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The day before Halloween, Gov. JB Pritzker urged the President Donald Trump administration to suspend its immigration enforcement operations this weekend so families and children can stay safe while celebrating the holiday.
Speaking from Springfield, Pritzker said he sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem asking them to pause all federal agent operations for the entirety of the Halloween weekend. Halloween is Friday, followed by Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) on Saturday and Sunday. The latter honors friends and family members who’ve passed away.
“I’m asking for basic human decency. I think their response will be revealing. They’ve disrupted everything for more than two months already. Give the children and the families of Illinois a break, Donald Trump and Kristi Noem,” Pritzker said. “This is about something other than you just causing mayhem on our streets and visiting cruelty upon our people.”
For nearly two months, DHS — which oversees federal agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) — has been carrying out its so-called “Operation Midway Blitz” throughout the Chicagoland area. The operation, according to Noem, is supposed to be targeting the “worst of the worst.”
However, Pritzker said today that’s not what’s happening across the state, and it’s far from the expressed goals of federal immigration authorities. He also noted that the militarized immigration enforcement is happening at “a pace and scale that is wider and more intense than in previous weeks.”
“They have targeted families and children, burrito vendors, landscapers, delivery drivers, nannies, U.S. citizens, legal residents and longtime Chicagoans, people who have never broken the law,” Pritzker said.
During an interview on Thursday with Fox News, Noem was asked if she would pause immigration enforcement operations in Chicago. In response, Noem said she wouldn’t be altering immigration enforcement operations this weekend.
“No, we’re going to be out on the streets in full force and increase our activities to make sure kids are safe. Every day in Chicago, we’re arresting murderers, child pedophiles, those who have perpetuated assault and pornography against children,” Noem said. “We’re going to be out there to make sure that they can be safe, enjoy the holiday, spend some time with their families, their neighbors and their communities, and they don’t have to be the victim of a crime because of these illegal aliens that are in our country, victimizing them.”
Earlier this month, DHS said it arrested more than 1,000 people since it started “Operation Midway Blitz” in September. The TRiiBE hasn’t verified those numbers; with the magnitude and sporadic tactics of detainments, it is challenging to track the number of people who have been taken and where exactly they have been taken to.
During today’s press conference, Pritzker highlighted multiple instances of what he refers to as the Trump administration’s “unlawful behavior and abuses of power.” On Oct. 25, federal agents tear-gassed residents in Old Irving Park who were there documenting enforcement actions. In total, three people were detained by federal agents, and two were U.S. citizens.
An annual children’s costume party in Old Irving Park was scheduled to take place on Oct. 25, but the parade was interrupted and later canceled, Pritzker said.
“This year, the parade was interrupted and then canceled, not because of rain, but because of tear gas. Federal agents swarmed into the neighborhood, not with a criminal target in their sights, but just because Old Irving Park was the next neighborhood on their list to terrorize,” Pritzker said.
Last Saturday was the fourth day in a row that federal agents deployed tear gas. They did so in Cicero, Little Village and in Lakeview, as well.
During his remarks, Pritzker also called out CBP Commander Gregory Bovino and said the operation has “sown fear, division and chaos.”
“If you are unwilling to cease operations and leave our city, can we at least agree that our children should not be victims, especially on Halloween?” Pritzker said. Can we agree that there is no imminent threat that should disrupt their holiday? No child in America should have to go trick-or-treating in fear that they might be confronted with armed federal agents and have to inhale tear gas. I honestly can’t even believe that I have to make this plea. This is not the America that I know. I ask you to restore some sanity for the sake of our children.”
This week, Bovino was called to testify in federal court about a video showing him throwing tear gas in Little Village, as well as other alleged violations of a temporary restraining order that U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis issued.
Also at the press conference were Illinois State Representative Norma Hernandez (D-77), Latino Policy Forum president and CEO Linda Xóchitl Tortolero, Principal of Lords Park Elementary School in Elgin Noe Velazquez, and a representative from the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. They highlighted the trauma and toll that the intensified immigration enforcement has had on not only immigrant communities but every community across the state.
“These actions are not just traumatizing, but they are destabilizing our economy, hurting small businesses and even impacting school attendance and fear is not a policy solution,” Hernandez said. “Trauma is not public safety, and no level of government, local, state or federal, should be allowed to terrorize the very people they’re supposed to serve.”
Hernandez added that rapid responders, legal observers, journalists, elected officials and other volunteers are being arrested when they document federal agents’ misconduct and illegal tactics.
On Wednesday, half a dozen Chicago-area political figures were named in a felony indictment and are being charged with felony impeding and impeding conspiracy charges. The charges stem from a Sept. 26 protest outside the ICE processing center in Broadview. The six people include Democratic Illinois 9th District congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh, Cook County Democratic committeeman Michael Rabbitt and Chicago Ald. Andre Vasquez’s Chief of Staff Catherine Sharp.
“They are getting more aggressive, more violent and attacking more people who pose no threat to them,” Hernandez said.
