As the Chief of Police at the Northern Illinois University Department of Police and Public Safety, I want to clarify what recent changes to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program mean for students here at NIU.

In short, NIU Police will not arrest or hold an individual solely based upon their immigration status. Period.

As we stated late last year, we believe that enforcement of federal civil immigration laws generally rest with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and not with state, local and university police. NIU Police does not have a voluntary agreement to perform immigration enforcement and does not use immigration status solely as reason to stop, search, detain or make arrests.

The validity of that approach was reaffirmed on Aug. 28 when Gov. Bruce Rauner signed the Illinois Trust Act. That law reaffirms that neither state nor local law enforcement agencies have the authority to enforce federal civil immigration laws. It prohibits all state and local law enforcement from detaining or complying with any immigration detainer or non-judicial immigration removal warrant for any individual solely on the basis of their immigration status.

In closing, I echo President Freeman’s recent message “NIU Stands with Our DACA Students”. NIU Police value all members of the university community. We are committed to providing all students, faculty, staff and community members, regardless of their immigration status, a safe place to learn, work and live.