In Trump's first week as president, angst over deportation threats continues to rise
In the days since Donald Trump was sworn in for his second presidential term, Riccy, an immigrant from Honduras who has lived in Chicago seven years, has found herself checking her surroundings for the possibility of immigration officials.
The mother of four says she worries about what could happen to her family. She has written a document in case she’s separated from her children, and she wants to get it notarized.
Despite her worries, Riccy has been among those who have spoken out even as Trump issued executive orders this week to further curtail immigration. She joined a group of labor advocates days after the inauguration in the basement of Centro de Trabajadores Unidos’ building on the East Side to rally support for immigrant workers.
“I get strength from my community to raise my voice,” Riccy says, “so that everyone knows about the rights that we do have and to know we aren’t alone.”
Threats of mass deportations did not materialize in the Chicago area, but people have remained vigilant as false sightings of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were rumored from the Loop to suburban workplaces.
ICE did not comment Friday on whether anyone had been detained.
Aside from the ongoing threats, a blitz of immigration policies about where ICE can detain people and about ending humanitarian parole programs is keeping many immigrants on edge wondering how those policies will affect them.
Threats in ‘safe’ spaces
The uncertainty and anxiety about where and when Trump's deportations could take place keeps growing. As Trump clears the way for allowing immigration arrests in sensitive locations including schools, Chicago Public Schools teachers and religious leaders are preparing to protect students and parishioners.
CPS issued a letter to parents reminding them of a district policy that forbids federal agents from entering schools or accessing student records without a judicial warrant.
“Our District is fully committed to protecting the right all students have to a free public education, regardless of their immigration status or the immigration status of their family,” CPS CEO Pedro Martinez said. The letter said CPS doesn't allow immigration agents inside schools unless they have a warrant signed by a federal judge. Martinez also assured that the district won’t share student records with immigration officials unless there is a court order or consent from the parent or guardian.
The letter reminds parents and teachers about two local laws that prohibit collaboration between police and federal immigration officials — the Illinois Trust Act at the state level and the Welcoming City Ordinance in Chicago.
But experts — like Fred Tsao, senior policy counsel with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrants and Refugee Rights — warn that suburban schools aren’t protected by Illinois law and are urging school district leaders to enact policies similar to those of CPS.
“All that the Trust Act does is say that local police cannot assist with such operations or provide information to facilitate such operations unless ICE agents have a warrant sworn out by a judge.” Tsao says. “There's no formal block restraining immigration enforcement activities at these specific locations. If ICE agents see fit to try to apprehend somebody at a school, they can do so.”
But Tsao also said Illinois doesn’t have laws preventing school districts or individual schools from creating such policies, and it’s up to each individual school or school district to adopt policies similar to CPS or go the opposite direction — “and collaborate with ICE [agents] if they show up,” Tsao says.
The Illinois State Board of Education recently released guidelines and reminded the public that schools do not collect citizenship status information of students and parents.
State Education Superintendent Tony Sanders says the state board believes schools should “be a safe haven for all students, where students should be able to learn without fear.”
Churches, which historically have been at the center of sanctuary movements in Chicago and across the country, also face the threat of ICE officials entering the religious spaces to detain immigrants.
The Rev. Beth Brown, of the Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church, says she has spent the first days of Trump’s presidency ensuring that other leaders know there are still protections for places of worship.
“The law is that ICE cannot enter our buildings when our doors are locked, unless they have a signed judicial warrant,” Brown says.
The church becomes a public space when it opens its doors to the public for worship services, but religious leaders believe rooms with signs stating “do not enter,” “private” or “employees only” may be places that ICE couldn’t access, Brown says.
Churches around Chicago are also putting up signs stating that they do not consent to ICE agents entering the religious spaces.
Trump expands who ICE targets
Trump and his border czar, Tom Homan, have vowed to start the mass deportations by going after immigrants with a criminal record. Some advocates say these threats have created confusion and uncertainty about how the new administration might target immigrants without legal status who also have low-level offenses on their record.
“I have a DUI from 13 years ago, which has criminalized me,” says Antonio Gutierrez, part of Organized Communities Against Deportations, adding that he just got a driver’s license after paying more than $3,000 in fines and classes.
Gutierrez says he made a mistake, he learned from it and he is now a law-abiding resident. But he still has fears. “I'm actually a big threat or a big target because of [my] that criminal record.”
He knows the Welcoming City ordinance prohibits the sharing of information about an individual's status and any record involving nonviolent crimes between police and ICE agents, but he and other advocates fear a new bill in Congress known as the Laken Riley Act could further criminalize immigrants with low-level offenses often associated with living in poverty.
This measure, which allows federal immigration officials to detain and deport people without legal status who are charged with minor theft or shoplifting, passed the Senate and the House with the support of Democrats.
“If the person is deportable already for not having lawful status, that person would be vulnerable,” says Hena Mansori, attorney supervisor with the Immigration Division at the Cook County Public Defender. “Even one shoplifting arrest, even if the state doesn't think it's serious enough to charge you, [it] would require ICE to detain you and place you in removal proceedings.”
Private vs. public spaces
As stories spread about potential sightings of immigration officials, advocates distinguish between the spaces ICE agents could enter and those they could be prohibited from entering without a warrant signed by a judge.
Esmeralda Limón, an attorney with Raise the Floor, said during a news conference that they are making sure workers know that there are limits to areas ICE can access even in workplaces.
She says there is a difference between being in a public and a private space.
Limón used the example of a restaurant, explaining that immigration officials could go into areas where customers are eating because that would be considered a public space, but agents wouldn’t be allowed to enter private areas such as kitchens or employee backrooms unless they have a warrant signed by a judge.
If ICE agents want to go inside a private space like a home, Limón says it’s important to ask if they have a judicial warrant and to read it closely. “It’s important to pay attention to the details of the warrant. Sometimes it doesn’t have the correct date, or it can list a couple of names, and you may not even be the name on that warrant.”
Ana Guajardo, the executive director of Centro de Trabajadores Unidos, says ICE agents must have the specific names of workers they are there to detain if they enter a workplace. The Chicago-based labor organization has been doing “know your rights” training for schools and employers.
“Centro de Trabajadores Unidos is going to be a safe space for our community; we are not going to cooperate with any ICE activities,” Guajardo says.
Legal defense
Local attorneys have been discussing how immigration policy under Trump could affect residents without legal status. They are preparing advocates with the legal tools necessary to defend immigrants at risk of deportation.
Mansori says Illinois county jails and prisons aren’t allowed to hold immigrants for ICE. But it doesn't mean ICE won’t arrest people by waiting outside these facilities or by conducting random raids in public areas. She also says ICE still can access people’s private information through other federal databases including the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Department of Homeland Security.
And in many cases, ICE agents will try different ways to get into private property.
“They will often try to get people to open the door and say, ‘Hey, we're the police…or, hey, I'm your parole officer. Need to talk to you,’” Mansori says. “They will basically say whatever they can to get that person to open up and let them in.”
Though the detention process could change under Trump, typically, Mansori says, once detained, immigrants are taken to a processing center in Broadview. Immigrants without pending criminal records are released under bond. Those already with a deportation order or a violent criminal record aren’t allowed to see a judge and are transferred to ICE custody in surrounding states including Indiana or Wisconsin.
Mansori said she has been working with other public defenders who don’t understand immigration law so that they can understand what risks their clients face, even when they still have pending charges. But she says it’s important for people to know that while immigrants are protected under sanctuary laws in Chicago and Illinois, they are not immune to immigration enforcement.
“Particularly any involvement with the criminal justice system, even for something minor, may certainly increase that person's chance of ICE enforcement,” she says.
Contributing: Sophie Sherry, Anna Savchenko