Local and state officials denounced what they say is an increase in federal immigration enforcement activity in Lake County at a news conference Tuesday, with community organizers warning of “abductions” across the county over the past week.
The event was held less than a block from where one of several recent confrontations involving federal agents had occurred. On Monday afternoon, Waukegan Mayor Sam Cunningham attempted to intervene in the Border Patrol arrest of native-born American citizen Dariana Fajardo.
Fajardo was in attendance, but the 23-year-old did not speak during the news conference. In an interview afterward, she encouraged people to take the passion they felt about her arrest and put it towards addressing the larger issues.
“I understand what happened to me was very bad, but there are a lot of worse things happening to people who are not as fortunate as me to have citizenship and have documentation,” Fajardo said. “I’m safe. There are a lot of people whose whereabouts we don’t know where they are. We don’t know what happened to them.”
Community organizers said people have also been arrested by federal immigration enforcement agents at the College of Lake County’s Lakeshore Campus, Park City and Home Depot locations in Waukegan and Vernon Hills.
Local and state officials blasted the presence of federal agents in the area, describing the arrests as “kidnappings” utilizing racial profiling. Many referenced the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, which is the term some often use in talking about several federal immigration enforcement agencies now carrying out high-profile activities in the Chicago area.
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U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Highland Park, warned it is an attack on “every single American,” calling President Donald Trump a “would-be dictator.”
“What we are seeing is an administration and a president who is seeking to not just undermine our Constitution, not just overthrow the rule of law, but to undo the spirit and fabric of who we are as a people,” Schneider said.
Joanna Jaimes, a program manager with Mano A Mano Family Resource Center, talked about some of the cases her agency has seen. She painted a grim picture of people being transported by federal agents late at night, families unable to find their loved ones and people going without legal representation.
“They’re trying to rip our communities apart,” Jaimes said.
Dulce Ortiz, executive director of Mano a Mano Family Resource Center, said Mano has been sounding the alarm for months, and warned that officials are seeing “full-scale terror.” She estimated there had been reports of six community members being taken every day since Thursday, when activity first spiked.
“This is not immigration enforcement, this is political theater and this is a campaign of terror,” she said.
Ortiz warned the escalation was a move to create a crisis and justify calling in the National Guard, which is now stationed in Elwood, about 45 miles southwest of Chicago.
The increase in federal immigration enforcement intensity and aggression is having a negative impact on the Waukegan community, she said, including Hispanic-owned businesses. Several restaurants in the area had posted online saying they were closed for the day after the incident outside of Waukegan City Hall on Monday.
Ortiz said she went to one restaurant with her daughters only to find the doors locked.
“That’s not normal,” she said. “This is not the country you or I ever imagined living in.”
Cunningham said the increased activity of federal agents has caused “great fear and uncertainty” in the community, calling on residents to solidify their support of local businesses as they face a drop in customers over fears of federal agents.
After Monday’s incident, Cunningham advised untrained residents not to try to intervene in arrests, and instead call the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has previously called on people to record federal agents’ incidents and arrests.
Cunningham said the city was committed to working with community organizations in providing information and legal resources.
State Sen. Adriane Johnson, D-Buffalo Grove, urged school districts and community colleges to develop emergency plans, “prioritizing student safety and clear communication if federal agents are present.”
“Together, we will keep our community safe, and uphold the values of fairness and justice for all,” Johnson said.
State Sen. Mary Edly-Allen, D-Libertyville, focused on her “white friends,” urging them “not to look away.”
The actions of federal immigration enforcement agents are trampling people’s civil rights, she warned.
“Our immigrant neighbors are part of the fabric of Illinois,” Edly-Allen said. “They are our coworkers, our classmates and our friends. No human being should live in fear.”
In a news release issued Monday, the Department of Homeland Security responded to various statements from Pritzker during a press conference that day, which included a push back on claims of officers engaging in racial profiling.
“Allegations that DHS law enforcement officers engage in ‘racial profiling’ are disgusting, reckless, and categorically FALSE,” the statement said.
Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a federal judge’s order that had prohibited immigration agents from profiling people based on race, language, location and job.
The spike in federal immigration enforcement activity in Lake County is occurring in the midst of Operation Midway Blitz, the name given to the broader federal operation targeting the Chicago area.
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