Chicago – Ruuben Antonio Cruz sat with his friend Rogers Park when ice agents pulled into the street.
Immigration officers stopped the truck and October 9th. He went right after them, Cruz told the Tribune.
“They asked us if we had documents. I replied that I was doing, but I don’t have them,” a 60-year-old man with heart problems that originated in Salvador recalled.
The agents stood up Cruz, helped him in his truck, drove in a circle and asked questions, he said.
Where was he born? What is his name? What is his mother? What is his father?
“I told them they were dead,” Cruz said. The agents said they still needed information to search for his databases. Eventually, agents checked that he was actually legally in the country. And they let him.
But not before writing him a $ 130 ticket for not having his own documents. Cruzo’s friend, who is a homeless man, had no legal status and was taken away by the Fed.
Foreign citizens registered under the Federal Law must have evidence of registration all the time. However, it was rarely implemented before the second Trump administration. When President Donald Trump increases his immigration coping in Chicago and its suburbs, “Operation Midway Blitz”, agents use extensive federal authorities to direct suspects of immigrants, law experts say.
Homeland Security Department October 1 Announced that since the beginning of September, 800 arrests began.
Although federal officials claim that they direct the “worst of the worst”, bystanders were concealed and the people of the Chicago region accused the government of widespread civil rights violations. Blocked by Trump’s administration last week in the deployment of the National Guard Army Army in Illinois, US County Judge April Perry said the federal government has a reliability problem that many of them claimed “unreliable”.
The National Center for Immigrant Justice in Chicago said the Tribune that he had not seen any of its customers yet. However, it is a recent impetus for Trump’s administration to ensure that immigrants register with the authorities and manage their documents all the time or face possible fines.
The Immigrant Legal Resources Center calls it “hatred tactics” for “causing panic and fear throughout the country”.
“America was never a place where people need to ‘show your documents.’ A legitimate permanent resident’s ticket – to force him to come to court and pay a fine for carrying their documents – unnecessary and cruel, ”said Ed Yohnka, the director of the Illinois ACLU.” This does not make our communities stronger or safer. It is simply the Trump administration’s attempt to make life awkward for all immigrants. It’s just scary. “
The US representative of immigration and duties did not return reports asking for comment.
It is unclear how many individuals were marked for not having their own documents. The Cruz ticket showed the Tribune link law, which requires immigrants to be registered in the government and have their own registration documents.
Former dishwasher Cruz lives in a government -funded apartment but does not work for its health. Cruz said he was reluctant to release, but worried how he would pay a fine. Ice agents told Cruz that he had to pay within 60 days or go to court.
“It’s not fair because I said, let’s go to my house and I will show you my documents. I’m a resident,” Cruz said.
US citizens say they also interview federal immigration agents on proof of citizenship.
Maria Greeley, 44, has just finished working in a double shift on the beach bar on Ohio Street earlier this month, when she said she was surrounded by three federal agents who grabbed her, forced her hands behind her and the zipper tied it.
The headphones were focused on Greeley to return home to his two dogs for a walk. Instead, she said she was detained by disguised agents who did not respond when she asked for names. They asked for an hour, she said.
Greeley, born in the Illinois Masonic Hospital and adopted, has a copy of his passport only if it enters the federal agents.
“I’m a Latina and I’m a service worker,” said Greeley. “I find it right for me to describe what they are looking for now.”
During the meeting, Greeley said they told her she did not “look” like Greley.
“They said it was not sure, they kept saying that I was lying, I’m a liar,” Greeley recalled. “I told them to look at the rest of the wallet, I have my own credit cards, insurance.”
When the agents released her, Greeley returned home and screaming when she saw the shadow on her door. A few days after the incident, Greeley said, it is still “frightening”.
“I just have to stay strong and not think about it, I’m still here, fortunately,” she said, tearing. “All other people are taken.”
A few days after Cruz met with federal agents, Cruz participated in a hasty protest in Rogers Park. Hundreds appeared.
Ald. Maria Hadden, 49, represents the distant north side of the Chicago City Council. She said it was an effort to “recognize people from our community who were taken” and to bring people “remind them that we are not helpless”.
Protest Rogers Park, published on Facebook: “Today 400+ Rogers Parkers have gathered to sad, celebrate, deny authoritarianism and recommend loving your neighbors. And buy a lot of tacos.”
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