Day Laborer Released After Civil Rights Complaint
Advocates Gathered Wednesday to Call for Investigation Into Unlawful Raids
Advocates gathered Wednesday at a Press conference and rally to announce the request for an investigation into the tactics used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers during a January 2016 raid at a Schaumburg church. This is the second request for a Civil Rights investigation into tactics used by the Chicago ICE office this month. The first request, which has led to an investigation by the Department of Homeland Security into potential civil rights violations, was submitted after three day laborers were racially profiled and taken to immigration detention in early August. Two of the three workers have been released, including one who was released on Monday after more than three weeks in detention.
The press conference was held at 101 W. Congress, Outside of the Department of Homeland Security/Immigration and Customs Enforcement office.
A day laborer who was swept up in an Aug. 5 raid merely for appearing to be Latino was freed Monday following a civil rights complaint filed by the Latino Union of Chicago, Organized Communities Against Deportations, and Mijente.
At the Wednesday press conference, the immigrants rights advocates who helped win his release announced the filing of a second civil rights complaint, demanded a comprehensive investigation by the Department of Homeland Security of Chicago ICE Director Ricardo Wong’s unlawful racial profiling of local residents, and requested a full accounting of any role local police had in the unlawful raid.
“In the course of these raids, Wong’s officers have forced dozens of Latino residents to submit to unlawful searches and have lured community members out of their places of worship. What’s next – checkpoints outside grocery stores and churches?” asks Latino Union Director Analía Rodríguez. “Wong’s illegal actions are terrorizing neighborhood residents and harming Chicago’s communities. We are joining together to say that racial profiling has no place in a city that is supposed to be Welcoming for immigrants.”
During the Aug. 5 raid, ICE agents arrived at the long-standing street corner hiring site at the corner of Belmont and Milwaukee. Workers report that without cause, the agents demanded that several Latino workers submit to having their hands scanned.
Following the raid, Latino Union, Organized Communities Against Deportations, Mijente and the #Not1More Campaign demanded an investigation into the civil rights violations that occurred in the operation, citing a long history of abuse.
More than 100 community members, outraged by this blatant example of racial profiling, attended a press conference on Tuesday Aug. 9 calling on ICE to release the detained workers.
The unlawful operations conducted by Chicago ICE Director Wong never would have been brought to light without their support, as well as intervention from Ald. Ariel Reboyras (30th Ward), Ald. Carlos Rosa (35th Ward), the office of Rep. Luis Gutierrez (4th District) and legal assistance from the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild.
