Heightened Immigration Actions Impact Chicago Festivities
In a week marked by intensified immigration enforcement in Chicago, local celebrations for Halloween and the Day of the Dead were notably subdued. Many residents observed a decline in community activities, with some events like Halloween parades being canceled amid growing fears.
Ernesto, who lives in a predominantly Latino area, shared with NPR his concerns about the palpable fear that has accompanied these enforcement actions. He requested anonymity, fearing repercussions from his employer for speaking out. “The fear,” he noted, “has been more palpable with each passing day.”
Amid these tensions, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker appealed to federal authorities to suspend “Operation Midway Blitz,” the immigration enforcement initiative, during the Halloween weekend. He emphasized the importance of protecting children during festive times, stating, “If you are unwilling to cease operations and leave our city, can we at least agree that our children should not be victims, especially on Halloween?”
However, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem rebuffed this request, labeling it “shameful” and affirming that the agency would not halt operations intended to ensure community safety. “We’re absolutely not willing to put on pause any work that we will do to keep communities safe,” she stated in a press conference.
Violence erupted last Friday in Evanston, a suburb north of Chicago, as protesters clashed with immigration agents near a middle school. Videos circulated depicting agents forcefully restraining a man and deploying pepper spray to disperse the crowd. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security described an incident involving a vehicle crash and subsequent hostile actions by a crowd. According to the spokesperson, three U.S. citizens were arrested for aggressive behavior toward law enforcement.
During this operation, five undocumented immigrants from Mexico were detained, all with prior criminal charges, including multiple illegal entries into the U.S. Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss expressed strong disapproval of the enforcement actions, criticizing ICE for their aggressive tactics. “It is an outrage. Our message for ICE is simple: Get the hell out of Evanston,” he declared during a press conference on Friday.
Currently, ICE is detaining nearly 60,000 individuals, a significant increase and the highest in recent years. Most of these individuals do not have criminal records, yet this year has seen a record number of deaths in detention since the early 2000s, with at least 20 fatalities reported so far. For more information on the situation, see NPR’s detailed report.
This article was originally written by www.npr.org
