Chicago residents gathered Thursday in Pilsen to protest interactions between Chicago police officers and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
The public meeting was sponsored by The Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA) at Thalia Hall, drawing Chicago residents from across the city, including the West Side. About 500 people attended.
The meeting came as ICE agents removed residents from a South Austin building and Border Patrol agents put a man in a chokehold, according to Block Club Chicago after a car crash in Garfield Park as a result of Operation Midway Blitz.
Block Club Chicago also reported that federal agents handcuffed 26th ward Alderperson Jessie Fuentes at the Humboldt Park Hospital for questioning their warrant, forcibly removing her, while ICE activity and tear gas incidents spread fear among West Side residents.
A press conference was held where local leaders spoke about federal ICE activity in Chicago neighborhoods emphasizing the need for full accountability from the Chicago Police Department and the city, calling for transparency about what is happening in their communities.
Meghan Christopher is a Humboldt Park resident, lifelong Chicagoan and mother who leads a school safe passage program and is actively involved in the 26th Ward.
Christopher emphasized that there is documented Chicago Police Department activity in which officers organized vehicle convoys, stood watch for ICE, blocked roads, and at times, restricted residents from documenting obstructions as ICE operations unfolded across Chicago.
“We have watched Chicago police officers, who swore to serve and protect us, instead protect anonymous masked agents who have created a war zone in our parks, streets, homes and schoolyards,” Christopher said.
She said her children’s school St. Sylvester is two blocks from a Chicago Police Department and that she has lost count of how many times neighbors have texted her to warn that ICE was nearby.
Christopher frequently witnesses vehicles speeding dangerously down the street. Occasionally, she is able to capture a photo to send to the regular rapid response team.
“We get all the alerts: ‘ICE is in Humboldt Park,’ ‘ICE is at the Erie Health Clinic,’ ‘ICE is here.’ We saw the police there probably about half the time and these are hundreds of alerts of the Chicago Police Department going straight to those locations,” Christopher said.
She noted that, despite well-documented incidents, her vantage point near the police station allows her to see the activity firsthand.
“Every day, I sit at the corner of my children’s school with only a yellow vest and a 50-cent whistle to protect my children and their classmates from reckless driving, chemical weapons and armed thugs. We are doing the job that Chicago police officers swore they would do with pride,” Christopher said.
According to her remarks, the Chicago Police Department, required to file reports of criminal offenses, has not produced them and questions remain about who verifies the victims and authorizations for tracking.
“How many vulnerable people have been taken while the Chicago Police Department. Have you enjoyed the show? The Chicago Police Department is fully complicit in the tragedies of the last four months in Chicago, both through what it has done and what it has failed to do,” Christopher said.
Christopher expressed doubt that the commissioners would take any action, noting that they were disengaged and present at the table only half the time.
“One of them was rolling her eyes at everything everybody said. What I would like to see is The Civilian Office of Police Accountability putting these people, including the police officers, in jail. They shouldn’t have their jobs if they aren’t going to make us their first priority,” Christopher said.
