Imagine dropping your child off at school or walking into Sunday morning worship — only to be met with the chaos and fear of an immigration detention facility next door. For families in Broadview, Illinois, this has been their reality. Now, the Illinois House has passed a bill that would stop it from happening anywhere else in the state.

The legislation would prohibit new immigration detention centers from being built within 1,500 feet of schools, churches, daycares, parks, cemeteries, and homes. It is a clear, common-sense boundary: the places where we raise our children, find community, and call home should not double as the backdrop for detention operations.

This is about the health and safety of our communities. It is about the children in daycare who deserve peace — not chaos outside their window. It is about immigrant families, who already face enormous fear and uncertainty, not having to live in the shadow of a facility designed to detain people like them. And it is about all of us, because when fear takes root in a neighborhood, everyone suffers.

House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch, who represents Broadview, said it plainly: "This bill is not about politics. It's about people." We agree.

The bill has passed the House. Now it is up to the Illinois Senate to finish the job. We are calling on Illinois state senators to pass this legislation and send it to the Governor's desk without delay. Our neighborhoods, our families, and our communities deserve nothing less.