work.

“Some federal officers i.e ATF, DEA, BOP etc have been reassigned to assist with ICE operations, they are NOT Bounty hunters,” the post reads.
Alpogianis said he wanted to assure the people of Niles that police in the village would be there to help protect them in case any bad actors might think of taking advantage of uncertainty resulting from federal immigration enforcement activity in the Chicago area.

“Our police department in the village is here to protect the citizens,” he said. “We also have to comply with the law as well. And if there is something that is not complying with our law, yes, we are there for you and we will intervene.”

Alan Kozeluh is a freelancer.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/13/niles-mayor-alpogianis-addresses-ice/