Organizations Seek Investigation in Civil Rights Violations, Answers from City of Chicago, and Immediate Release of Raided Workers

In response to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents under the direction of Chicago-based director, Ricardo Wong, profiling and raiding day laborers awaiting work on the corner of Milwaukee and Belmont, organizations are filing for an official investigation and demanding the immediate release and closing of cases for three workers taken in the operation.

On Friday, ICE agents raided this corner. Today 100+ Chicagoans stand w @LatinoUnionChi to say #Not1more pic.twitter.com/vKIhhV1s7Q

— Not1More (@Not1_More) August 9, 2016

 

On Friday afternoon, ICE agents arrived at the long-standing street corner hiring site equipped with mobile fingerprint scanners. Workers report that the agents demanded some of those present to submit to having their hands scanned without cause.

“ICE agents suddenly just appeared. We thought they were employers coming to pick us up for work, but instead it was ICE demanding to see our papers and scanning our hands,” said day laborer William Rivero. “We are just workers — why do they come to violate our basic rights?”

During the raid, ICE agents detained three individuals.

“There is no other name for government agents targeting a traditional gathering place for Latino men and forcing them to submit to searches than to call it racial profiling,” explains Latino Union director, Analía Rodríguez.  “Donald Trump may be proud of how Ricardo Wong is directing his agency but anyone else should consider this a shame,  a grave violation, and an example of the racism that drives this country’s immigration policies.”

Aristides has looked for work on this corner for 23 years, ICE profiled him Friday. #Not1more pic.twitter.com/R2j4dYIDQU

— Not1More (@Not1_More) August 9, 2016

 

The Latino Union is partnering with Organized Communities Against Deportations and the national #Not1More campaign to take several formal steps in response.

• The groups are filing an official request for a Department of Homeland Security Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties investigation into the civil rights violations that occurred in the operation.
• The groups are filing a freedom of information act request with the Chicago Police Department to discover what, if any, role and advanced notice local police had in relation to the raids.
• The groups are filing prosecutorial discretion requests with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to see to the release of the raided workers and the closing of their cases.

In their filings, the organizations cite a long history of abuse and note the discriminatory pattern of targeting day laborers’ public gathering sites.

Anibal of @OCAD_CHI was raided 3 years ago & stands w raided workers now. #stoptheraids #Not1more pic.twitter.com/DgGaclSCIU

— Not1More (@Not1_More) August 9, 2016

“Raiding a street corner is like shutting down a factory,” said Latino Union Senior Organizer Eric Rodriguez. “The human cost to the families torn apart by ICE raids is incalculable, and the economic impact is devastating, as well.”

A copy of the civil rights complaint – drafted with support from Mijente, National Day Laborer Organizing Network, and National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, is below:

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