Organizers in Chicago stand in solidarity with Minnesota protesters, demand cuts to DHS budget
Community organizations from across Chicago gathered Friday morning to call for an end to federal immigration enforcement and to demand that funding for the Department of Homeland Security be cut.
Dozens gathered Friday at Casa Michoacan, 1638 S. Blue Island Ave., to stand in solidarity with Minneapolis residents who organizers say have been the latest targets of the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation campaign. Organizers said they are fed up with federal enforcement actions they blame for the deaths of immigrants and U.S. citizens, as well as the arrests of dozens of protesters.
“We won’t stand idly by as they separate families, and we will exercise our rights every single day,” said Veronica Castro, deputy director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
DHS said 2,000 federal officers were stationed in Minnesota and have arrested more than 3,000 people over the past six weeks as part of a major immigration enforcement operation. In Minneapolis and surrounding areas, federal agents, at times led by U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino, have carried out raids that have resulted in clashes with residents and protesters demanding they leave their neighborhoods.
Similar tactics were used during Operation Midway Blitz, the administration’s deportation campaign in the Chicago area. During that operation, federal officers were frequently seen traveling in convoys and stopping at gas stations and retail stores, where they questioned people about their citizenship status.
"They're using our neighborhoods as hunting grounds," said Marién Casillas Pabellón, a member of PASO-West Suburban Action Project.
In Chicago, organizers urged residents to call their elected officials to demand an end to funding for immigration enforcement.
The House passed DHS’s funding bill Thursday, despite concerns from Democrats that it fails to curb President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts. However, Republicans managed to push the bill through with a 220-207 vote.
This year’s Homeland Security appropriations bill keeps the annual funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement roughly the same as the previous year. It also restricts the ability of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to unilaterally shift funding and allocate federal dollars as she sees fit. The bill also allocates $20 million for the purchase and operations of body-worn cameras for ICE and CBP officers interacting with the public during immigration enforcement operations.
The spending bill will now move to the Senate, with final passage needed next week before a Jan. 30 deadline to avoid a partial government shutdown.
Organizers said federal agents have terrorized communities for months and continue to retaliate when residents speak out in defense of their neighbors. In response, businesses across Minnesota organized an economic blackout, with owners shutting their doors Friday in protest. Residents were urged to avoid work, school and shopping to show opposition to the continuing presence of immigration agents and federal enforcement operations in the state.
They also called for accountability after a controversial ICE enforcement operation in Minneapolis that resulted in the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen who was killed by an ICE agent on Jan. 7.
Good's shooting death mirrored two similar incidents that happened in the Chicago area during the Blitz — the killing of Silverio Villegas Gonzalez and the shooting of Marimar Martinez.
“We demand ICE out of Minnesota, ICE out of Illinois, ICE out of everywhere,” Castro said.