CHICAGO (AP) — Latino leaders expressed dismay Saturday over current immigration enforcement operations in Chicago that resulted in a deadly capturing throughout a site visitors cease, the arrest of an immigrant at a barbershop and a tense standoff between protesters and brokers at an immigration processing facility.
An Immigration, Customs and Enforcement officer fatally shot a person who tried to evade arrest Friday by driving his automobile at officers and dragging considered one of them, officers stated. The person, Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, was pronounced lifeless at a hospital.
On the identical day, Willian Gimenez was pulled over whereas driving in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood and detained by ICE brokers. Kevin Herrera, Gimenez’s lawyer, stated he believes it was retaliation for his involvement in a lawsuit in opposition to Chicago leaders, House Depot and an off-duty police officer for his or her actions towards immigrant employees.
Herrera stated Gimenez has a piece allow and goes by way of the method of pursuing an asylum declare.
In an announcement Saturday, immigration authorities stated Gimenez was arrested for being within the nation illegally.
“Nobody is above the legislation. Gimenez Gonzalez is an unlawful alien with prices for felony trespassing and a historical past of not exhibiting as much as courtroom, together with when he failed to seem in immigration courtroom in April of final 12 months, after which an immigration decide ordered him faraway from the nation,” the assertion stated.
Throughout a morning information convention outdoors an ICE facility within the Chicago suburb of Broadview, Rep. Chuy Garcia, a Democrat, stated the incidents are troubling.
“These incidents make us all ask, if ICE can kill considered one of our neighbors in broad daylight … if they will arrest somebody for becoming a member of a lawsuit or just for being Latino, what’s to cease them from getting any considered one of us?” Garcia stated.
A deliberate 12-hour protest Friday outdoors the power included a number of clashes between contributors and officers carrying face coverings, helmets and later gasoline masks. The ability has seen common demonstrations in response to elevated immigration enforcement.
Rep. Delia Ramirez, additionally a Democrat, stated she’s going to demand a radical investigation of the site visitors cease that led to Villegas-Gonzalez’s deadly capturing and known as for group unity.
The Division of Homeland Safety’s marketing campaign, labeled “ Operation Halfway Blitz,” targets so-called sanctuary legal guidelines within the state.
“This ICE operation will goal the felony unlawful aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois as a result of they knew Governor Pritzker and his sanctuary insurance policies would defend them and permit them to roam free on American streets,” DHS stated in an announcement.
Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker has been one of the crucial vocal opponents of the Trump administration’s immigration operations in Chicago.
The current incidents have additionally raised fears in immigrant-heavy neighborhoods about celebrations for Mexican Independence Day on Sept. 16.
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