Latino Voices

Chicago Immigrant Advocates Push for Increased Protections as Trump Administration Targets the City


Increased immigration raids have been reported across the country.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also known as ICE, confirmed nearly 1,200 arrests on Sunday. Approximately 100 people have been detained by federal officials in the Chicago area, according to the Chicago Police Department.

Tom Homan, the former acting director of ICE and Trump’s pick to serve as his “border czar,” has vowed to initially focus efforts to deport undocumented immigrants who have been convicted of serious crimes, but said undocumented immigrants who agents encounter will also be detained.

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“The wording of immigration law says that anyone could be detained, and unfortunately, previous administrations wouldn’t enforce that to the full extent, but Trump will be and is enforcing this law to the full extent,” said Laura Leon, an immigration attorney at Laura Leon Law at PLLC.  “Anyone who doesn’t have a legal status in the United States is a target for these policies.”

Leon says these arrests will lead to more fear, family separation, and backlogs in immigration courts. The current statistics show 3.5 million cases in backlog, she said.

WTTW News recently spoke with two individuals whose family members have been detained, and said their loved ones do not have a criminal record. Those families are currently facing the legal battle to fight deportation.

“We expected it to be no crimes at all. We expected for citizens to be picked up just like it’s happening. We knew that was just an excuse to terrify our Black and Brown communities,” said Dulce Ortiz, board president of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICCIR) and executive director of Mano a Mano Family Resource Center. “We know that that was an excuse, because I haven’t heard ICE going into these White immigrant communities where they also have immigrants.”

Ortiz said ICCIR started conducting “Know Your Rights” workshops in December in preparation for Trump’s deportation plans.

On a CNN interview Monday, Homan voiced his frustration with sanctuary cities’ efforts to prepare individuals for immigration raids.

“Sanctuary cities are making it very difficult to arrest the criminals. For instance Chicago, very well educated, they’ve been educated how to defy ICE, how to hide from ICE,” Homan said. “They call it ‘Know Your Rights.’ I call it how to escape arrest.”

Last week, Chicago launched a “Know Your Rights” ad campaign on CTA systems in an effort to prepare communities.

“In this country, people do have rights, and just because you’re the federal government, you don’t get to violate those rights,” said Ortiz. “And if you do, we have courts to ensure that people’s rights are not being violated. Federal agents and federal agencies that are violating these rights are put on the spot and held accountable.”

On Monday, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman James Comer announced an investigation into the policies of sanctuary jurisdictions and their impact on public safety and federal immigration enforcement.

Comer’s investigation will focus on Chicago, Denver, Boston and New York City. He requested documents and communications related to cities’ sanctuary policies. Mayor Brandon Johnson was called to testify at the committee hearing schedule on Feb. 11.

“We should not be concerned or afraid of tyrants,” said Ald. Sigcho-Lopez of the 25th Ward. “We should organize to strengthen our sanctuary city laws just like the city of Evanston did a few weeks ago. We should be ready to fight in the courts, in our legislative bodies and in the streets.”

Heather Cherone contributed to this report. 


 

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