By Noelle Worley, Co-Editor-in-Chief and Kara Grace Hess, Senior Associate Editor
The clocks struck 3:30 a.m., and while most in Chicagoland were sleeping, a rapid response team to engage U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was awakening. The team, consisting of students, local residents and state-elected officials, carpooled to West Chicago to advocate for residents impacted by ICE raids.
Local church networks and immigration rights advocacy groups have mobilized private messenger apps and public watchdog forums this week to respond to ICE arrest attempts.
ICE’s media office did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
A number of advocacy networks, one of which contains 9,700 members, regularly post on Facebook, WhatsApp, Signal, Red Dot or ICEBlock about people and vehicles that fit the description of ICE officers, and intervene by recording while they ask officers for identification, warrants, and badge numbers.
The grassroots communication and advocacy networks grew more active following the arrest of 15 people in West Chicago on Sept 15, as well as ICE Book-Ins data released by the CATO Institute reporting that “65 Percent of People Taken by ICE Had No Convictions, 93 Percent No Violent Convictions.”
“Groups like you see here today who’ve shown up to be vigilant, to help people feel safe and comfortable. It’s really reassuring,” said state Sen. Karina Villa around 6:00 a.m. Sept. 19, morning, while passing out informational flyers alongside members of a community patrol group of civilians responding to the city of West Chicago. Handouts titled “Know Your Rights and Protect Your Neighbors” included information about legal responses to ICE inquiries or arrests.
Villa, a Democrat and lifelong resident of Illinois District 25, has been a part of efforts to protect her constituents and ensure they know their rights for several months. Following the arrest of a student by immigration officials at Elgin Community College this Thursday, she released a public statement pledging to “defend our neighbors.”
“Every family in Illinois deserves safety, security, dignity and peace. Fear does not belong in our neighborhoods,” Villa said.
The majority of responders, including the Wheaton College students, have yet to receive formal training about how to engage safely with immigration enforcement agencies. After receiving “credible tips” of ICE activity in the area, some civilian responders waited near targeted residences, while others would “patrol the area” and pursue ICE vehicles nearby.
For longtime West Chicago resident Lia Escalante-Ortiz, whose friends and family are immigrants, the issue is deeply personal. The recent uptick in ICE activity motivated her to take action.
“It’s completely unjust and frightening what’s happening. I think it’s time to do whatever little bit we can,” she said. “I’m usually not very political, but this is just too much.”
Jennalie Hemphill, a junior at Wheaton College who grew up in Mexico, spent the hours of 5:45 to 8:45 a.m. looking out for ICE cars at the Burr Oaks apartment complex. She created a clean Spanish playlist for community patrol groups and bystanders in cars to play, indicating no affiliation with ICE. Hemphill rode with juniors C.J. Montague and Noah Smith; they played Hemphill’s playlist and waved a Mexican flag gifted to them, hoping to put residents at ease as they circled the complex.
Their patrol drew Facebook comments on a photo of their car, with residents expressing gratitude to the students. One anonymous individual commented, “Thank you for helping our people. Your hard work doesn’t go unnoticed.” Hemphill was motivated by her vision of the gospel.
“Standing up on behalf of our immigrant community members is building the kingdom come,” Hemphill said.
Among the Wheaton-area community patrol members were brothers Ben and Sam Luhmann, the high school-age sons of Wheaton College’s Associate Professor of Geology Andrew Luhmann, a senior and a sophomore, respectively. On Wednesday, Sept. 16, Constitution Day, the brothers prevented six officers from arresting a man near the 7-Eleven gas station at the intersection of Delles and Roosevelt roads. Ben Luhmann asked the six officers for identification and warrants to search the car of the man that they had stopped. After about four minutes of requests from him and other bystanders, the officers left.
“When we ignore our Fifth Amendment and don’t allow innocent people to have fair trials, and when we allow for our government to pull people over and attack their rights as a human being because of race or accent, then we have all failed,” Ben Luhmann said.
Wheaton College’s Student Development office emailed this week to remind students of guidelines for responding to external agencies such as federal, local police or the Department of Homeland Security.
The city of Wheaton and the Wheaton Police Department are “aware” of ICE activities in Wheaton, saying in a community update that “The Wheaton Police Department adheres to all Illinois laws put in place by the TRUST Act, which prohibits our police officers from participating, supporting, or assisting in any capacity in federal immigration operations.”
Ben Luhmann, son of Associate Professor of Geology Andrew Luhmann, has been attempting to stay alert to ICE activity in DuPage County this week, with mixed results. Public platforms or unverified reports often spread misinformation about officer locations and bury real situations.
On Thursday afternoon, Sept. 18, he responded to a report on the Red Dot tracker app about ICE activity at the Timber Lake apartment complex, but he “was late.” He said that later he learned a man was picking up an Amazon package when ICE “swarmed and arrested him.”
“When we got there, the wife of the guy who was taken was just crying and screaming on the pavement with people around her,” he said. “It’s just so real and it’s so terrible.”
