The progressives take a field trip to ICE office in Chicago's 3rd Ward
A group of seven Chicago aldermen walked out of their own wards last Wednesday and set up a protest in another alderman's jurisdiction in order to get some publicity for themselves by opposing a legal immigration enforcement action in the city. In the end, though, these insurrectionists came up empty handed in the publicity department.
Officers of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) continue to conduct raids in the Windy City to snap up more dangerous, law-breaking illegal aliens, but on June 4 seven members of the City Council — all members of the Chicago City Council Latino Caucus — decided they wanted to get some notice and the group assembled at the ICE office at 2245 South Michigan Avenue to stage an ineffectual protest.
The ICE facility the seven aldermen set out to protest is Chicago's 3rd Ward, which is represented by Pat Dowell, who has led the ward since 2007. Interestingly, Dowell was nowhere to be seen during the aldermens' protest. Presumably, Dowell was actually performing duties for her constituents at the time.
Dowell’s absence, of course, bespeaks of the ongoing rift between the black and Hispanic members of the City Council, not to mention that a growing number of black Chicagoans are fully supportive of ICE moving in to sweep up as many illegal aliens as possible. Certainly, Dowell would do herself no favors by being seen opposing ICE.
Instead, the seven aldermen "bravely" stood up to federal officials fully cognizant that they faced no fear of serious consequences. The aldermen who attended the publicity stunt included, Andre Vasquez 4(0), Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez, (33), Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25), Jessica Fuentes (25), Anthony Quezada (35), Mike Rodriguez (22), and Jessica Ramirez (12). Cook County Commissioner Jessica Vasquez was also apparently on hand for some reason.
All of these aldermen were out of their own offices, unavailable to their constituents, and parading around outside the ICE office while neglecting their actual aldermanic duties back in their own wards where they are supposed to be doing the business of those who elected them to office.
The facility the aldermen were targeting is where the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, or ISAP, operates. Left-wing activists for illegal aliens say that some of the migrants arrested that day had received text messages to appear for a check-in date with immigration authorities. And they claim that at least ten illegals were arrested after appearing for the check-in, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
"We were notified about the activities that were happening at this location earlier. I spoke with family members of people who were detained, saying that they had no information about the status," Alderman Anthony Quezada said that afternoon.
Quezada added that he and several other aldermen, again, none of whom were in their own ward, entered the federal facility to demand that officials answer their questions.
Soon enough, ICE officers carrying non-lethal weapons moved in and cleared the building.
Quezada was also incensed that a group of Chicago police officers had taken up a position on the periphery of the protest to ensure it did not get too far out of hand outside the federal facility. The alderman somehow construed a police presence to mean that the CPD was working with ICE.
"We have sanctuary laws in the city. We have the Trust Act, you know, law in the state of Illinois, we want to make sure that our local law enforcement is compliant with the laws that we passed," Quezada bellowed.
The CPD, of course, was not there to support ICE.
Explaining the CPD presence, a Chicago Police Department news release read:
"Officers arrived without knowledge of immigration enforcement occurring at the location. CPD spoke with individuals inside a building at the location, as well as the large crowd gathered outside. CPD was on-site to ensure the safety of all involved, including those exercising their First Amendment rights."
While CPD made no arrests, a spokesman for ICE said that the only migrants they arrested were those who already had "executable final orders of removal by an immigration judge and had not complied with that order."
Above all, Quezada was furious that ICE officers did not sit idly by and let his fellow publicity seekers block federal vehicles. When Quezada and several of his aldermanic colleagues — along with County Commissioner Vasquez — attempted to form a blockade to force the vehicles to a standstill, ICE officers moved in quickly and decisively to pull them off the road so the vehicles carrying those apprehended that day could depart the ICE office.
Hyperventilating as he described the scene, Quezada said:
"Then, in a Gestapo fashion, 50 agents or so walked down the street, stood right here in front of the driveway, then aggressively came through, knocked me down, assaulted me and other community members here today, then pulled out weapons and also pulled out their sticks, pushing some of us, punching some of us to get through to this driveway."
Again, the weapons were of the non-lethal variety.
Seconding Quezada's ridiculous remarks, Alderman Byron Sigcho Lopez also absurdly devolved to Nazi comparisons, and referred to ICE agents as "the Gestapo."
"We were trying to hold arms," Lopez told the Chicago Tribune. "These ICE agents came in with batons, and they came hard. They stomped into the building, they shoved Alderman Quezada to the ground, pushed the rest of us, stepped on everybody, threatened everybody. This is the Gestapo," he added.
"What we saw today is Gestapo-style abductions happening in front of all of us," Lopez bloviated, while also calling ICE "proud boy extremists." So, which is it, Alderman? Are they "Nazis" or are they "white supremacists"? Do you have any other incendiary names to throw at lawful immigration enforcement officials, alderman?
"Who did they protect? Who did they serve?" Lopez howled. "These are people who came to renew their work permits. Now we have a 10-year-old boy without a mother."
Of course, the answer to that is that ICE was there to protect citizens and enforce laws enshrined in the Constitution, not alien nationals who are in this country illegally, many of whom are hardened and dangerous criminals.
Naturally, self-professed "progressive" Mayor Brandon Johnson also had to jump in on the action.
"Mayor Johnson condemns the reckless and dangerous escalation by ICE agents this afternoon in the South Loop," Johnson said in a statement on Wednesday. "Chicagoans have the right to protest the separation of family members by federal immigration enforcement. Federal agents should never be allowed to come into our city and assault elected officials or any Chicagoan."
Illegal aliens are not "Chicagoans," Mr. Mayor.
The migrants taken into custody by ICE are not individuals with legal status. They are illegal immigrants — regardless of the length of time they have resided in Chicago — who broke our laws to come here. Many are people who are breaking laws by taking jobs illegally. Moreover, some have criminal records, both here in the U.S. or in their country of origin.
In the end, though, none of these activist aldermen got what they wanted most. What all seven really wanted is one of their number to be arrested — or perhaps seriously injured — so that they could get their 15 minutes of fame on MSNBC. They desperately wanted to be caught on a cell phone suffering grievous bodily harm at the hands of ICE agents so that they could grandstand on a national stage, and not just a local one.
Alderman Quezada may have been shoved into a puddle, but he failed miserably at getting his much wished-for spotlight on MSNBC. His protest went mostly ignored by the national media, and he had to make do with the local papers and TV news outlets, and WTTW's Chicago Tonight.
Despite all his efforts, neither Quezada nor any of his six fellow rebellious aldermen never admitted that they were breaking U.S. law by interfering in the enforcement of federal immigration laws, nor did they dwell on the fact that they assaulted federal officials and forced federal law enforcement to push them aside like the pests they proved to be.
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