Grassroots or not, people in Chicago are “fighting” back against ICE, and it’s awesome! They know very well what ICE is trying to do because they paid attention to what’s already been happening. Parents and individuals are standing up against the casual brutality and shizzle that ICE is trying to use for scare tactics and nonsense, as well as grabbing anyone and everyone who even looks slightly Hispanic. They are doing their best to protect their own. ICE may be violent. They are not. They don’t need to be. From Raw Story+ [Subscription required]:
One recent weekday, a group of Chicago kindergartners visited their neighborhood high school. It should have been an unremarkable moment — but as the visit was in motion, parents learned that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents had been spotted nearby. Instantly, the community mobilized. Teachers left school and hopped on their bikes. Around 100 volunteer patrollers came out to “protect these kindergarteners … and make sure that they got back safely,” said Lizzie Turner, a parent of a sixth-grader at the Peirce School of International Studies in the Andersonville neighborhood. “It was very encouraging and very inspiring,” Turner said.
Yup, they came out to protect their own, schoolchildren, who have nothing to do with ICE’s foo. Now we do know children have been ripped away from their parents, just so ICE can make them freak out. ICE doesn’t give a damn who they traumatize, including US citizens. ICE thinks they can do whatever they want. Parents and friends disagree.
Illinois State Senator Graciela Guzmán said she and her staffers are working by 7 a.m. nearly every day, responding to calls from the Northwest Side Rapid Response Team. Ninety schools on Chicago’s Northwest Side have “school watch” teams, Guzmán said. One Saturday in October, in a residential neighborhood, Guzmán and her staffers were tear-gassed. “I’m not sure that I’m gonna get the sound of my staffer trying to breathe out of my brain for quite some time,” Guzmán said. “It’s really, really scary when that happens to you. It’s scary when you’re seeing it happen en masse to community members.”
Oof. There have been enough descriptions of tear gas that none of us wants to have that happen. It’s incredibly brave of those people who don’t give up after it’s happened. We can hope that we would, but it’s hard to tell. Trying to breathe is panic-inducing, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Then there’s ICE’s pure violence, just because they can. People who enjoy beating on others are sick, reprehensible, and many other descriptions that aren’t strong enough to convey this accurately.
Andre Vasquez, alderman for Chicago’s 40th Ward, said the Trump administration’s claim of detaining the “worst of the worst” was “bull—t.” “They’re breaking bodies. They’re breaking doors. They’re breaking windows, and they use tear gas as if it’s something that should be used every day in our streets, when we know that it should not be,” Guzmán said. “They’re using incredibly violent, heartbreaking tactics.” “These fascists are looking [at] every possible way to attack people,” Vasquez said. “These folks don’t understand Chicago if they think we’re going to tolerate it.”
Oh, h0 h0 h0. There’s ICE’s problem. Chicago doesn’t give up and give in. LA didn’t. Portland didn’t. It’s 99% likely that no one else will. ICE is a bully. We have resistance, early warning systems, neighbors protecting children, and neighbors protecting neighbors. We will be here for a long, long time. Chin up, everyone. We all take care of our own.
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ABC news had a story on tonight, saying that a Chicago judge has dropped the charges against a woman and man in a run-in with Border Patrol. Border Patrol said that the woman had rammed their vehicle and so the agent shot her 5 times. She was part of a convoy that was tailing the agents. Luckily there were cameras that caught the incident. In truth, the agent’s vehicle rammed her car and then shot her. He also texted and bragged about the shooting.
The woman is a citizen, but of course, she’s hispanic and that made her a target. They finished the story by saying that she is recovering from her injuries, but will not be able to retrieve her car, as the prosecutor’s office is retaining it as part of an investigation into the shooting. This could not have turned out better in my opinion. I certainly hope the agent is held accountable to the fullest extent.