Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson has been tapped as a 2026 Just City Mayoral Fellow, and she is already framing the Harvard-based program as a new front in her push to permanently shut down the Broadview ICE processing center. The appointment drops the suburban mayor into a national cohort that spends a semester working with designers, planners, and graduate students on justice-focused local projects, effectively tying Broadview’s political battle to an academic partnership set to kick off this month.
The Just City Mayoral Fellowship is described as an intensive, semester-long program that links mayors with design experts, classroom seminars, and extended advising, according to the Mayors’ Institute on City Design. Members of the 2026 cohort convene for in-person workshops in Cambridge, then continue with months of tailored follow-up support built around each mayor’s top-priority project.
Thompson is listed as one of eight 2026 fellows on the official roster, according to Just City Lab, which pairs Broadview with cities ranging from Santa Monica to Fairbanks for the semester-long design and equity work.
As reported by FOX 32 Chicago, Thompson told reporters she plans to use the Harvard fellowship to intensify her push for a permanent shutdown of the processing center in her village. That stance builds on a year marked by high-profile confrontations among local officials, protesters, and federal immigration teams at the site.
Why the Broadview Center is a flash point
The Broadview processing center has been the focus of sustained protests and accusations that people detained there have faced overcrowding and restricted access to food, medical care and legal counsel, according to reporting by the Associated Press. Advocates and relatives told AP that some people held at the facility spent multiple days in holding rooms without showers or adequate sleeping arrangements, which helped trigger lawsuits and federal court scrutiny.
Thompson has publicly pressed federal officials over security tactics around the site, calling for the removal of what her office labeled an "illegal" security fence and accusing federal actions of "making war on my community," according to a Village of Broadview press release. The village statement casts Thompson’s fellowship as one more tool to pressure federal authorities while pursuing local safety measures and legal responses.
What the fellowship could do locally
Program organizers say fellows finish with a capstone project and months of individualized advising, including access to graduate-student researchers and planning specialists, according to the Mayors’ Institute on City Design. For a mayor zeroed in on an ICE facility, that kind of support can translate into technical help for exploring alternative uses for the site, developing legal and policy approaches and mapping out community-centered options.
Legal and political hurdles
Any permanent closure or reuse of the Broadview facility would hinge on federal agencies and likely involve prolonged negotiations or further litigation. In November, a federal judge ordered short-term improvements at the Broadview site after plaintiffs alleged "inhumane" conditions, a ruling detailed by NBC Chicago, highlighting the complicated legal terrain Thompson is stepping into.
Thompson heads into the Harvard sessions this month with both activists and federal officials watching closely. Whether the fellowship yields a realistic path to closing or repurposing the facility will come down to what designers, lawyers and federal decision-makers ultimately decide is workable in the months ahead.
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