Chicago Council of Lawyers President Robert Held has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the Village of Broadview’s restrictions on where people may protest near the federal immigration detention facility, raising important questions about the First Amendment and the right to engage in peaceful expression on public sidewalks.

As reported by the Riverside-Brookfield Landmark, Broadview maintains a designated protest area on the east side of Beach Street and has excluded demonstrators from the public sidewalk directly across from the detention facility. Held alleges that on August 22, a Broadview police officer ordered him off that sidewalk and directed him to the designated protest area. He subsequently asked the Village to rescind the restriction and permit peaceful expressive activity on public sidewalks surrounding the facility.

The new lawsuit follows Held’s earlier legal challenge to Broadview’s restrictions on the hours during which protests could take place outside the facility. In that case, Held obtained a preliminary injunction limiting the Village’s ability to enforce those restrictions.

“Broadview continues to place unnecessary restrictions on our First Amendment right to protect,” Held said in a statement cited by the Landmark, adding that the entire country is a ‘free speech zone.’

The case represents another significant development in the continuing legal debate surrounding protest, free speech, and federal immigration enforcement activity in Broadview.

Click here to read the full article from the Riverside-Brookfield Landmark.