This is part of our series of daily recaps of ICE activity in the Chicago region. Have a tip we should check out? Email [email protected].
LITTLE VILLAGE — Protesters clashed with immigration officers after the federal agents showed up in Little Village Thursday for the second day in a row.
Community leaders said agents detained multiple people — including one teenager — during a standoff with neighbors who showed up to protest the agents’ presence in the neighborhood. The crowd gathered outside Little Village Plaza near 26th Street and Sacramento Avenue, which is home to popular businesses and shopping centers like the Discount Mall.
During the confrontation Thursday morning, federal agents deployed tear gas and pepper spray at protesters, neighbors said. As more neighbors arrived to the scene, federal agents detained a teenaged student at Benito Juarez High School in Pilsen, Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th), who represents the area, said at a press conference.
A second Juarez student tried to intervene and was also detained. Both these arrests happened at the scene, Sigcho-Lopez said. One of the two students was released at the scene. This student was “bloodied,” Sigcho-Lopez said.
The other student was taken away and released hours later. A security guard from the Discount Mall was also among those detained, Sigcho-Lopez said.
“They were attacked, and one of them was beat up. My office was witness of that, one of the kids had blood on his face,” Sigcho-Lopez said. “It is outrageous that ICE agents are terrorizing minors, children that were protesting the outrageous attack on our neighbors. On our communities.”
Officers from the Chicago Police Department responded to multiple 911 calls in the area of 26th Street around 10:15 a.m. Thursday, including “a call from federal agents in need of assistance.”
“Upon arrival, CPD supervisors and officers observed a large crowd and worked to de-escalate,” the department said in a statement. “CPD officers were only on scene to maintain public safety through crowd control and traffic control. Officers secured the area and left the scene once the area was safely cleared.”
Police said one person was arrested for “battering” an officer, and that charges are pending.
It was the second day in a row immigration officials were in the Southwest Side neighborhood. On Wednesday, agents detained at least seven people as they wound through Little Village and suburban Cicero. Two staff members of Ald. Michael Rodriguez (22nd), who represents Little Village, were among those detained; they were released by Thursday morning.
“It’s been weeks of this kind of activity, and here’s what we know: All of it is criminal and illegal. It is a federal government being weaponized against its own people,” said Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th), who leads the council’s Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
Organizers and local officials continued to call out immigration agents for bringing “chaos and fear” to Chicago’s immigrant communities.
At Juarez High School, administrators are in contact with the CPS Office of Safety and Security and the Chicago Police Department to learn more information about what happened, principal Juan Carlos Ocon said in a letter sent to the school community Thursday.
“I know this situation has created many fears and concerns in our community, and I want to emphasize that we are taking this situation extremely seriously. Our school-based mental health professionals are available to any student who needs support processing their feelings around this situation,” Ocon said in the letter.
During a news conference Thursday afternoon, Rodriguez said he’s turning his office into an immigration “triage” center where families of people who have been detained can go for help in navigating next steps. The alderman said Thursday will likely not be the last time immigration agents come to the neighborhood.
“I’m sorry to say that, but we do believe ICE will be back,” Rodriguez said. “But we will stand ready, we will stand united.”
State Sen. Celina Villanueva, who lives in Little Village, said she spent the afternoon passing out masks to her neighbors so they can be better protected when agents deploy tear gas or pepper spray.
“That is state-sponsored violence,” Villanueva said. “What I saw today was a continuation of fascism that [President] Donald Trump and his cronies are trying to instill throughout our entire country.”
Beatriz Ponce de León, deputy mayor for Immigrant, Migrant and Refugee Rights, also called on Chicago’s corporate and philanthropic community to find ways to pitch in and support those who are most directly impacted by federal agents’ presence in the city.
“We know that we need funding to support those families that are being impacted,” Ponce de Leon said during the news conference. “We need funding to support the day laborers that can’t work, the street vendors that have lost their businesses and the small businesses that are struggling.”
Gov. JB Pritzker and former Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced separate efforts to create databases to track abuses by federal immigration agents in an effort to aid in the future prosecution of agents.
Pritzker signed an executive order Thursday to create an “Illinois Accountability Commission,” an independent nine-seat board to gather testimony and hold hearings that will “document a formal, public record” of federal agents accused of using excessive force, according to a press release from his office.
“We will create a detailed record, and that record will reflect reality,” Pritzker said in the statement. “Once this all ends, I believe there will be people of good faith who will review what the Commission has recorded and will demand answers and accountability.”
The announcement comes the morning after Lightfoot went on Fox 32 to announce an “ICE Accountability Project,” which she said would be built around a “centralized archive” of videos of federal immigration activity around Chicago.
Lightfoot vowed to “unmask” agents by everything but name, documenting any information on their uniforms, the cars they drive and their appearance down to “even the masks and shoes they wear.”
“Hopefully, it’s gonna compel local law enforcement, the state’s attorney and others to do their jobs and investigate the allegations of serious crimes being committed,” Lightfoot said. “It’s not for us to make a determination as to whether a crime is in fact … committed, but we want to gather the evidence.”
Lightfoot, a career prosecutor, was chair of a Chicago Police Accountability Task Force that released a report on systemic racism in the force following the murder of Laquan McDonald. Last month, Lightfoot appeared at a press conference in support of Broadview Mayor Karina Thompson, who has been vocal about force used by federal agents outside the village’s ICE processing facility.
Happening In Chicago
- Chicago-area companies have benefitted financially from the government’s immigration enforcement operation in the area, Block Club reported Thursday. That includes a suburban non-lethal weapons manufacturer paid $1.5 million and a moving company paid over $7 million to relocate federal employees.
- Around 9 a.m. Thursday, federal agents were seen in driving around in at least five SUVs in Back of the Yards, according to the Southwest Rapid Response Team.
- Around noon Thursday, agents were confirmed to be in McKinley Park and Bridgeport, with a federal helicopter seen hovering over Bridgeport, the Southwest Rapid Response Team reported.
- Armour Elementary, 950 W. 33rd Place in Bridgeport, amended dismissal plans for Thursday afternoon, according to an email reviewed by Block Club. Students in the school’s main building will be dismissed to the playground, where teachers will wait with students until they are picked up. Students in the branch building will stay indoors and will be dismissed individually once security identifies their parents.
- Around 1 p.m. Thursday, at least one federal agent was spotted at O’Hare Airport’s rideshare parking lot, according to Increase The Peace Chicago. Agents have made at least two sweeps of the lot, arresting over two dozen drivers.
Happening In Suburbs
- Around 9:15 a.m. Thursday, around 10 federal agents were seen in the Home Depot parking lot at 50th Street and Cicero Avenue in Cicero, according to Berwyn Cicero Rapid Response.
Block Club’s Mack Liederman contributed reporting.
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