Chicago Following the Trump administration’s announcement that it would terminate a long-standing policy that prohibited federal immigration authorities from detaining migrants in churches, schools, and hospitals, religious leaders, school administrators, and educators in this sanctuary city declared their intention to defend their communities.
Rev. Kenneth Phelps, who has recently provided accommodation and assistance to migrants in Chicago, said, “We feel like it’s kind of a war, to be honest.” Therefore, rather of waiting for them to attack, we are preparing for it. We’re going on the attack and preparing our community members to deal with this.
The preparation follows the Department of Homeland Security’s announcement on Tuesday that it is discontinuing a policy that limited the ability of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to make undocumented arrests at or close to “sensitive locations,” such as hospitals, schools, and places of worship.
America’s churches and schools will no longer be places for criminals to hide in order to evade capture. In a statement announcing the decision, DHS stated that the Trump Administration will not restrain our courageous law enforcement and instead believes in their ability to exercise common sense.
Last month, NBC News said the Trump administration would remove the limitation.
Many in this area had anticipated that the Trump administration will intensify its immigration crackdown, which has targeted sanctuary cities like Chicago.
Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church pastor the Rev. Beth Brown stated, “We’re ready for this.” According to Brown, local laws will continue to safeguard areas that she still deems secure. “Even with the policy change, ICE cannot enter our building without a signed judicial warrant,” she stated.
Like other sanctuary cities, Chicago has laws protecting immigrant communities and limiting local law enforcement’s capacity to help with issues pertaining to federal civil immigration law.
We don’t currently have any criminals hiding in our church premises, I can assure you. According to Brown, the majority of schools, if not all of them, do not have criminals lurking in their facilities. There is a lot of rhetoric aimed at intimidating individuals, particularly newcomers.
In a Tuesday statement to NBC News, Chicago Public Schools also cited local laws that it claimed would safeguard schools in spite of the DHS policy shift.
The school district noted in a statement that ICE officers cannot enter CPS premises unless they present their credentials, a criminal court warrant signed by a federal judge, and the cause for their request.
It further stated that, as part of his ongoing updates to families, CEO Pedro Martinez conducted a virtual meeting on assisting migrant students and gave advice to all of the district’s school principals during the past month.
According to the statement, we are still dedicated to making sure that all students may learn in the safest environments possible and that the emphasis is on delivering a top-notch pre-K–12 education.
The Chicago Teachers Union, however, claimed in a statement that the school district had not given the needed training “to protect school communities from unauthorized ICE agent entry into school buildings.”
“Unfortunately, despite our requests and efforts, this need has not been met and we have sent recent communications to the CEO to comply with CPS contractual commitments,” the labor organization stated.
“Despite not receiving training from the district, we are preparing our members to create sanctuary teams and working in each school to ensure educators know what to do in case of a raid and are prepared to protect our students and their rights,” according to the union. “Students should know that one of the safest places they can be is at their school.”
In order to educate immigrants about their rights and to counsel them against attending in-person events that might attract attention, several religious leaders are holding training sessions in their congregations.
Stephanie Clark, director of strategic engagement for Christian humanitarian group World Relief Chicagoland, stated that immigrants in local congregations are generally afraid.
She stated that dozens of religious leaders met with a World Relief Chicagoland lawyer last week to talk about the impact on their members and the potential for ICE to visit their homes. According to Clark, the organizations have been getting ready by providing migrants with cards that contain pertinent and essential information to keep with them and urging them to prepare for the possibility of being caught in an immigration raid by thinking about guardianship for their children.
Phelps stated that he has chosen to continue doing his multilingual Sunday worship in-person service in both Spanish and English after speaking with his attorney. According to him, he and other community leaders are drafting strategies for what to do in the event that ICE visits their houses of worship.
According to the reverend, he and other members of the congregation were concerned that raids might target people with open asylum cases or Temporary Protected Status in addition to those without documentation.
He stated, “I’m worried because I don’t trust the administration.”
The reverend, however, stated that he was opting to concentrate on expanding chances for education and disaster preparedness rather than on his own anxieties and concerns.