Several dozen pro-migrant activists held a rally Monday on Chicago’s Southwest Side to protest against President-elect Donald Trump’s coming deportation plans.
The group waving Mexican flags chose Pilsen, one of Chicago’s Southside Mexican neighborhoods, to supposedly “educate” people on the coming Trump deportation policy, and especially took aim at coming border czar Tom Homan who recently warned officials that Chicago would be one of the coming administration’s first focuses.
“His border czar Tom Homan came to Chicago and said he’s going to start deporting people on day one,” activist Yesenia Puebla said, according to WLS-TV.
The activists hope to convince migrants not to fear deportation and to be armed with the methods to avoid confrontations with ICE.
Indeed, in October, Homan insisted that Chicago would be ground zero for his focus.
“We’re going to start right here in Chicago, Illinois. If your Chicago mayor doesn’t want to help, he can step aside,” Homan warned. “But if he impedes us — if he knowingly harbors or conceals an illegal alien — I will prosecute him.”
He added that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will scour through Chicago in search of “criminals and gang members,” and added, “Count on it. It will happen.”
Chicago alderman Nicholas Sposato (38th) added that the coming plans are to focus on the criminal element, not DREAMers or law-abiding migrants.
This month, two alderpersons have joined together to file an amendment to alter current city rules to allow the Chicago Police Department (CPD) to cooperate with ICE to deport criminals the CPD has arrested.
“I believe in immigration, I believe Chicago should be welcoming, but I also understand that if you choose to act in dangerous and illegal ways, I should have no sanctuary for you here in my city,” Alderman Raymond Lopez (15th) told NewsNation.
The amendment, co-sponsored by Alderwoman Silvana Tabares (23rd), would restore previous policies that allowed limited cooperation with federal officials, a policy that was materially altered under Mayor Lori Lightfoot in 2021.
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Deport All Illegals