Immigrant Solidarity DuPage wants community members to know it has their back.
As the long-promised federal immigration blitz on Chicago seemed to get underway Sunday, the Wheaton-based nonprofit has activated a rapid response network devoted to tracking U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in and around DuPage County.
Immigrant Solidarity’s efforts come as school, law enforcement, health and elected officials in Naperville and countywide prepare for the local implications of harsher federal immigration enforcement policies.
‘… looking for ICE everywhere’
Immigrant Solidarity’s rapid response network — which as of this week was composed of about 87 members — has three goals: dispel fear, disrupt immigration enforcement efforts and verify rumored local ICE activity, said Cristobal Cavazos, the group’s DuPage County executive director.
“It’s inescapable, that there’s been people with fear. … (But) the other thing that we’ve seen, which I’ve been extremely proud of, is how keen everybody’s been in protecting the community,” Cavazos said. “We have people … that are looking out for ICE everywhere.””
Should Immigrant Solidarity’s rapid response team catch wind of ICE activity anywhere from Naperville to Elmhurst — and even in areas outside DuPage such as Elgin — members will check out the report and, if it is true, protest the enforcement, Cavazos says.
“We’re not just going to sit there and take pictures,” he said. “We’re going to be shouting. We’re going to be yelling.”
Since Sunday, its rapid response team had been deployed a handful of times to areas of West Chicago and Hoffman Estates to investigate reported activity but determined they were unsubstantiated, he said.
Founded in 2007, Immigrant Solidarity’s mission is to “educate, organize and mobilize DuPage County around the rights and collective struggles of the Latino community,” according to its website. Immigrant Solidarity has been building its rapid response network in preparation for a second Trump administration since July, Cavazos said.
“We’ve never seen a presidential campaign that’s so keen on trying to take the self-respect, the dignity of our community and try to dehumanize us,” he said.
In his first week in office, President Donald Trump signed 10 executive orders on immigration and issued a host of edicts to see through promises of mass deportations and border security.
Immigrant Solidary previously activated a rapid response network during Trump’s first term and through the Obama administration. For the first time with this current administration, though, the organization has started deploying community patrols.
Patrols are centered around the Aurora area, Elgin and West Chicago, Cavazos said. However, Cavazos added that he thinks “all areas in Chicagoland are possible targets.”
“But what we want them to know is that we’re ready,” he said. “We’re organized. We’re mobilized.”
Law enforcement respond
Naperville and county law enforcement meanwhile have emphasized their local purview and priorities amid federal immigration enforcement efforts.
The Naperville Police Department in a statement said it is “committed to providing police services to all members of our community, regardless of citizenship status.”
“Our primary responsibility is enforcing criminal laws, and we remain dedicated to that mission,” the department statement said. “Immigration enforcement is the jurisdiction of federal authorities, and local law enforcement’s involvement is regulated by state law.”
Under the 2017 Trust Act, law enforcement in Illinois is generally barred from assisting federal law enforcement in immigration matters.
In a statement, DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said, “The Illinois Trust Act places limitations on local law enforcement participating, supporting or assisting immigration enforcement operations.”
The DuPage County Sheriff’s Office and all DuPage County law enforcement agencies have received training on the Trust Act and other applicable state law and “will continue to comply with all provisions of those acts,” Berlin said.
Sensitive locations
As part of last week’s string of executive orders, the Trump administration threw out policies that limited immigration arrests at sensitive locations, such as churches, schools and hospitals.
In response to questions about what protocols Edward Hospital has in place should federal immigration authorities approach the Naperville campus, Endeavor Health spokesman Spencer Walrath wrote in an email, “To ensure the security and proper safeguards of confidential and private information, we follow our internal processes for appropriate response to any government or law enforcement agent at our facilities and will comply with applicable laws and regulations.”
He added, “We are committed to providing care to all members of our community.”
If federal immigration authorities were to request information from a DuPage school district or access a student or employee, the DuPage Regional Office of Education would advise the district to contact legal counsel, Regional Superintendent Amber Quirk said.
Quirk also pointed to nonregulatory guidance issued by the Illinois State Board of Education last week that outlined steps schools can take to prepare for and respond to immigration enforcement actions on school property.
“I can’t speak to how each of the 42 school districts are preparing,” she said, “but that would be what we would recommend to all of them.”
Naperville School District 203 did not return multiple requests for comment.
Indian Prairie School District 204 Superintendent Adrian Talley has stated that the district is offering resources from the American Immigration Council, the Immigrant Legal Resource Center and the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights to the school community.
North Central College will ensure that law enforcement comply with all due process requirements before it would grant access to information or campus locations, according to a North Central spokesperson. The college also would not take action before consulting with legal counsel, the spokesperson said.
A fifth of North Central’s student population is Hispanic, according to the college’s website. Nearly 40% are first-generation students. Asked if North Central asks students and staff for their immigration status, the spokesperson said it “asks several standard admission questions, including demographic questions.”
North Central has been in contact with students, faculty and staff regarding its procedures, the spokesperson said.
College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn is “going to stick to our mission and vision as we navigate what is a very fluid situation,” college spokeswoman Jennifer Duda said. COD is a community college “so we’re open to the community and we’re going to put our students first,” she said.
The college does not maintain records of students’ immigration status, Duda said. Its website notes that it is “committed to our students and the community, regardless of immigration status” and says it has a designated undocumented student liaison to “be an advocate for students and their families.”
“Here to help”
State Sen. Laura Ellman, D-Naperville, said Monday night that her office has not yet heard from any constituents regarding federal immigration enforcement efforts but that “we are preparing.”
“We’re learning,” she said. “We’re gathering information on resources that we can use to help any constituents who are worried or who are facing any kind of imminent action.”
A priority for her office is ensuring constituents are informed both on their rights and how to responsibly report local ICE activity so rumors aren’t spread, she said.
“I think part of this is people are afraid and misinformation can be … scary,” she said.
Ellman assured her office is “here to help” regardless of constituents’ immigration status.
Naperville-based Alliance of Latinos Motivating Action in the Suburbs (ALMAS) hopes to hold a “Know your rights” event in February in partnership with various community partners, ALMAS President Lili Burciaga said.
The group also is in the process of printing “Know your rights” cards to have on hand, Burciaga said.
Amid organizing, it’s been important to “to stay hopeful (and) to believe in the power of community,” she said.
“To believe that we are better when we work together.”
The Associated Press, Chicago Tribune reporter Jeremy Gorner and (Aurora) Beacon-News reporter Molly Morrow contributed.
