Martin Castro isn’t ready to let his guard down now that officers with Border Patrol and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have seemingly left or scaled back activity in the Chicago area in recent days.
After two months of aggressive immigration enforcement throughout the region, Border Patrol has turned now its attention to Charlotte, N.C. In addition, about 200 members of the Texas National Guard, who arrived to the U.S. Army Reserve Center in Elwood near Joliet in early October, are being sent home, according to reports.
“We see that the Texas National Guard is heading back home with their tails between their legs, and Mr. Bovino is escaping Chicago’s cold, but he’ll be back. Maybe we’ll see some level of normalcy, but we know that we’re still going to continue to have to fight ICE here, and they’ll be back again in the spring when it’s warmer,” said Castro, chief executive of the nonprofit Latino social service agency Casa Central, referring to Gregory Bovino, the U.S. border patrol commander.
“We know that the people of Charlotte will be looking to folks like us to be helpful, and we stand ready to do that.”
On Monday morning, Castro stood with about a hundred other Chicago leaders representing a coalition of the Black, Latino, Asian, Arab, Muslim, Indigenous, LGBTQ+, and disability rights communities at a news conference organized by the groups Two-Thirds United and the Illinois Latino Agenda at Casa Central headquarters in Humboldt Park.
The coalition is leading a united front against ongoing and future immigration enforcement actions that they say have violated the civil and due process rights of Chicagoans.
“This coalition reflects our shared belief that an attack on one community is an attack on all. Day after day for the past two months, Illinois has faced racial profiling, excessive force, nighttime raids and the blatant disregard for court orders and due process. We refused to accept this as the new normal,” said Castro, who also serves as co-chair of Two-Thirds United, a coalition of Black and Brown communities. “It’s a civil rights issue. We need to ensure that other Chicagoans, other Illinoisans, people in other suburbs, realize just because you may not look like us, it doesn’t mean you’re not going to be on the menu. We need all of Chicago to unite.”
Linda Tortolero of the Chicago-based Latino Policy Forum said the effort to bring the groups together started six weeks ago as enforcement action started in Latino neighborhoods but expanded to include other groups and locations.
“Latino immigrant communities have been negatively impacted, but there have been others. We have to make sure that we cross those bridges. Think about the things that we have in common, come up with common strategies where we’re showing our solidarity and our unity at this really important time,” Tortolero said. “I have never in my lifetime seen such racial-profiling on my community. I recognize that racial-profiling has been a long part of our history in the United States, and it’s devastating.”
Karen Freeman-Wilson of the Chicago Urban League said the enforcement action has impacted predominantly Black neighborhoods, including South Shore and Bronzeville. She rejects the notion that immigration is not an issue for the Black community.
“One of the things we have to recognize is that there are African, Haitian, Black Venezuelan immigrants that have come to Chicago. It’s also important for us to recognize that’s one of the ways that people separate us, that’s really not your issue if you are a Black person who’s a descendant of slavery. We have to reject that. Part of the conversation has to be within the Black community so that we can understand that we are all impacted by what is happening in Little Village. We have to see the common thread that relates all communities, and sometimes that’s hard to do when you’re in the middle of it.”
Members of the coalition hope to connect with community leaders in Charlotte to provide advice and strategies in dealing with Border Control and ICE.
Michael Puente is a reporter and weekend anchor for WBEZ. Reach him at mpuente@wbez.org.