The true story of why immigration agents raided a Chicago apartment building

Welcome to our news segment: TL;DR of Immigration News, for when the news is Too Long and you Didn’t Read it.

This is a weekly collection of immigration-related news stories. These bite-size summaries will keep you up to date without overwhelming your inbox.

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The true story of why immigration agents raided a Chicago apartment building

ProPublica reporters deserve commendation for staying with this story long after it fell out of the headlines. Nearly a year ago we featured a story about the incredibly unnecessary, wasteful, pointlessly dramatic raid in which an alphabet soup of agencies descended on a Chicago apartment building full of adults and children just trying to live their lives. As featured in ProPublica’s “Paper Trail” podcast (audio and transcript at the link above), this raid was as pointless as it was futile, an exercise in cruelty for its own sake.

The raid was caused in part by the building’s landlord, who tipped off DHS that undocumented people might be living in his building. Allegedly, the landlord took this action because he wanted to clear people out of his building and didn’t want to go to the expense or effort of doing it himself. He thought he could trick the government into doing it for him. And he was right.

At the time, DHS and ICE claimed that this raid had captured “dangerous gang members”. But ultimately, not a single criminal charge was filed. While the “criminal” status is an arbitrary rhetorical choice the regime makes when it wants to be cruel for no reason, it’s notable here that not even by its own fascist logic could the regime make any charges stick. Ultimately the article concludes what we said a year ago: the whole raid was theater, meant to send a message and instill terror. The cruelty--wasteful, irrational, expensive cruelty--is the point.
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He was waiting for his son to return from the USS Lincoln then border patrol arrested him

The cruelty is relentless--ICE has arrested at least dozens of family members of active service members. Since the government doesn’t keep records of these arrests it has been hard to paint the full picture of the injustice inflicted on service families. Regardless of how many there are, every one of these actions is a choice. People who chose honorable service are being victimized by a regime that chooses hate.
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The movement to defend the Minneapolis 15

The powerful protests in the Twin Cities during ICE’s “Operation Metro Surge” last winter made many of us proud. But some organizers are still fighting steep politically-motivated charges for their choices to stand up on behalf of their neighbors.

In what is clearly right-wing pushback against the well-organized opposition to ICE terror in Minnesota, fifteen organizers face multi-year sentences for their activities. The federal case asserts that the 15 people indicted “did knowingly conspire … to prevent by force, intimidation and threats, officers and employees of the United States Department of Homeland Security … from discharging the duties of their officers,” while individual defendants have been charged with additional crimes like assault on a federal officer.

Defendants are charged with “conspiracy” involving everything from conversations in Signal chats about plans to blockade an ICE processing center, to assigning working groups for the January 23 General Strike, to possessing homemade defensive shields or just following federal officers — as tens of thousands around the country have done. The charges lack specific details, merely associating these individuals with what the Trump administration deems “radical left” views: the idea that our immigrant friends, coworkers, and neighbors are human beings who deserve to stay in their chosen home.

Further, recent revelations of an “Operation Puppet Master” by federal operatives point to the government’s tactics of spying and infiltration. Like the FBI’s Operation COINTELPRO, which investigated organizations from the Black Panthers to the American Indian Movement to the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), current federal operations fly in the face of constitutional protections and civil liberties.
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As ICE closes in, Ohio churches line up families to care for Haitian kids left behind

For many of the more than 10,000 Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, their Temporary Protected Status has ended, and they are in a dire struggle against a new wave of ICE stealth raids and ankle monitor placements.

Faith leaders of several religious denominations have emerged to provide food, clothing, and other essentials to their Haitian neighbors. Additionally, faith communities with local immigrants’ rights organizers are committing to care for Haitian children should their parents be detained and families separated. This could affect over 1,200 U.S.-born Haitian children and infants under 4 years old.

The Ohio government awarded a grant to the local child welfare department and the Nehemiah Foundation (a Christian non-profit) to form a respite childcare network. About 20 vetted families have been equipped to provide short-term childcare until kids could be reunited with family.

These good works are not without serious risk. Faith leaders report they have had bomb threats at their churches and nonprofit centers. See the Action Items at the end of the newsletter for ways to help.
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Action items:

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