by Joe Siegel

Ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in Chicago, along with the presence of hundreds of National Guard members from Texas, has resulted in widespread coverage in LGBTQ as well as mainstream media.

An October 6 story in the Windy City Times (WCT) highlighted Chicago officials vowing to protect the city’s immigrant communities from ICE.

“Deputy Mayor for Immigrant, Migrant and Refugee Rights Beatriz Ponce de León, speaking on behalf of Mayor Brandon Johnson, said the city is drawing on every tool available to resist ICE,” WCT reported. “She pointed to two recent executive orders, including one reaffirming Chicago’s Welcoming City Ordinance, ensuring that Chicago police will not cooperate or assist ICE.”

An October 13 WCT story focused on the threat of a lawsuit against ICE by Alderman Jessie Fuentes.

“Fuentes is preparing to file a lawsuit against the ICE agent who handcuffed and threatened to arrest her at Humboldt Park Health earlier this month,” wrote Jake Wittich, WCT’s managing editor. “In an interview with Windy City Times, Fuentes said she has been consulting with lawyers about taking legal action and could file a lawsuit as soon as this week. The lawsuit would stem from an Oct. 3 incident inside the hospital’s emergency room, where Fuentes was responding to support a man injured during an encounter with federal immigration agents.”

“I’ve been doing fine since then, and my major focus has been making sure that we can get the support that’s needed for the individual who’s in the hospital,” Fuentes told WCT. “What’s happening in the city of Chicago is not about safety. It’s about a white supremacist project — about eradicating people. As a queer, masculine-presenting Latina, I pose a great threat.”

WCT publisher Matt Simonette noted, “There is obviously widespread concern for Latino/a/e members of the LGBTQ community. For example, ICE has been especially active in the Rogers Park neighborhood, which has particularly large queer and Latino/a/e constituencies. A great many folks there have used their networks to alert others when ICE has been sighted. There are LGBTQ Latino/a/e folks all over the region of course, so the raids hit hard no matter where.”

Simonette believes residents will not back down from showing their opposition to the Trump administration. “I certainly am concerned the protests could escalate, but am not surprised by the resistance. Chicago is not the type of city that would ever take ICE’s brand of terrorizing lying down.”

In part in response to all that has been happening, “About 250,000 people protested in Chicago’s No Kings rally and march [October 18], condemning President Donald Trump’s escalating attacks on democracy as the city remains in the crosshairs of an intensifying immigration crackdown,” Wittich reported.

IN THE NEWS
Volume 27
Issue 9