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Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Immigrant advocates, elected officials call for release of Chicago mother detained by ICE
When Gladis Yolanda Chavez finally had a chance to speak to her attorney, two days after being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, the first thing she asked him to do was keep her daughter safe. Chavez's 10-year-old daughter was in school when her mother was detained at an ICE check-in Wednesday, one of an estimated 20 people who were rounded up during surprise check-ins at the federal agency's Intensive Supervision Appearance Program offices in Chicago. Similar arrests were reported that day in New York, San Jose and Birmingham. Chavez and about 20 others were still at the ICE processing center in Broadview Friday morning. Since the facility is not a detention center, something prohibited in Illinois due to the state's Way Forward Act, there are no beds. So they had been sleeping on the floor and sitting around on the few chairs available, she told her lawyers and supporters, who were finally able to see her Friday. She'd been difficult to locate, her attorneys said, because Chavez and others recently detained had not been added to the ICE detainee online locator system, typically the only way for families to find their loved ones after they've been detained. If you're arrested by ICE in Illinois, what happens next? Legal experts explain the process. 'We are angry, and this is not the end. We will continue to visualize how ICE is engaging and exposing their racist tactics targeting immigrants of color,' said Antonio Gutierrez, a co-founder and strategic coordinator of Organized Communities Against Deportations, where Chavez worked. 'This is fascism and racism at its finest example, while having the U.S. government doing illegal kidnapping, coercion and human trafficking without orders of removal.' Supporters of Chavez, elected officials and her attorneys spoke at a news conference Friday in front of the Broadview processing center to demand ICE release Chavez and others detained on Wednesday. A.J. Johnson Reyes, one of Chavez's lawyers and a member of Beyond Legal Aid, said that while an ICE agent he spoke to before showed his desire to help, he said the agent told Reyes could no longer do so because now 'he is following orders.' 'They are forced to put their humanity aside,' Reyes said. Still, he said, his team is committed to doing everything legally possible to stop Chavez's deportation. The lawyers sought two stays of removal in an attempt to stop the deportation. The temporary stay was granted by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, said Reyes. Another request for a stay was submitted with ICE, but not granted. While they remain hopeful, they're bracing for the worst. Several migrants in restraints are escorted to vans for transport out of the Broadview Immigration Processing Center on June 6, 2025. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune) Broadview police officers provide crowd control as community members and immigrant rights advocates gather outside the Broadview Immigration Processing Center on June 6, 2025, to demand the immediate release of Gladis Yolanda Chaves. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune) Attorneys A.J. Johnson Reyes and Nadia Singh enter to speak with clients at the Broadview Immigration Processing Center on June 6, 2025. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune) Two men try to leave a bag with supplies and money for a detainee at the Broadview Immigration Processing Center on June 6, 2025. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune) Attorney Nadia Singh, of Beyond Legal Aid, community members and immigrant rights advocates gather at the Broadview Immigration Processing Center June 6, 2025, to demand the immediate release of Gladis Yolanda Chaves. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune) Show Caption1 of 6Carlos Pineda and girlfriend Stephanie Tlatenchi get emotional as several vans filled with migrants leave the Broadview Immigration Processing Center on June 6, 2025. The couple were there to try to communicate with one of the detainees. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)Expand At any point, Chavez could be put on a plane back to her native Honduras or to a detention facility across the country, said Xanat Sobrevilla, a longtime friend of Chavez and member of OCAD. 'She was completely dedicated to her daughter,' Sobrevilla said in tears. Chavez served as a community organizer for OCAD, an organization that provides resources and legal aid to undocumented individuals facing deportation to guarantee a right to due process. Ironically, as Chavez urged others to comply with the law, she was detained. According to her supporters, Chavez received a message on June 2 to report to the ISAP office at 2245 S. Michigan Ave for a 'check-in,' despite already being subject to electronic monitoring via an ankle bracelet. She arrived on Wednesday with her two attorneys, they said. But after more than 90 minutes, she was handcuffed and ICE agents ordered her attorneys to leave. She was being detained. Chavez arrived from Honduras more than a decade ago, seeking refuge from extreme poverty and violence in her home country. She lived on the city's Northwest Side and had been attending routine check-ins with ICE for nearly eight years. The system — which required her to also wear an ankle monitor the last two months — allowed for individuals like Chavez, who are not considered a threat or had an ongoing immigration case, an alternative to detention and deportation. What was meant to be a routine check-in ICE has, for many, become a turning point. Agents have broad discretion to decide whether individuals can remain in the country or face removal. But advocates warn that new quotas imposed by the Department of Homeland Security are leaving little room for discretion or compassion — even for those who have lived in the United States for more than a decade. Though she has become the face of this most recent ICE operation in Chicago, there are dozens of families waiting for help and clarity, Gutierrez said. And there are dozens of parents leaving behind their U.S. children, he said. Many were detained during a surprise check-in at the ISAP Chicago office even after having complied fully with every requirement imposed by ICE, including wearing an ankle monitor, supporters said. Outside the Broadview facility, Lawrence Benito, executive director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, said that the new operations were part of 'Trump's racist agenda,' and that they are committed to continuing to organize to 'make sure that people know their rights. Ald. Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez of the 33rd Ward, in which Chavez has been living, said that she, too, would advocate for immigrant rights despite the clash with ICE agents outside the facility on Wednesday, where she and other aldermen said they were roughed up. 'We will take the risks necessary to protect our community,' she said.
Chicago Tribune
3 days ago
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Immigrant advocates, elected officials call for release of Chicago mother detained by ICE
When Gladis Yolanda Chavez finally had a chance to speak to her attorney, two days after being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, the first thing she asked him to do was keep her daughter safe. Chavez's 10-year-old daughter was in school when her mother was detained at an ICE check-in Wednesday, one of an estimated 20 people who were rounded up during surprise check-ins at the federal agency's Intensive Supervision Appearance Program offices in Chicago. Similar arrests were reported that day in New York, San Jose and Birmingham. Chavez and about 20 others were still at the ICE processing center in Broadview Friday morning. Since the facility is not a detention center, something prohibited in Illinois due to the state's Way Forward Act, there are no beds. So they had been sleeping on the floor and sitting around on the few chairs available, she told her lawyers and supporters, who were finally able to see her Friday. She'd been difficult to locate, her attorneys said, because Chavez and others recently detained had not been added to the ICE detainee online locator system, typically the only way for families to find their loved ones after they've been detained. If you're arrested by ICE in Illinois, what happens next? Legal experts explain the process.'We are angry, and this is not the end. We will continue to visualize how ICE is engaging and exposing their racist tactics targeting immigrants of color,' said Antonio Gutierrez, a co-founder and strategic coordinator of Organized Communities Against Deportations, where Chavez worked. 'This is fascism and racism at its finest example, while having the U.S. government doing illegal kidnapping, coercion and human trafficking without orders of removal.' Supporters of Chavez, elected officials and her attorneys spoke at a news conference Friday in front of the Broadview processing center to demand ICE release Chavez and others detained on Wednesday. A.J. Johnson Reyes, one of Chavez's lawyers and a member of Beyond Legal Aid, said that while an ICE agent he spoke to before showed his desire to help, he said the agent told Reyes could no longer do so because now 'he is following orders.' 'They are forced to put their humanity aside,' Reyes said. Still, he said, his team is committed to doing everything legally possible to stop Chavez's deportation. The lawyers sought two stays of removal in an attempt to stop the deportation. The temporary stay was granted by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, said Reyes. Another request for a stay was submitted with ICE, but not granted. While they remain hopeful, they're bracing for the worst. At any point, Chavez could be put on a plane back to her native Honduras or to a detention facility across the country, said Xanat Sobrevilla, a longtime friend of Chavez and member of OCAD. 'She was completely dedicated to her daughter,' Sobrevilla said in tears. Chavez served as a community organizer for OCAD, an organization that provides resources and legal aid to undocumented individuals facing deportation to guarantee a right to due process. Ironically, as Chavez urged others to comply with the law, she was detained. According to her supporters, Chavez received a message on June 2 to report to the ISAP office at 2245 S. Michigan Ave for a 'check-in,' despite already being subject to electronic monitoring via an ankle bracelet. She arrived on Wednesday with her two attorneys, they said. But after more than 90 minutes, she was handcuffed and ICE agents ordered her attorneys to leave. She was being detained. Chavez arrived from Honduras more than a decade ago, seeking refuge from extreme poverty and violence in her home country. She lived on the city's Northwest Side and had been attending routine check-ins with ICE for nearly eight years. The system — which required her to also wear an ankle monitor the last two months — allowed for individuals like Chavez, who are not considered a threat or had an ongoing immigration case, an alternative to detention and deportation. What was meant to be a routine check-in ICE has, for many, become a turning point. Agents have broad discretion to decide whether individuals can remain in the country or face removal. But advocates warn that new quotas imposed by the Department of Homeland Security are leaving little room for discretion or compassion — even for those who have lived in the United States for more than a decade. Though she has become the face of this most recent ICE operation in Chicago, there are dozens of families waiting for help and clarity, Gutierrez said. And there are dozens of parents leaving behind their U.S. children, he said. Many were detained during a surprise check-in at the ISAP Chicago office even after having complied fully with every requirement imposed by ICE, including wearing an ankle monitor, supporters said. Outside the Broadview facility, Lawrence Benito, executive director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, said that the new operations were part of 'Trump's racist agenda,' and that they are committed to continuing to organize to 'make sure that people know their rights. Ald. Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez of the 33rd Ward, in which Chavez has been living, said that she, too, would advocate for immigrant rights despite the clash with ICE agents outside the facility on Wednesday, where she and other aldermen said they were roughed up. 'We will take the risks necessary to protect our community,' she said.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Puppy-Killer Noem Trolled Over Latest ICE ‘Publicity Stunt'
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday made it clear that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is not welcome in his state. The comments, in which he mocked Noem's admitted dog-killing ways, came after she slammed the state's sanctuary status in a press conference. The enactment of Illinois' TRUST Act, the Way Forward Act, the Welcoming City Act, and a Cook County ordinance, limits how local authorities can aid U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) agents in federal immigration enforcement actions. Noem claimed that 'people are dying every day' because of such policies. 'People are evading justice,' Noem said during the conference, which was held near a street corner in downtown Springfield, reported the Chicago Tribune. Noem further alleged that Pritzker was 'violating the Constitution' by not cooperating with the federal government. 'Governors like JB Pritzker don't care if gangbangers, murderers, rapists and pedophiles roam free in his state,' she said. Gov. JB Pritzker is a battle-tested Democrat known for his thick skin and bloated bank account. / Chicago Tribune / TNS However, Pritzker wasted no time throwing such allegations back in her face. Ahead of her visit, Pritzker mocked Noem's dog-killing ways in a statement urging 'all pet owners in the region to make sure all of your beloved animals are under watchful protection.' The statement added, 'Despite the Trump Administration being in office for more than 100 days and falsely accusing Illinois of not following federal and state law, Secretary Noem and her team does not communicate with the State of Illinois and has not asked for support or coordination to enforce immigration laws,' Pritzker followed the press conference with another statement skewering Noem's actions as attention-seeking, The Hill reported. 'Trump-Noem publicity stunts do not make our communities safer or our immigration system smarter. Illinois doesn't need to abuse power or ignore the Constitution to keep our people safe,' said Pritzker. 'Like the millions of Americans asking for sensible, humane immigration reform, I encourage the Secretary to spend less time performing for Fox News and more time protecting the Homeland.' Noem's press conference came as her 'real ID' deadline went into effect, requiring travelers to have a state-issued driver's license or ID card meeting security requirements. But many travelers reported that the enforcement appeared to be mostly superficial. In Illinois, Pritzker also reminded Noem that she was visiting the state during Latino Unity Day. 'Secretary Noem must have not realized she was visiting during Latino Unity Day where we come together celebrate the vibrancy and diversity of our community,' Pritzker said. 'Today, Secretary Noem was met by a force stronger than her: the people of Illinois.'
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
In Illinois, Noem blasts state's sanctuary laws, prompting sarcastic response from Pritzker
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WTVO) — During a visit Wednesday at the Illinois Capitol, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem blasted the state's sanctuary laws aimed at hindering federal immigration efforts, prompting a sarcastic response from Gov. JB Pritzker. At a press conference, Noem called Illinois's sanctuary policies for illegal immigrants a safety concern, claiming Illinois doesn't protect its citizens. 'This governor has bragged about Illinois being a firewall against President Trump's immigration enforcement agenda, and it's very clear he's violating the Constitution of the United States because it is a federal law that the federal government and the president set to enforce immigration policy,' she said at a press conference. Illinois prevents local authorities from cooperating with U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) by way of the TRUST Act, the Way Forward Act, the Welcoming City Act, and a Cook County ordinance. 'I'm calling on Gov. Pritzker and all the other leaders of this state to abandon their dangerous sanctuary policies,' she added. 'I'm thankful for all the state leaders that are standing behind me who agree as well. They have been fighting an uphill battle with this governor, and I'm proud of them that they're standing here with us today and with these angel families, and saying enough is enough. We have to change as a state.' The night prior, Pritzker's office issued statement to the media, saying, 'Despite the Trump Administration being in office for more than 100 days and falsely accusing Illinois of not following federal and state law, Secretary Noem and her team does not communicate with the State of Illinois and has not asked for support or coordination to enforce immigration laws.' 'We would urge all pet owners in the region to make sure all of your beloved animals are under watchful protection while the Secretary is in the region,' Pritzker's office wrote, apparently a reference to a anecdote in her book, 'No Going Back: The Truth on What's Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward,' about killing a dog decades prior. On Wednesday, following Noem's press conference, Pritzker's office issued a press release in both English and Spanish, saying, 'Unlike Donald Trump and Kristi Noem, Illinois follows the law. The Trump Administration is violating the United States Constitution, denying people due process, and disappearing law-abiding neighbors – including children who are U.S. citizens. Yet, they are taking no real action to promote public safety and deport violent criminals within the clear and defined legal process.' Sen. Dave Syverson (R-Cherry Valley) weighed in on Noem's visit, saying, 'A visit by the Homeland Security Secretary sends a pretty strong message to the Pritzker Administration. The federal government is shining a national light on what many Illinoisans already know. Gov. JB Pritzker's sanctuary state policies are reckless, dangerous, and putting lives at risk. He has repeatedly proclaimed Illinois as the 'most welcoming state in the nation,' but has little to say about what it's costing taxpayers or how many violent offenders have slipped through the cracks as a result.' Meanwhile, Noem's visit to Springfield arrived on the same day that REAL ID requirements began at U.S. airports. Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias issued a statement criticizing Noem's messaging on the subject, saying, 'For months, Secretary Noem has been calling the May 7 date a 'deadline,' implying that Americans must have a 'REAL ID' or they cannot board any U.S.-based flights without a valid passport, which has sent people scrambling to get one ahead of [Wednesday],' Giannoulias said. 'For the past several months, this has resulted in long lines, frustration and – in many cases – pure panic among residents.' 'Instead of flying across the country to perform campaign-style political stunts designed to traumatize people and promote herself, she should do her damn job,' Giannoulias said. Pritzker has agreed to testify before a Congressional committee in defense of the state's sanctuary laws on June 12th, alongside Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and New York Mayor Kathy Hochul. The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Illinois, alleging the state and the city of Chicago interfere with federal immigration enforcement by violating the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. 'Illinois state and local officers do not honor ICE detainers, including by allowing ICE access to aliens in their facilities – even in otherwise public areas of those facilities – for the purpose of safely transferring aliens into federal custody,' the statement reads. 'While ICE is undertaking re-apprehension efforts, the alien remains at-large in the community and free to commit further crimes or otherwise threaten public safety,' the DOJ said. President Donald Trump said his administration was taking efforts to withhold federal funding from cities and states with policies that limit local law enforcement from cooperating with federal authorities on some immigration matters. Pritzker has said that violent noncitizens 'should be imprisoned and, or if they're illegal, undocumented in this country and they are committing violent crimes they should be deported and turned over to authorities in their countries.' 'We should be protecting residents of the state of Illinois, even if they're undocumented residents, and providing a path to citizenship,' Pritzker added. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to MyStateline | WTVO News, Weather and Sports.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pritzker to testify before Congress, defend Illinois' sanctuary laws
ILLINOIS (WTVO) — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has agreed to testify before Congress on his state's 'sanctuary' laws shielding illegal immigrants from federal authorities. Pritzker will join fellow Democrats, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and New York Mayor Kathy Hochul, before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The committee's chairman, Rep. James Comer (R-Kentucky), announced Pritzker's appearance on Tuesday. 'The Trump Administration is taking decisive action to deport criminal illegal aliens from our nation but reckless sanctuary states like Illinois, Minnesota, and New York are actively seeking to obstruct federal immigration enforcement. The governors of these states must explain why they are prioritizing the protection of criminal illegal aliens over the safety of U.S. citizens, and they must be held accountable,' Comer said. According to Pritzker's office, the Governor will attend the June 12 hearing 'to discuss his track record on public safety and the implementation of bipartisan state laws.' The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Illinois, alleging the state and the city of Chicago interfere with federal immigration enforcement by violating the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Illinois prevents local authorities from cooperating with U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) by way of the TRUST Act, the Way Forward Act, the Welcoming City Act, and a Cook County ordinance. Illinois Republicans in the state Senate have introduced legislation that would repeal the Trust Act. Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul's Office said the TRUST Act's purpose is to build trust between law enforcement and migrants residing in Illinois. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson defended his city's 'sanctuary city' policies before the committee in March. Those policies partially contributed to Johnson's 80% disapproval rating in a February poll. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to MyStateline | WTVO News, Weather and Sports.
