Will now come to order today.
We have two items on the agenda.
The first of which is a brief update on activities
of the chair of the committee.
And the second is taking up the matter of a resolution,
calling for examination on recent alleged violations
of free speech and due process rights.
Uh, no votes are to be taken for either matter.
We'll begin with a roll call to establish quorum, uh,
Alderwoman Dao, uh,
Alder Woman Gutierrez, uh, here you go.
Present team teamwork. Love it.
Uh, alderman Knussen,
uh, alderman Rodriguez.
All right. Alder person. Fuentes. Uh, alderman Tali. Faroh.
Thank you. Uh, Alderwoman Cruz Alderman Cardona.
All right. Alderwoman Rodriguez Sanchez. All right.
Uh, alderman Casa. Present. All right.
Alderwoman May Now, Haworth Alderwoman Manhattan.
Uh, vice Chair Taylor. Look up there. And Chair Vasquez.
I'm here. 1, 2, 3, 4.
There are nine members present. We have a quorum.
Any non-members present?
I do not see any, uh, Alder persons.
Knudson and Taylor have requested a virtual option
for committee hearing attendance in accordance
with Rule 59 of the city Council.
Rules of Order. Can I get a motion to allow them
to attend this hearing?
Virtually so moved by Alderwoman Rodriguez Sanchez, uh,
hearing no objections.
So ordered At this time,
we will begin the public comment period.
Uh, the period is limited to 30 minutes out
of respect for everyone's time.
Each speaker is limited to three minutes.
Uh, remote speakers will comment first,
followed by those in person.
As of 10:00 AM on Wednesday, July 23rd, 2025
zero callers have requested to speak today.
So we will move on to in-person speakers.
Our first speaker will be Zoe Lee.
Two things I'm trying to understand.
Uh, how we sitting here talking about due process
violations and free speech When I have been violated
so many times, uh, other people have been violated,
including, uh, Mr.
Blakemore who's been coming down here for over 40 years.
But the fact that like you guys are about to really sit here
and have a conversation about, uh, allegations
of due process and freedom of speech, uh, when it comes to,
um, illegal aliens, uh, is insane to me.
And I, I hate the quietness and the silence.
Um, Andre Vazquez, um, when it comes
to the cr the crime
that the illegal immigrants do in the city,
uh, it's terrible.
And you guys don't say nothing. Y'all don't speak about it.
Y'all don't, um, put, put up anything about it.
But you will chastises and, and go off about CPD
and, and working with ICE when
we had 20 million illegals come over here,
and you guys just, in the city of Chicago,
we have over 50,000
and majority of them were placed in our sit in our, in our,
uh, communities.
And you don't even talk about it. You don't acknowledge it.
You don't care about it.
And you have the nerve to try to abandon this committee
and try to go to zone
and nah, you made this committee was made for this.
Now the money is up and ain't no more money. Really.
The the shelter franchises are coming to an end.
Now, you ready to to ask
for a chair zoning chair a seat for the zoning?
It's crazy when we need
to talk about what's going on right here.
And you need to continue this until your term is done.
'cause you shouldn't get back in in office if you,
you created you Beatrice, uh, po DeLeon, uh, uh, uh, half
of these, uh, uh, um, aldermen in here.
Y'all created this mess that we, that we have to deal
with in, in our communities.
And you thought we were gonna be quiet.
You thought we weren't gonna push back.
Y'all don't even talk about black and brown no more.
What are black and brown at?
Ain't no black and brown, right?
There ain't no black and brown. Ain't no more money for,
for y'all to keep laundering.
So my thing is this right here. You gonna stay right here?
'cause I promise I'm gonna get the
Department of Justice here.
Y'all stole too much money for you to think
that you're going to the chair of zoning.
You're not sharing. You're, you're gonna share this.
You're gonna share this right here. Ruth Cruz.
Don't even know. I don't even know if, if she talks.
So no, you, this is your, this is your position.
You did this. I watched you,
I've been hearing ever since the first day this meeting
started, I've watched you do absolutely nothing
but cause more havoc in our community.
You stand right here.
Thank you very much. Uh,
our next speaker is Danielle Carter.
You can sit up there and keep smiling all you want to.
Yeah, I know. Yeah, keep smiling.
'cause I keep telling you the same thing
that's making you laugh, gonna make you cry up in here.
So you keep thinking, we down here
'cause you wanna talk about illegal aliens due process
and their freedom of speech all while infringing on ours,
all while trying to silence us down here
and the building that the taxpayer paying for.
So yeah, you think that's cool?
And also what, in what country?
I know in the countries that you all come from, you know,
the communist socialist countries that you all try
to bring your third world ideology here.
But like I said, in what country do you think we are going
to accept that you all are allowed illegal aliens in the
taxpayer to fund their American gene, uh, dream
all while infringing
and taking our American dream away from us.
And you think we're gonna allow that?
You thought that the American citizens was just gonna sit
down and take that you thought
that we was gonna just allow this illegal, uh, invasion
to come into our community
and you thought we was just gonna sit silent
and watch this happen.
I'm glad you did. 'cause you all thought wrong.
Now let's talk about this.
You all the Democratic Party,
you all created this housing.
This housing, um, uh, you all wanna say we have a,
a shortage in housing and jobs all while
and all of these factories
and all of these places, we got illegal aliens.
And these working, these jobs, 95%
of Hispanics work in these jobs.
Illegals. And then you wanna sit up there, you sit up there
and say illegal aliens, they contribute more
to the tax system.
That's a lie. That's a slap in every
American taxpayer, citizens.
That's a slap in our faces.
The disrespect that you all these illegals
and you foreigners come over here
and the American, the disrespect you show
to the American citizens.
That's why we are rising up
and we getting you all up outta these seats.
And then you wanna sit up there
and when it come down,
you are very quiet on the legal aliens of crimes
that they're committing.
One guy was just calling Chicago.
He would had a, had a woman and in bleach and the tub
and his, uh, back in the back of his yard.
You didn't talk about that. Did you?
Do, did you do a press conference about that?
And then you all wanna sue Trump talking about the the
benefits he's taken from illegals.
I thought y'all told us they wasn't on Medicaid.
I thought y'all told us they wasn't getting
free, uh, anything.
Free housing. I thought y'all told the American,
y'all went on TV and said that liars,
And y'all think we gonna keep going for that?
I'm glad, I'm glad that you smiling. I'm glad you laughing.
Make sure you get that video.
'cause I wanna see if you gonna be smiling
when you in handcuffs.
Yeah, you can do that all you want
to when you in handcuffed DOJ, come and get this POS
Thank you for uh, your comments.
Uh, next up, uh, Mr. George Blakemore.
Sir, this is a political move.
You want to be, uh, police take his place for zoning.
Uh, all. Uh, and where are the blacks?
The heat, the heat is on. There's two blacks are here today.
The illegal immigrate
that mean you are not legal over here.
Who invites somebody in their house
and you know nothing about them.
The background. How you know her name is Maria?
Uh, uh, Carlos, how do you know that's her little baby?
How do you know she don't have syphilis and gonorrhea
and spread measles all at our schools, her little children.
What do you know about them?
How do you know that they don't have mental problems?
Mental problems. We got enough.
Maybe I have a mental problem, but I was born here.
I am a US citizen here.
These illegal immigrants are, it's going too far.
Make this make sense.
Why would you spend millions
and billions of dollars on them when black people enslaved
never received that good service contraction job?
Never. And we still on the white men Look here today.
I don't see these bighead white folks here today.
I don't see a Mexican today
where yeah, is this a hate crime?
I don't have to like nobody but me.
Uh, it's not a crime if I say I don't like blacks.
It's not a crime if I say I don't like white.
It is not a crime if I say I don't like lesbians.
It is not a cry
if I say I don't like anybody.
Now what about that hate? Am I teaching hate?
That's my opinion. That's my opinion.
Free speech. I don't like apple pie.
I don't like sweet potato. I don't like taco.
I don't like hot tamales. Maybe I can say I don't like you.
I don't like you. Don't I have a right to
to say I don't like you
and maybe you don't like me either.
Maybe that's equally yo, that's why you are
so racist because, uh, yeah, you were the one
that had me pull out.
Don't take my minutes away from me
and give them to these Hispanic people.
I say, no, you not. No you not.
You say put him in jail. Jail.
Lock him up. Block me. What? I
Thank you very much Mr. Blakemore.
Uh, next person up. Uh, Ty Sims
Say that. Um, hey, good afternoon, um,
committee, this thing gone.
We on, um, Megan boss, the 37-year-old
that was found in the container out in the suburbs, um,
Mendoza, the 52-year-old, illegal or immigrant
or what, whatever you would like to call him,
but just like he said
or she said, oh, so y'all do not note the crimes
that's being committed by these individuals
who came into our country un vetted, unchecked.
But you all have did everything even to the effect
that we have our mayor saying this
about the federal government.
He will never work with the federal government
to aid the American citizens in taking care of this issue.
What we deal with. So y'all speak about crime rampant in
Chicago and y'all want to highlight it
through black Americans though, right?
Y'all wanna say that the river north issue was a gang issue
or some type of retaliatory thing
because of a, a young woman by mellow, whatever her name is,
is irrelevant because that's a young girl.
We got 18 people, four of them dead, 14
of them gravely injured, left in the streets of Chicago.
Well, we not going to speak about all these other things
that have brought these issues to us.
Public safety at an all time low.
But we have a mayor continuously saying,
well, we got the shootings down.
People aren't being killed,
but we have whole communities under siege
by individuals we don't even know nothing about.
We had 30 terrorists trend UA members
arrested outta Illinois, not even outta Illinois,
outta Chicago alone.
But we supposed to. What?
Highlight the crimes that's being committed by Americans.
Are we gonna say Mr. Vasquez,
that Americans commit more crimes
or commit more hate or do more things?
Why we should be able to, because this is our country.
We should be able to because it's coming from us.
But when we have to deal with so much other weight, then
what are we dealing with?
We can't protect the 77 communities. We don't get right.
Representation, mismanagement. We got officers dying.
We got guns being found.
What guns being stolen outta police stations?
And then you have a officer down from
that same police station.
But we can't check our issues
because we are continuously trying to check other issues.
We can't protect ourselves
because the mayor busy protecting undocumented people.
So when the budget comes up
and it is coming up, the 18% of the budget,
that public safety on control,
and then the 40% in Chicago, what does it amount
to the safety here for the citizens in Chicago?
And since ShotSpotter was taken away, then
how do we protect ourselves since we've
been plunged into darkness?
Thank you very much. Uh, the next speaker is,
uh, Bria Dolnik.
Um, my name is Bria
and I'm the community literacy program manager at an
organization called Literacy Works.
And I'm here today representing 28 adult literacy member
programs from across Chicago,
and we really appreciate the advocacy, information sharing
and relationship building that the committee has been
so active in working on.
Um, last month, two of my colleagues spoke
during the open comments of this meeting
and they wanted to make sure you were aware
that federal funding for adult education programs is at risk
and that adult literacy programs that provide English
and literacy and high school equivalency classes
are in a very vulnerable position.
Since that meeting, there have been more developments.
On June 30th, the Department of Education announced
that they're withholding federal education funds
that have already been approved
and that were expected to be d dispersed on July 1st.
Federal funds make up the majority of the budget
for many local adult education programs.
If the money isn't dispersed soon, it's going
to have a profound effect on adult literacy
programs and their students.
Many of these programs will be forced to close
or severely limit their services.
In addition, two weeks ago, the Department
of Education announced
that adult education programs must verify legal status in
order to serve students.
And that's another move that's going
to devastate local programs.
According to the most recent American community Survey,
747,628 adults in Illinois do not speak
English well or at all.
And the Illinois Policy Institute says
that one in four adults living in Cook County struggle
to read and write every day.
Adult literacy programs are a critical component
to addressing the needs of am immigrant community members
and community members in general in Chicago
to build a more skilled workforce, a stronger economy,
safer communities, and so much more.
The amazing work that adult education programs do
and the role that they play in students' lives is sometimes
difficult to see from the outside,
but Chicagoans will feel the impact of their absence.
Um, we're here because we need to find long-term solutions
to funding adult literacy
that don't rely on federal dollars.
We do have examples to look to New York City budgets,
$14.5 million a year
to support community-based adult literacy programs.
And the Illinois Secretary of State's office advocated for
and received 1 million more dollars
for their adult literacy volunteer program this year.
There are a few private foundations
that fund adult literacy programs, but there should be,
and we appreciate that as a committee,
you don't have the power to grant us all our funding issues
issues, but we're here to ask you to use your platform
to raise awareness about this issue
and to work with us to find creative solutions to making
Chicago's community-based adult education program
sustainable for the long term.
So we look forward to working with you.
Thank you very much. Uh,
the next speaker is Patricia Puente.
Thank you. My name is Patricia Puente. I have a question.
I don't know who, which elderman are you?
Then why are you sitting there?
If only the elderman, please,
Uh, direct your comments to the chair. Thank
You. To sit there.
You know, see, the thing is that
you guys, and I say it in general
and I say it to everybody, you break your own rules,
but then you expect us the citizens to follow.
But you guys work for the people.
Yes, that's what I don't understand.
But you, you put everything.
You feel that you are on top of everything.
You're not, you are workers, you are city employees.
He shouldn't be there. Thanks.
Sorry, I got distracted by him.
Okay. Migrant womens,
migrant womens are going to our courts to
ask for protection from their husbands, their lovers,
their whatever they are.
They're being beaten up, raped.
But at the same time, when these migrant women go
and ask, call the police, the police arrives.
And this is what the men tell them, we have asylum.
You cannot touch us. So these women go to court.
Why go to court if the same police cannot touch 'em?
Because the mayor
or whoever got this nonsense idea,
the police are not allowed to touch the migrants.
They killed 13 year olds.
They're raped, they're doing prostitution. I have seen it.
And the city, all of you guys
that supposedly represent the city are allowing it.
Our courts are fool with migrant women
asking for help,
but at the same time, they are not allowed
to touch whoever is raping them and abusing them.
What kind of system is this?
Are we going to the Mexican, south American, those systems
that, oh, you know what, I know the politician
because I, they told me, the only thing I have to say is
I have asylum, I have my rights.
What rights? The United States was made by immigrants.
They worked hard. They're, they were not given what?
They're getting apartments.
Uh, 1,300 apartments free for you.
1000 for free for the migrants. What the heck?
And then not only
Thank you for your comments, our final speaker
is Milan Trilling.
Um, hi, so my name's Milan Trilling.
I am the adult education program manager at the Endo
American Center, a nonprofit up in West Ridge,
and I live in Edgewater.
Um, so I'm here to talk about, um,
adult education like Bria before me, uh, mentioned.
So we're looking at, we usually run these programs
to help people that are documented.
Basically anyone that needs help,
not just undocumented people, people
that have been living here for years
that have their citizenship and everything.
A lot of people still are struggling to learn English
and need help with that.
And so we get funding from the state and that's very great.
But we also rely on funding from the federal government,
which the current administration is illegally withholding.
And what's being, um,
is becoming apparent that we can't really rely
on the federal government.
And so that we need to, as a state, make sure
that we can fund education.
What I'm hearing from a lot of these people, um,
and a lot of people in general, is a lot of worry
and fear about immigrants and the impact.
And a lot of these migrants and immigrants
and people here are just wanting to improve their lives.
They want to bring and contribute to American society.
And we have our English programs to help them
get to the English level
where they can take our citizenship classes,
where they can read the constitution, where they can
actually understand the laws
and things that are being put into place so they can help
and build Chicago and build our nation.
Um, these programs are so helpful
because we can help people with building resumes,
with job preparation skills, with, um,
seeking out medical help.
All these things require an a level of English
that a lot of people don't have.
And so when you say that we don't have money for education,
then you're removing these people's access to
a clear path to citizenship.
So you're saying that you're going to be undocumented,
and we're not going to give you a pathway to citizenship.
We're not gonna give you a pathway to healthcare.
We're not gonna give you a pathway
to having a roof over your head.
And these are the things we need to protect
because these are the ways our communities grow.
And these are the people that in three decades,
their children, their grandchildren will be the people here
that will be proud to be, Hey, my family is American
and this is our country that we help build as well, the same
as everyone here has been doing.
So thank you so much, um, and have a good weekend soon.
Thank you. Uh, thank you to all of our speakers today.
Uh, I would like to note that this committee received one
written public comment that you'll
find included in your packets.
Uh, there being no more speakers,
the public comment period is concluded.
Uh, I'd like to recognize, uh, Alderwoman Cruz, uh,
as being present for quorum.
Thank you. Um, we are going to go out of order in the agenda
and take up item two first.
The second item on the agenda
before our committee is R 2 0 2 5 dash
0 0 1 7 5 6 2, uh, which is an order sponsored
by Alderwoman Ana Rodriguez Sanchez
and myself calling for examination on recent alleged
violations of free speech and due prop process rights.
Uh, Alderwoman Rodriguez Sanchez has requested this item be
held in committee, so no votes will be taken following the
conclusion of presentations, uh, and questions from Alders.
Um, so now I will pass it, uh,
onto Alderwoman Rodriguez Sanchez to explain the resolution
and to introduce her panelists.
We have 45 minutes total for this item.
Uh, so I indicate I will indicate when we have five minutes
left and when it's time to wrap up.
Uh, that being said, I'd like to pass it
to Alderwoman Rodriguez Sanchez.
Thank you Chairman Vasquez,
and thank you for working with me on this item.
Um, as you
or most of you know,
we did hold a hearing in the Committee on Health
and Human Relations around violations
of free speech and due process.
I think this is something that we all need
to be very concerned about, um,
and I don't think that we have been talking about it as much
as we need to here in council.
Um, so
because when I was about to report, I was shut down
and one of my colleagues, uh, motioned
to remove my comments from the record.
Um, I think it is important
that we continue the conversation
and hopefully this time when the chair reports,
he'll be able to report on the whole,
uh, on the whole hearing.
Um, I will now provide a brief statement and um,
and then we can move on with our witness.
Um, good morning chair colleagues and everyone here today.
Um, I asked Chair Vasquez to work
with me on bringing this item to the floor
because we all see
that something fundamental is broken in this country.
It's not just about laws
and legal terms, it's about the very soul of who we claim
to be as a society.
Free speech and due process are basic promises
that are supposed to protect every single one
of us from unchecked power.
Everyone, when these promises are broken,
it doesn't just hurt individuals.
It rips at the fabric of our communities,
especially right here in Chicago, a city built on the power,
the labor, and the dreams of diverse people,
and the narrative of a fair shot for everyone.
We're seeing things happen that should chill us to the bone.
Think about the stories we're hearing.
Immigrants, people just looking for a safer, better life
being shipped off to dangerous places like the Seaco in
El Salvador, where the country currently operates under
emergency decree without due process laws,
and where human rights groups have long documented the
horrifying conditions of the country's prisons.
Ko, the aggravated name of this prison stands for Center
for Terrorism Confinement.
This is a prison designed to contain terrorist.
Imagine the conditions immigration is not terrorism
and reports shared by human rights watch in March
of this year, in their case,
against the Trump administration.
Deportations to this facility,
lawyers cite the terrifying on paper doubling
of capacity at the prison from 20,000 to 40,000 people.
This is a larger population than many of the neighborhoods,
areas in Chicago in one facility.
This is a facility that human right groups describe
as a black hole for abuses and warn.
It does not meet international standards.
Many have recounted being tortured
and beaten daily fed rotten food, denied medical care,
denied family and lawyer visits
and the night leave from their cells,
including lacking outdoor recreation.
Our neighbors are also being sent without due process
to prison and detention facilities across the United States.
My own constituent,
Gladys was kidnapped from Chicago on June four
and is still being detained.
I know many of us in this room now
and across our city have similar stories.
We see the Trump administration's construction
of the Alligator Alcatraz concentration camp in Florida,
which is receiving astonishing sums of money
and anticipated 450 million per year
to hold our neighbors in horrible conditions.
According to reports,
people are locked in overcrowded cage style modules
with broken plumbing, fecal overflow,
fed mold infested food,
suffering under mosquito infestations,
experiencing high indoor air temperatures,
and inadequate medical care.
Most of these people have no criminal record.
They have no real chance to speak their peace,
no lawyer by their side.
No fair hearing. These are human beings.
Families torn apart, denied the basic respect of due process
that is supposed to be guaranteed
to everyone on this land no matter where they came from.
And it's not just immigrants,
it's American citizens detaining airports
for hours on end looking a very particular way.
It's happening in our schools too.
We've heard about students and professors like Mamud kil
being targeted and incarcerated without
any real due process.
Their voices are being silenced, their academic freedom ize.
When people are punished just for speaking their minds,
without a fair process, it creates a chilling fear.
It tells us, keep quiet, don't rock the boat.
This is not a democracy.
And at the same time, we continue to see cuts
to public media and attacks on journalism.
The painful irony of all this is
that while we're guarding vital Social Services,
the very programs that support families provide healthcare
and lift people out of poverty,
we're pouring massive amounts
of money into agencies like ice.
We're funding mass deportations
and ripping families apart, all while the safety nets
that should catch us are being shredded.
This all sounds like fascism and we need to say it out loud.
My committee just held a hearing on Tuesday
where our public health department painted a dire picture
for the future of public health programs
because of the cuts in grants that fund almost the entirety
of our department.
I'm trying to speak this one more time.
Free speech and due process are in fancy legal terms just
for lawyers to debate.
They are the heir we breathe in a democracy.
They're what allows us to challenge injustice,
hold those in power accountable,
and build a truly just society.
When these rights are chipped away, brick by brick,
the foundations of our democracy start to crumble.
We're here because we need to act and we need to act now.
Our state, our city, our country, we all have a role
to play in standing up for these fundamental rights.
We need to make sure everyone in our community has strong
legal protections, push back against federal overreach
and rethink how we spend our money putting people on
vital services first.
Chicago has always been a city that fights for
what is right now more than ever.
It's time to live up to that legacy.
This hearing is about better understanding the moment we're
in, what's at stake
and what is needed from all of us to stand together
to protect free speech
and due process, not just for some, but for all.
Let's make sure Chicago remains a place
where every voice can be heard.
And now I would like to pass it on to our, um, witnesses.
If you don't have anything to say, chair. Sorry.
No, no. Thank you very much. I just, um,
Alder person Scho Lopez has requested a virtual option
for committee hearing attendance in accordance
with Rule 59 of the city Council.
Rules of order. Can I get a motion to allow him to attend?
Uh, virtually. Uh, so moved
by Alderman Caala hearing no objections.
So ordered and then absolutely right back to the chair
to introduce or alderwoman,
Um, with the witnesses introduce themselves
and then maybe we can start with Ed.
Sure. Uh, my name is Ed Yanka.
I'm the Director of Communications
and Public Policy at the A CLU of Illinois.
Good morning. My name is Cecilia Mendoza.
I am the Associate Director of Government Relations
with the National Immigrant Justice Center, NIJC.
Uh, good morning everyone. Bon. My name is Jesus Toro.
I'm with the Mayor's Office of Immigrant
and Migrant Refugee Rights,
and I'm, uh, the Director of Policy
and Strategic Initiatives.
Good morning, my name is Carla Coupe.
I am the Chief Equity Officer in the Mayor's office.
Do we have a preference on who speaks first?
I can have the city speaks speak first and then
Totally open for how you'd like
To. Okay. Carla, would you mind,
uh, starting
with your statement, then pass it to Jesus
and then we can go to NIJC and ACL U?
Sure. Good morning, chairman Vasquez
and members of the committee on Immigrant, uh, migrant
and Refugee Rights.
Thank you for the invitation
to testify in front of you today.
Again, as I said, my name is Carl Cupey
and I'm the Chief Equity Officer in the mayor's office.
The City of Chicago is committed to creating a future
where identity and social status
no longer predestined life outcomes.
The Office of Equity
and Racial Justice, that that I lead seeks
to advance institutional change that results in an, in,
in an equitable transformation of
how we do business across the city of Chicago Enterprise.
This includes the city's delivery, service, delivery,
resource distribution, policy creation and decision making.
The city's committing to protecting individual
rights in the following ways.
Um, we track and respond to hate crimes and hate incidents
and work to build relationships with key stakeholders
and communities who are experiencing hate activity
and providing them with support and resources as needed.
We have continued to fulfill the mayor's executive order
as well as the ordinance that came from this body, um,
to establish the Emmic site working group led
by the Chicago Commission on Human Relations
as we call the CCHR,
and to conduct listening sessions on the west, south,
and north side, which will result in the report
with findings and recommendations designed
to keep trans Chicagoans safe.
CCHR also continues
to deliver Know Your Rights presentations
to educate Chicagoans about their rights.
Under the city's anti-discrimination mandates,
the human rights and Fair Housing ordinances,
which prohibit discrimination in employment, housing,
and public accommodations as an office
and in collaboration with city departments such
as C-C-H-R-C-P-D and Suites and Sanitation, OERJ.
My office and other internal teams in the mayor's office are
improving communication and rapid response to hate crimes
and incidents, um,
that are directed towards various communities
who have been experiencing a surge in harmful
of behavior towards them over the last month.
I would also like to name the work
that the city's department of Law is leading in this moment,
if I have permission to read that statement.
Yes, definitely. Department
of Law has filed six lawsuits against the Trump
administration so far.
These lawsuits challenge the Trump administration's
termination of a grant that reimburses the city for the cost
of sheltering migrants freeze of funding under grant awarded
to help the city, uh,
prevent terrorist attacks restrictions on funding
for so-called sanctuary jurisdictions requirement
that grants applicants certify they will not promote DEI
or quote, gender ideology mass firings
of federal employees
and a rule that will increase the cost
of insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
These lawsuits have already generated wins,
including two orders temporarily stopping the Trump Adminis
administration's illegal practices
and the lifting of the freeze on our anti-terrorism funding.
Department of Law has also joined 24 multi-city amicus
briefs in support of law lawsuits filed
by third parties against the third, uh,
against the Trump administration.
These include briefs opposing the Trump administration's
efforts to end birthright citizenship,
reduce science funding, CIN protections
for I immigrants deploy the National Guard Terminate grants
awarded to help reduce crime
and cancel funding for local government projects
that incorporate certain disadvantaged
business enterprise goals.
Once again, many
of these lawsuits have already resulted in court orders
temporarily stopping the Trump
administration's illegal practices.
While litigation proceeds Department
of Law has taken many other actions
to challenge the Trump administration administration.
These include helping
to appeal the administration's reduction
of Head Start funding
and termination of the Department of Cultural Affairs
and special Events grants, providing affidavits in support
of lawsuits filed by Illinois and other states,
and joining multi-city comments, opposing efforts
to resin affirmative action in FHA housing programs
and to change passport applications
to exclude transgender people.
Further department of law is defending the city in a number
of inquiries and actions,
including the Trump administration lawsuit attacking the
city's welcoming ordinance.
I and I will pass it on to, uh, director Deltoro.
Uh, but I want to again thank uh, chairman Vasquez
and Chairwoman Rodriguez Sanchez, uh, for the opportunity
to be present for this hearing.
Thank you very much. Order please.
We wanna make sure we hear from the speakers.
Uh, good morning, chairman Vasquez, um,
and the members of the Committee on
Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
Thank you for the invitation to address the committee today.
Uh, my name is Jesus del Toro, director of Policy
and Strategic Initiatives for the Mayor's Office
of Immigrant Migrant and Refugee Rights under the Leadership
of Deputy Mayor Bedel Leon,
before I begin my formal testimony, I wanna take a moment
to acknowledge the urgency and seriousness of the moment.
Uh, we are in a time when federal immigration
enforcement is increasing.
Fear is rising in many of our communities
and immigrant families are facing
uncertainty and intimidation.
Uh, the Imer team, as some of you may know them, um,
remains deeply committed to standing with our c uh,
communities and continuing the work to ensure safety
for all Chicagoans
and affirming that every person, regardless
of immigration status, has rights
that are protected under the US Constitution.
Since its establishment.
Two years ago, IMR has promoted the inclusion
and equitable treatment of immigrants, migrants,
and refugees in Chicago.
We work across the departments, policy makers
and communities to ensure our immigrant
and refugee communities have access to critical supports.
In my role, I also have the honor of representing the City
of Chicago as co-Chair of Cities for Action, a coalition
of more than 200 US mayors
and county executives advocating
for pro-immigrant federal policies.
Through this network, I hear regularly from our peers across
the country about how cities large
and small are grappling with the impacts
of increased immigration enforcement.
I'm here today to outline some of the work
that the Imer team is leading
to support both our city partners
and immigrant serving organizations like the National
Immigrant Justice Center, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant
and Refugee Rights, the Resurrection Project and others.
In the past several months, IMR has partnered
with the Chicago Transit Authority
to launch a multilingual Know Your Rights campaign, uh,
across 400 locations, collaborated
with the Chicago Public Library
and the Resurrection Project
to host Know Your Rights Workshops
to ensure all Chicagoans know their constitutional rights
partner with organizations
and with many of you to support your know your right events
and your awards, printed
and distributed key information about available legal
supports at community events, cultural celebrations,
and other public gatherings
to ensure broad access and awareness.
We also participated in the launch
of a centralized information and resource hub,
or the Illinois immigration info.org in partnership
with the Illinois Department of Human Services
and I-J-C-T-R-P and icer
and as co-Chairs of Cities for Action,
we also led a collaboration
with over 30 cities across the country
to launch a digital campaign to underscore the importance
of our immigrant communities to our respective cities,
coupled with accurate information on legal supports
and know your right informations like that
of A CLU and NIJC.
And furthermore, the Imer team has supported the city's
department of Law and drafting guidelines
for all C departments, officials
and employees for how to respond if visited
by federal representatives.
These are just a few examples of
how the Imer Office works across apartments
and external groups to advance policies, tools,
and practices that support our immigrant
and refugee communities.
With that said, I'm here to listen, take input from members
of this body and work in close collaboration to ensure
that all Chicagoans know their rights,
feel safe in their communities,
and have access to the resources Chicago offers.
Iman remains fully committed to advancing this work
and partnership with the members of the committee on, uh,
immigrant and Refugee Rights,
and we welcome the opportunity to meet with your offices
and teams to further this shared mission.
Uh, thank you chairman. Thank you.
Good morning, Cecilia Mendoza
with the National Immigrant Justice Center.
Thank you to Alder Women Rodriguez Sanchez,
alderman Vasquez, and the Committee on Immigrant Refugee
Rights for inviting NIJC to participate in today's meeting.
As a nation, we are seeing unprecedented levels
of executive overreach with the administration,
piloting some of its most egregious authoritarian tactics in
the immigration context, including violating court orders
and constitutional rights.
More and more of our community knows exactly what it's like
to be the target of the Trump administration's
cruelty and lawlessness.
Ricardo was one of the people.
This administration disappeared to El Salvador
with no notice.
Ricardo was a delivery worker in Michigan picking up an
order and on his way to deliver it.
When he was arrested by immigration authorities,
the Trump administration refused
to provide information Ricardo's whereabouts
for five weeks he was disappeared in
the ICE detention system.
It wasn't until the New York Times reported on his story
that the administration admitted they had already sent
Ricardo to El Aldo's,
infamous Secco Prison in a social media post.
Ricardo's friend who is an NIJC client here in Chicago
had been trying to locate him for weeks.
Even now. After this, uh,
Salvadorian government sent over 200 Venezuelans from
Kott to Venezuela.
Ricardo's family and friends have yet to hear from him,
adding to the fear our clients
and communities are feeling worried they could be.
Next Ricardo.
One of many examples of how the administration disappears,
people with no evidence
or accountability, they falsely claimed
that Garo was a gang member, the same claim
that they have been using to target hundreds of other people
detained indefinitely,
either within ISIS sprawling detention center
or sent to a foreign country.
This administration knows no borders when it comes
to violating due process and defying court orders
and the US constitution.
Here in Chicago, we are very familiar
with the extensive harm
that comes from law enforcement wrongfully labeling
people as gang members.
And we are seeing this administration,
this administration proudly running
with those racial profiling practices.
To be clear, racial profiling is not new to ICE
or the Trump administration.
In 2018, NIJC, along with a CLU of Illinois, ice cer
and OCAD sued over violations of the Immigration
and Nationality Act and Fourth Amendment protections
after raids occurred in Chicago
during Trump's first administration.
During those raids, ICE officers failed to comply
with its limited warrantless arrest authority
before making many collateral arrests,
including racially motivated traffic stops.
In 2022, the government agreed
to a settlement agreement when, uh, often
where we often refer to as the cast settlement
and ICE issued a nationwide policy setting forth
requirements and limits
for making warrantless arrests and vehicle stops.
When the Trump administration returned to office,
they violated the Caan settlement.
Within their first week, we had to re we we had to return
to court to enforce the settlement
and defend Chicagoans from ICE's rampant abuses.
Abel is one of the plaintiffs in our motion
to enforce the Caan Nava settlement.
Abel, who has been in the United States
for nearly 30 years was abducted
by half a dozen armed ice agents in a case
of mistaken identity.
Once ICE realized Abel was not their target, they refused
to let him go even when he went into an asthma attack.
Six months later, he is trapped in detention in a county
jail in Kentucky,
Abel owned his own business that is now in jeopardy.
He has, um, his wife who is battling cancer
while he continues to fight for a full day in court
and his due process rights.
There are thousands of people like Abel facing the harsh
crackdown from this administration on people
who have been here for decades.
The motion to enforce Abel as part of
was filed in March of this year.
It includes 22 examples of violations to the settlement days
after Trump's inauguration.
Abel is the only plaintiff still in detention.
We are waiting on the judge's decision on this case
where we saw an extension of the Caan settlement
and relief for VE
so he can finally be reunited with his family.
This is how the Trump administration is treating people
who are pillars to our communities.
Business owners divide devoted parents, grandparents.
This is also how they treat people
who have fled authoritarian regimes
and violent dictatorships, people who have come
to the United States seeking refuge.
Understandably, our communities are terrified,
facing increasingly difficult decisions.
We need legal defense more than ever doing everything we can
to get people connected to legal representation.
If one connected to legal representation is one
of the necessary steps to protect all
of our due process rights in this moment of crisis
funding programs like the Chicago Legal Protection Fund,
which was started in 2017 in response
to the Trump Trump's first term in office
to defend Chicagoans rights.
This is especially urgent now
that Congress has given the Department
of Homeland Security over $170 billion to balloon
the Immigration Enforcement industrial complex,
while also imposing
what in practice is a wealth tax on the most vulnerable
by dramatically increasing filing fees on
humanitarian protections.
Congress has handed over $170 billion regardless of the fact
that they have been consistently violating the Constitution
and existing US laws operating as a lawless
and rogue agency that now has the largest
law enforcement budget in the country, in the face
of these attacks, NIJC re remains committed to working
with all of our partner organizations, legislators at all,
at all levels, the mayor's office
and the distinguished members of the city council
to protect everyone's due process rights.
We bring our 40 plus years of direct legal services,
litigation and policy expertise
to continue defending immigrant rights
and hold the government accountable for its lawlessness,
but it will take all of us working together
to protect all of our communities.
Thank you.
Thank you very much. Good morning, chair Vasquez, uh,
vice Chair Taylor
and members of the Committee on Immigration
and Refugee Rights.
Uh, as you heard before, my name is Ed Yca
and I am the Director of Communications
and Public Policy at the A CLU of Illinois.
I really want to thank you for including the A CLU as part
of this meeting today and letting us share these views.
But I do want to take a moment of sort
of personal privilege at the top to say how happy I am
and honored I am to be here with Cecilia on behalf
of the National Immigrant Justice Center.
NIJC has been a leader in legal representation
and just the fight for basic fairness
for immigrants for years.
Uh, and I have long been both a supporter
and admirer of their work.
The concept of due process
is rooted in English common law,
and was very intentionally enshrined into our
constitution by our framers.
It is mostly found in the fifth
and the 14th amendments to the Constitution.
But the basic notion
behind this constitutional principle is
that no one in America, neither citizen
nor non-citizen, can be denied life, liberty,
or property without a process, without a reason.
Again, neither citizen
nor non-citizen, the framers of the Constitution knew when
to use the word citizen,
and they never used it in the Fifth Amendment,
nor the 14th Amendment, except around birthright citizenship
in its text, its tradition and precedent.
Our Constitution guarantees that people get a fair hearing
before the government takes away their
freedom or their property.
And just to put it as simply
and bluntly as one can, government has
to follow certain rules
before they can do bad stuff to people.
Now, the current occupant of the Oval Office has,
I think we can charitably say
a somewhat complicated relationship
with the concept of due process.
He, for example, seemed to fully embrace due process
and utilize our entire court system from district courts
to the Supreme Court of the United States when he was
charged as a criminal defendant.
And let me just say, there's nothing wrong with
what the President did in that instance.
The A CLU has long supported the right
and the ability of people to fully
utilize all the procedures when they're being threatened
with criminal charges.
But at the very same time, Donald Trump believes
that the right to do process extends only to those
that he likes, not to anyone he deems to be an enemy
or deems to be an opponent,
or simply someone who can be a convenient political foil
to advance his authoritarian ambitions.
He regularly rages on social media
and even in the Oval Office about quote unquote evil people
who should be punished without ever offering any evidence
that those individuals have done anything wrong.
I, I hasten to remind you that literally last weekend,
the president shared an AI generated video
imagining former President Obama being
handcuffed and arrested.
He offered no evidence. Yes.
Sorry for a second. I need people who are here watching
to not be speaking while we're having people testify.
Uh, if it continues, I will be asking for you to be removed.
Thank you so much. You're allowed to not
during this, you'd like to continue.
The president offered no evidence
that the former president had committed a crime,
and in fact seemed to ignore that he himself
had won a judgment from the Supreme Court saying
that presidents in, uh, in, uh, doing their duty
as president, have full immunity from prosecution.
Uh, this is not normal and frankly, it's just un-American.
The disregard for due process is particularly, uh,
disturbing as you've heard, as the Trump administration
carries out their mass detention and deportation program.
In the months that the president has been back in office
for his second term, the A CLU has filed 27 lawsuits
against the administration just related
to immigration enforcement 27.
That's an average about one each week for his second term.
And by the way, if he has any questions, we're willing
to keep that up for the duration of the term.
Most of these lawsuits alleged
that the administration is detaining people
and deporting them without giving them anything
that resembles a fair hearing in a court.
Indeed, uh, Trump's vice president, who is a Yale
educated lawyer, has asserted
that the administration simply doesn't have the time
to give every person that wishes, uh, that they wish
to deport due process.
It's critical to point out
that the Trump administration is not content
to simply violate immigrants
and refugees due process rights.
Trump and ICE are trampling other key constitutional rights,
including the Fourth Amendment protections against
Unreasonable Search and Seizures
by law enforcement under the Trump administration.
We now regularly see heavily armed masked
and unidentified ice agents patrolling the streets
of Chicago and other American cities in unmarked vehicles
and sweeping people up off the streets.
These officers target people
for enforcement based on their appearance, not on any
evidence that an individual is involved in any wrongdoing.
When stopped, these people are asked
to prove their lawful status,
rather than the government having the burden of being forced
to prove that an individual should be subject
to immigration enforcement action.
In other words, even
before the denial of due process, the Trump
and ICE policies already violate our constitution.
The administration, as you've heard, has gone, gone so far
to invoke a 19th century law.
The Alien Enemies act a law from one of the darkest times
for civil liberties in American history.
In order to remove several hundred men to El Salvador,
the government simply believed
or asserted that these people were members
of a Venezuelan gang.
The proof of this assertion was scant.
At best government officials pointed to tattoos that may
or may not have been gang related,
or took the word of un unreliable informants
to send these men to a gulag, whereas we were now learning.
And as the Alder woman pointed out,
they were beaten and starved.
Another critical element of due process, of course,
is the ability to use and fully utilize the legal process
before experiencing some sort of punishment.
The Trump administration is obliterating this comment
concept in immigration proceedings.
We see regular reports of immigrants
and asylum speakers who are following all the rules
and being fully cooperative
with the I immigration proceedings only
to be summarily detained, arrested, and deported.
Many are called to immigration hearings only
to be suddenly told without a lawyer, uh, that their case
or appeal is being dismissed
and that they are immediately being taken into custody.
NIJC, by the way, is leading a lawsuit
that is challenging this practice across the country.
And likewise, as we've seen right here in this city,
immigrants who show up
to mandatory check-ins at ICE offices like the one in the
South Loop are suddenly detained and disappeared.
This treatment of people who are complying
with all the rules is a violation of due process.
It is certainly not the targeting of the worst of the worst,
and it does not remove dangerous criminals from our streets.
Here's the thing, and here's the one thing
that we should remember as we discuss this.
None of us should imagine
that we are immune from these violations once they are
normalized and tolerated.
It doesn't matter if we are an immigrant.
It doesn't matter if we're a green card holder.
It doesn't matter matter if we are a naturalized
or a birthright citizen.
This administration has made clear
That they will seek punishment of anyone
they find to be an enemy, an opponent,
or inconvenient due process be damned.
That is why it is critical for all of us to stand up
to the attack that's ongoing on immigrants and refugees,
and we have to do it today.
This is not a defense just of our immigrant
and refugee neighbors and friends.
It is an need, a protection that applies to each of us.
Due process is not something
that could be meted out in some cases
and then conveniently left on the sidelines in others.
It is critical if we are going to live up
to our American values that we protect due process,
lest we all be the victims of a power hungry,
authoritarian leaning regime.
Thank you and I look forward to your questions.
Thank you very much. Uh, chair
Alderwoman Rodriguez Sanchez,
if you'd like to start questions?
Yes, I will start. Um, can both of you, uh,
Cecilia and Ed, um, speak about the status of some
of the lawsuits
and how in what direction we're moving in relation to those?
And then do we believe that we are going to be able
to prevail, um, not only on the ones that we are, um,
already working on,
but are the lawsuits the main way in which we are going to
defeat, um, the intentions and the,
Yeah, thanks. Thank
you for the question.
I I think the way
to think about litigation in this instance is
that litigation is a first step to larger solutions
that require bodies like these
and frankly, all of us as as human beings to stand up
and oppose, you know,
what we're seeing from the administration.
So thinking about the litigation itself, um,
in the 27 suits that we have filed, uh,
since the administration's been in place,
we've actually seen some relief from the courts in about
half of those, or a little over half of them.
You know, for example, in the case of, you know,
removing people to the El Salvador
and Gulag, uh, we were able to get court orders to block
that without some sort of meaningful due process.
We also know, by the way,
that the administration in the first instance,
actually ignored and defied the court order
and put planes in the air and didn't turn them around
after they were told to do so.
Um, so I think that's a separate issue that we,
that we should think about.
Um, in the case of, for example, the challenge to, uh,
the use of expedited removal, uh,
which has traditionally been used proximate to the border,
um, for people who are just coming across, the idea was
that you could do expedited removal for people
who hadn't been here, who hadn't established roots.
Uh, the administration, excuse me.
The administration is now using
that process in the interior.
Um, that litigation, as an example, has moved more slowly.
Uh, I'll just mention,
and I hope I don't jump a step on you here, Cecilia,
but the in the constant and Nava challenge, uh, and, and
and enforcement motion here in the northern district
of Illinois that Cecilia mentioned, the the administration
actually acknowledges that despite the fact
that we had an enforcement motion pending
and that one of the precepts of the agreement was
that it couldn't expire if there was a,
an enforcement motion pending, they've sent out a memo
to everybody saying that agreement is no longer in place.
Um, so you know that, that while some
of the litigation has moved
and we've seen protection,
certainly in the birthright citizenship case, we have, uh,
in other instances it is moving more slowly
and we see the administration often ignoring it.
That's why I, I will tell you,
I think more people speaking up about this,
I think more public forums like this, I think more ability
to talk about this is critical.
You know, I don't usually quote this,
but I will, over the weekend,
we actually saw public opinion polling that shows
that the administration's, um, you know,
immigration enforcement policies are deeply unpopular.
And one of the reasons that that, that we're seeing
that consistently in poll after poll is
because of the overreach that they're doing.
And I think the more attention we pay to that,
I think the harder we make it politically for people
to be able to support it.
Um, I will also add that it, it's,
it's a very necessary part of accountability.
Um, and we are, um, still seeing, um, winds in this space.
Uh, we had, uh, just I believe a couple months ago, one,
protecting the right to seek asylum in, in one
of our litigation cases, uh, which is vital
because, um, everyone has a right
to seek asylum here in the United States.
Uh, and in addition, I also wanted to highlight
that we are also litigating around funding.
There is federal funding that went to children, people
who have, um, disabilities and,
and providing them with resources to be able
to have an attorney in their immigration cases
because one is not provided to people in immigration cases.
They have to seek their own.
And there were federal dollars allocated
to these vulnerable populations, children
and, um, people with disabilities
that they stopped funding for.
And in our litigation in regards to those programs,
we did get, uh, decisions that ordered the administration
to restore those fundings.
Uh, and so those are one of the core orders
that are not being followed.
Uh, coming back to the point of, of, um,
just the lawlessness of this administration.
So just to highlight a couple of those pieces
of this is the way that we keep
and hold the administration accountable
and we're gonna keep holding them accountable
and, uh, taking them to court when, um, there's a case
that we can present to hold their feet to the fire.
I'm gonna ask one more question. I'm gonna allow my
colleagues to ask, um, from the perspective
of this body, we can always have these conversations.
We can pass resolutions in city council,
but we're very limited as a municipality.
Um, do you have any recommendations in, in legal, in,
in a legal way that we can use in order to be able
to better protect people here in Chicago?
Um, I, I think there are two things that occur to me.
Um, the first is, is that I think, you know,
as we've heard earlier,
the city has been very active in terms
of amicus briefs, uh, on these things.
I think they're gonna be increasingly, they're,
they'll be increasing calls for state
and local officials to do amicus briefs as well.
And I would encourage, you know, all the members
of this council when asked to sort
of take those asks seriously and, and explore
and examine whether
or not, um, you know, you're willing to sign on to that.
The other thing I think is to, to, to really sort
of encourage, I think, from your place here on the ground,
is to work with
and encourage our federal officials as well in terms of ways
that we can build towards,
as Cecilia talked about, accountability.
Um, just two things I would mention, uh, as, as,
as you heard, uh, ICE is now being funded at a level
that makes them akin to like France and Germany's Army.
Um, and, you know, I think that that means
that it's gonna be critical, uh,
that we have ample oversight of the way
that those resources are being spent.
I think as you see things in the community, sharing those
with our federal officials so
that can become part of that process.
I think it's critically important.
Making, you know, encouraging federal officials to go
and visit detention facilities, I think is,
is critically important as well.
And the last thing, I'll just say that, that just within
the last couple of weeks,
there's been legislation introduced in Congress now in both
chambers, something called the Visible Act
that would simply require that ICE
and other federal officials identify themselves when they
are engaged in immigration enforcement.
I think, you know, speaking out encouraging members
to co-sponsor that kind of legislation is a thing that,
you know, again, from this level up, from
where you are closest on the ground to federal officials,
I think is something that is, you know, really critical
and important for them to hear from you as well.
I would like to add that we, um,
are in such a stronger position than we were back in 2017.
Uh, we've had the Legal Protection Fund at the state level.
We have access to justice.
We have a lot of community organizations including the, um,
uh, the mayor's office at our Getting Know Your Rights
information out there, having referral systems
for connecting people to legal representation.
So there's, um, systems that exist that can continue
to be up uplifted and supported.
Um, and also brainstorming.
We were working with a lot of our, um, partners
to figure out how we get more pro bono support.
So being, um, a collaborative partner in those conversations
as well, in addition to figuring out how we can continue to
expand the reach of legal services to the community,
which I acknowledge is difficult
because there is a lot of need
and just not enough, uh, representation.
So continuing to have those conversations,
finding those solutions, supporting, uh, the networks
that we have established over the years
that have prepared us
and have put up a very strong defense from the start
of this administration.
And we need to meet the level that they're, um,
that they're also trying
to impose on us with this new funding.
So we need to, we need to be able to meet that.
And not to say that it's easy, um, saying it here,
but it is gonna take all of us.
And, and we wanna have continue having those conversations.
I know a lot of you are working with your, uh, organizations
that are in your wards, uh,
and that's really going to be key as we continue to navigate
what the, um, what the,
what the next couple years are gonna look like, um, for,
for all of our residents.
Thank you both so much for your presentation, um,
and for the work that you're doing every day,
I yield to my colleagues now.
Thank you. Um, before I go to members, I just had, um,
a couple questions to follow up.
But first I'd like to recognize Alder person Fuentes
as present for purposes of Quorum.
Um, thank you for all the information that you're sharing.
Um, I've got questions related to tracking, so
we're often seeing the headlines of the amount of cases
that are happening, trying to get a sense of, um,
as it's playing out in the courts,
what the administration is being successful at,
not being successful at.
Is there tracking overall to get a sense of it right,
because to your, uh, point, uh, director Yanka
every week, those numbers are changing.
And also, um, kind of correlated to that,
the categories that we're talking, right?
Some are related to undocumented folks, some aren't.
And I think that when people focus on like narratives
and stories, it's very visceral
and people may not understand the data as to
how it's growing where it's creeping into
different facets of the public.
And so just wondering if, uh, any of
that is tracked and how Yeah.
Um, actually there are a number
of different organizations, uh,
who have done a really good job, I think
of, of tracking them.
There are some that are, are sort
of very public and accessible.
The Washington Post, for example, has a tracking site of all
of the litigation, challenging the president's executive
orders and executive actions.
New York University Law School has one
that I find particularly, um, helpful
because, as you say, it sort of both tracks by issue area,
but also the intersections in issue areas.
You know, recently HHS issued a rule
reinterpreting a 1990s law so
that Head Start programs would have to check, um, uh,
legal status for people in order to enroll them.
And so they, they're able to list that both in terms
of services, but also in terms of immigration.
So I think there are, there are a number of different things
that I'd be happy to get some of the links
for some of those to you.
'cause I think, I find I personally find them very useful
'cause it's hard to keep up with the rulings
that are happening day in and day out.
Yeah. Um, Ms. Mendoza, if you have any as well?
Yeah, I'll add that, that it's sometimes tricky
'cause there's a lot of self-reporting in the sense of like
what organizations receive, what they're seeing
with their clients, the folks that we, you know,
that unfortunately do not make, um, reach, uh, the network
of, of folks providing services.
So it is a little tricky. Um,
there are a few national, um, reports.
Um, the National Immigrant Law Center, for example, has, um,
a map where they list like where, uh,
which states there have been, um, people who've been sent
to El Salvador Forum, for example.
Uh, but it's kind of very broad in the sense like at least
one person from the state has been sent just
because of how, how difficult it can be to collect data.
But I'll, I can also share a couple
of those resources with you
Chair. Yeah. If, if you could
both do the chair kind of send
as many of those resources possible also, if there are any
that are, um, more localized
to what's happening in Chicago as well.
I think it's a good, um, we often through, uh, you know,
the welcome to Chicago uh, dot org website for the committee
as well as other communications we put out, want
to make sure that people are
thinking about it in this manner.
Um, as well as when we talk about the narratives
and the understanding that, uh,
and we won't read the poem out,
but we know one group will get targeted first,
and then those same systems are where are gonna be expanded
to then attack other populations.
And so for us to be able to have those conversations about
what those shared challenges look like,
I think is helpful in a time where the intent of this, uh,
presidential administration is to divide people.
So, um, that would be extremely helpful.
I think the next question I have,
and I don't know that there's an answer,
but I think it's a, a question obviously we get from
constituents we get from the public, I personally have is
you mentioned the, the one case, uh, related to El Salvador
where the administration actively,
intentionally went against the court rulings.
Um, what would
or could enforcement look like in those scenarios
where you're kind of pushing up against it?
'cause it's clear that they're continuing to try to do this
and that is very much part of the strategy?
Uh, I, yeah. Um, I have a hard time answering that one.
I get that question all the time.
Uh, I, I think this is the place where I think we,
it is especially critical, um, that,
that leaders at all levels are gonna have to decide whether
or not we still have a democracy or we don't, whether
or not we've gone over the cliff.
Because it, the reality is, is that, you know, one
of the things, um, you know, the,
the famous line from President Andrew Jackson about,
you know, the Supreme Courts made their ruling,
now let's see where their army is to enforce it,
is something we mock in many ways.
'cause the idea has always been that, of course, our leaders
will follow and abide by lawful court orders.
Uh, I, I think we're in a moment now where, you know,
we've seen, there was just recent study that was done
that suggested that the administration is obfuscated or,
or defied or walked right up to the line defying, you know,
more than one third of the court orders
that have been issued against them in just
these, these few months.
So I think enforcement in
that place really becomes about a collective will.
I don't think it's gonna come from the courts necessarily.
I don't think it's gonna come from, you know, uh, I,
I don't think it'll necessarily come from this Congress.
I think that's the kind of thing that will come
because people will collectively speak up and,
and suggest that they don't want, um, you know,
our administration using our tax dollars in our money acting
in a reckless, in a lawless way.
Sure. And then Ms. Mendoza,
I wanna, uh, narrow down a little bit the scope of like,
you know, that, that, um, for
that case it was one very publicized case
and there's a lot of people
who are in very similar positions that need to have
that legal defense to be emailing everyone, calling everyone
to be like, what are you doing with my client?
And again, to highlight the need, um, uh,
for legal defense legal representation
because that attorney, that Department
of Justice accredited rep will be the person
that is calling, emailing, blowing up these agencies
to get answers about their client
and all of that, um, also feeds into litigation.
We inform a lot of what we see with our client cases
for our litigation cases.
Um, and it keeps, um, again, holding, uh, the,
the agency accountable
and having someone asking questions about this person
who is missing, who has not been heard of
what conditions they're in, in, in detention centers,
which are, uh, expected to be hor already horrible.
People are not getting the basic care that they need,
medications that they need, care that they need, um,
here in the United States, either, uh,
as we heard a couple examples of
what is happening at Sea Cot.
And so having that attorney
that can advocate in those spaces consistently is also one
of those pieces that is, is necessary.
And, um, again, as I mentioned earlier, helps in knowing
what is happening, what taxes are being used,
how people are being treated.
Sure. Absolutely. Um, also if do the chair, you're able
to send kind of any examples of communication.
'cause I do think that, um,
whether we've got lawyers looking to do pro bono support
or neighbors looking to figure out what they can do as part
of everything that's happening, I think, um, to both
of your points, when there's such a challenge identifying
what enforcement looks like, it is very much incumbent on
the public to be vocal.
And we have neighbors who clearly want to get involved,
but may not know
what part they can play in the whole ecosystem.
And so I think the more information that we get, um,
the better we can help kind
of broadcast that to folks as well. Yeah.
And, and just to add to that, I think, I think, you know,
for many of us who do this work every day, it's even more
critical that we speak out and lift up these stories
and these narratives
because as, as Cecilia sort of pointed to,
there are entire communities who are just paralyzed
with fear and unable to.
And I think that it, it,
it really makes it incumbent on those of us who have,
you know, the privilege of being able to do this either,
you know, as a career
or alternately, you know,
are not necessarily directly threatened to be able,
you know, to do that in every way that we can.
I think, I think that's the other element of this that,
you know, uh, we have to be looking for
and looking to as a community.
Yeah. No, I, I agree.
I also, I'm reminded
of when we were having the buses come in where
people that are doing the most direct work are also
inundated and overwhelmed with that work.
And so part
of like the communication at the broadcasting is I think,
a part that we can help play.
Um, I feel there was a moment where you had a lot
of volunteers doing a lot of mutual aid work, who were
so inundated trying to provide the actual service
and the resources they couldn't broadcast
and get the word out to other people who wanted to help.
And so I think trying to figure out what that part
to play is, 'cause I can't even imagine
what your desks look like, um, to make sure
that we can figure out how we can help.
And so, um, that would be helpful also.
Any, anything related to history,
I think people, and this has kind of been my experience,
are either disconnected from their own immigrant stories
and in this moment,
because of everything else going on
aren't necessarily focused.
But to your point, related to what happens when governments
can't find enforcement, I don't think there's a lot
of knowledge as to the rest
of the globe in history and how that's occurred.
That I think really getting people on notice to learn
how this can slide, but also what people can do to kind
of step up and speak out in this moment's important.
So I, I really do appreciate that.
Um, what I'll do now is open it up to our members
and for a moment, uh,
alderman Rodriguez Sanchez will vice chair,
uh, act as vice chair as well.
Uh, any questions from our members?
I wanna wait for Chair Rodriguez to call on the right.
Okay. Thank you. All right.
Um, uh, thank you chairs
and, um, thank you to our panelists today.
Um, uh, ed and Carla
and team, I like seeing you guys,
but I've really not been happy about the reason why you have
to come and visit us, um, lately.
And, uh, a couple things that came up and,
and I'll say representing the 49th Ward, you know,
one thing I wanna lift up and,
and this is for the public record
and as a reminder, um, um,
immigration migration, how people come
to the country in the 49th Ward.
Um, we have people representing pretty much probably every
continent and sub area around the world.
Um, we have been a first home for waves
of immigrants from all over the place.
And I think it's important that, um, I know it's, uh,
you know, sometimes from the public's perspective,
or I'll say from the very large platform
of the current federal administration, um, there are a lot
of, there's a lot of misinformation about immigrants, about
what their process is, right?
Um, I was just sharing with our summer intern here, um,
permanent residence, people in the citizenship process,
green card holders, people on work visas,
student visas, all kind.
There's so many complex layers to status.
Um, and they're all represented here in Chicago
and certainly in the 49th ward.
Um, I've got green cardholders
and permanent residents from Austria and Germany and Ireland
and India and South Korea.
Right? I've got immigrants from probably almost
probably a good 60% of the African continent.
Um, you know, Mexico, central
and South America, the Caribbean, Haiti
people from everywhere.
Um, it's very hard
to be quote unquote, I'll say illegal
right in this country.
And by hard I mean, we actually,
we have a pretty strong system of managing our border.
So if somebody is here from another country
and they're going through an immigration
process, they're not illegal.
They're going through our immigration process.
Um, the June 4th, um, the June 4th, um,
We would like order here.
We are trying to listen to our colleagues speak.
And your speech is out of order, ma'am,
so you had your chance,
you were on the micro on the microphone, you said
what you needed to say, and now I'm going
to ask that you're removed.
Please leave the chambers. Please leave the chambers.
Ma'am, we're going to wait for a second
until I did.
We'll have order in this chamber to be able
to run this hearing.
We're gonna take a five minute recess.
Hi. To see you. Hi. A little bit cold.
Cold. Good. How are you? Good morning.
Look, I, I am, we wanna make sure
everyone's got their right to speech.
What we have is public comment to be able to do so.
I really wanna make sure that you all get all the
information because whatever
I would look, I have,
I have, I have zero problem.
Whether you oppose or not, you have every right.
Yeah, yeah. I got it. I got it.
Ms. Lee, if, if you may,
'cause that guy walked in here in the middle of this,
I am perfectly okay.
I'm perfectly okay with you all
participating in being a part of the hearing.
It is why we have the hearings,
whether somebody is in agreement
or in disagreement, is absolutely your right to do.
So you have every right to speak.
We have public comment for that time.
So all I'm asking is that we can have the hearing
because the information here, whether you agree with it
or not, is actually helpful for your case
that you wanna make to people who agree with you.
But I would like, I understand that
what I would like from, so
what I would like from you is just the equal amount
of respect for the people who want to talk.
That's it. Is that okay? I, I appreciate it.
Thank you very much. Uh,
we're gonna bring everybody back in,
but I will a, I will ask this.
I will ask this, allow these folks to speak.
You have, have all the freedom of speech and comment after.
Just please don't interrupt when they're talking either.
Okay. Thank you. That's all I'm asking.
We're gonna reconvene and have the folks out here.
Thank you very much. Uh, we are now reconvening the hearing.
Uh, Alder women hadn't,
I believe you were questioning. Thank you.
Alright, so we'll try this again.
Um, as I was saying, so the June 4th incident where, uh,
third party lured people in to be, um, abducted by ice,
you know, one of my constituents was Snag two.
And this is just, for example, he was a, uh,
he's a Cameroonian national, lived here
for 10 years in a legal immigration process
with a immigration attorney married to a US citizen, uh,
expecting a child in a couple of months, right?
Um, most of the people that I represent
and engage with, like, these are their stories,
these are their situations.
And I know that, uh, the right wing media,
people on their YouTube channels, you know, president Trump
who thinks we're gonna reduce drug prices
by a thousand percent and pay people.
There's a lot of miseducation misinformation,
wrong information being perpetrated.
And I understand, um, it's easy
for people to, to, to get caught in that.
So from, from your experiences, um,
I'm just wondering if, if you have information
or through the chair could direct us to such information as
to, you know, folks that you're working
with or representing.
Um, how many people are, of the people
that you've been representing, um, already going
through a legal immigration process.
I don't know if you could speak to that
or share that information through the chair.
All of our clients are going
through an immigration process, um, whether that's, uh,
having filed a U-Visa petition that's currently pending,
that has a very long backlog that raises issues around, um,
how the agency is processing applications, um, to, uh,
individuals who are fighting their cases in court.
Um, and we also have clients
that have been renewing their temporary protected status,
for example, for, uh, over a decade.
Uh, so all of our clients have an avenue,
are either waiting, have an application pending,
or we're actively arguing their cases,
waiting for a court hearing.
Um, they're actively participating in being able
to obtain legal status
and are invested in following the laws of the United States,
have been very grateful
of the opportunities that they've had here.
They want to be, um, positive members of our society
and contribute and do good.
And so all of our clients are on that path,
and we have served over 10,000 clients, uh, in our history.
And that from our clients, we have not, um, seen a change
or waiver in that commitment to the country.
Thank, thank you. Yeah, ed, can,
Can just two things that was spurred by, by your comment.
Um, I would note that the Miami Herald recently did an
analysis of the people being held in the place called
Alligator Alcatraz,
and discovered that the majority of them have no crime,
criminal record beyond traffic, uh, enforcement matters.
Um, and secondly, I think in terms of, you know, uh,
there've been some studies about the people who've been
deported that has looked at the numbers again, that,
you know, there, there are not people that the maj,
the vast majority of people who've been detained
and deported have not had serious criminal records.
And so I think that, you know, it's one
of the things I think to keep lifting up that, as you say,
the kinds of stories you're talking about are the kinds
of ones that, that we're seeing.
There is, there's just one other thing I, and forgive me.
Um, you know, one
of the benefits of being an old man at this point is I've
lived long enough to see a lot of things.
And, you know, over the last 40 years in this country,
we've had this discussion where it, and you know,
and we hear regularly
that somehow if somebody else gets a right
or gets something, it takes something away from me.
And we act like, especially with rights
and protections, you know, that that's gonna happen in the,
in the early, in the late nineties
and early two thousands, I was assured by people like,
you know, Rick Santorum, that if, if gay
and lesbian couples were allowed to marry
that my marriage would fall apart.
I'm still happily married, or at least I think I'm happy.
I don't, I can't speak for my wife.
Uh, but you know, that the idea
that somehow there's some trade off here in
this is just nonsense.
And, and when we make it, like, when we make that question,
when we divide it that way, it is the thing that causes us
to point at other people
and suggest that they shouldn't get the
same rights that we do.
And I, I worry, I worry that about that what that friction
and what that does to all of us as a society.
It's a race to the bottom, right? Yeah.
Fear, um, can make us race to the bottom.
Um, I had another constituent stop in my office, uh,
last week, week before, um, has lived in the country
for several years.
She's here on a, um, uh, work visa,
and she, um, is from, um, Vietnam.
And, um, she went on a vacation with friends to St.
Thomas and on her way back into the country,
was detained, held in Puerto Rico in a tainment
facility for more than a month, um, without,
without access to tell anyone anything or do anything.
Um, and she's got court hearings coming up.
They detained her because they didn't like the political
speech on her social media account.
Um, in the meantime, she's lost everything, right?
Job, housing, things of that sort.
Um, so to your point, um,
I know that in a time of scarcity,
um, people have a right to be angry.
Like if you've been wronged, if you've been harmed, if,
you know, as a black American, right?
We always have to lift up, Hey, we didn't come here.
It's not an immigration story. It's a story of enslavement.
It's a story of, uh, story of diaspora.
It's a story of, um, a lot of, a lot of harms, right?
It's a different story for our indigenous Americans.
Um, and so I know that that's an easy wedge
where I might not connect with someone's immigration story
because myself or my ancestors didn't have a choice.
And of course, we have a lot of systemic issues
in this country, in the state, in this city, um,
that are still burdening us, that still keep us down,
that exclude us, that discriminate against us, that harm us.
Um, but it is, uh, I think important to your point
of we have to fight for
our justice and our freedom.
And we're not going to get there by taking away the freedom
and the rights of others who don't share our experience
because it's, it's, this is also gonna be used against us.
It is being used against us, right?
We have folks who are citizens, um, folks who are facing
detain violence.
And if we allow due process to be suspended
for anyone, due process can be suspended for us.
And from a very, from very just self-preservation
standpoint, that's why we have things like due process.
That's why we have organizations like ACL U.
That's why we have these conversations and these hearings
and counsel, because, um, uh,
you don't have to have been around for a long time
and Ed, you're not old.
Um, to know, all I have to do is talk to my parents.
All I have to do is talk to, you know,
my grandparents remember the stories that they would tell,
like, guys, this is not rocket science.
They're coming for all of us with lies, right?
With lies. And we need to free our minds, educate
and inform ourselves,
and of course, hold down
our constitutional rights here.
Make sure we're following our laws here,
and to really stand our ground, um,
because we have to combat this misinformation.
So I appreciate the, the mayor's team, um,
and the work that you all are doing here.
'cause this is an ongoing attack at the very
roots of our democracy.
I don't want to live in a country where my neighbor
can be kidnapped and held and sent to a concentration camp
because someone reported them
because they thought they were illegal.
I've got constituents in my ward, people
who are sucked into this right wing fantasy world, um,
who threaten my wife.
Oh, is she an illegal, encourage people to call ice.
It's wild. It's the Lulu, right?
Like, um, why
and what has happened to people to not want to fight
for their rights, but to want to fight
and tear down and take away others.
We will all be in the same terrible bottom of the barrel
if we can't get on the same page
of standing up for each other's rights.
So this is not an issue of race.
This is an issue of rights of our constitution,
and, you know, the type of country that we,
that we aim to be.
So I appreciate, um, Alderwoman Rus, uh, Rodriguez Sanchez
and, and Chairman Vasquez for continuing
to bring up this issue.
We have to keep talking about it.
Can I, I, two, two things.
Um, you know, one of the things I think is
that when you act in a reckless and, and,
and quick way, that one
of the things we're already seeing across the country is,
you know, there are United States citizens
who have been swept up and detained for a period of time,
only dis only for ice to discover that they're US citizens.
And there's not even an apology
that accompanies that action.
Um, the second thing, you, you said this, I,
I can't help but observe.
Um, you know, I've been doing this work in this role for,
you know, more than a quarter of a century.
It's always a little interesting for me
to be in this chamber, in this body
because some of my critiques of the way
that the city has been policed in different neighborhoods
doesn't, hasn't always made me very popular here.
And so, you know, we have
to call this out wherever we see it, right?
We don't get to choose. We don't get to pick and choose.
Uh, and I think that, you know, the stories of, uh,
you know, in the same way that candidly, the stories
of people who are being stopped at our border
because of their political views on social media, I,
I don't, I don't want them punished in the same way.
I didn't want people punished after January 6th just
because they said something.
I think that that is a very important distinction to make.
We do have a right to political speech in this country, and,
and I will fiercely defend it.
I've spent my adult life doing it.
Um, but, you know, I think the idea of saying
that we're gonna, we're gonna set a new standard
and that, that, you know,
and decide who can come into the country
and not based on their speech, is a really dangerous thing.
Absolutely. Thank you so much, chair.
Thank you very much. Uh, any other members have questions?
Uh, alderman Kassala,
Thank you, chair. Um,
first, I just wanna thank all of our advocates
for, for their great work.
Um, we are living in unprecedented times,
and we need people with the moral clarity
and courage to stand up against any kind of threat, uh,
to basic decency and to human rights.
So I just wanna thank you all, uh, for what you, for
what you do day in and day out.
Um, let's be clear, the attack on immigrants currently
and throughout history, um,
but especially right now,
is not only an attack on human rights and basic decency,
but it is also a clear distraction from the Trump's
administration's agenda to enrich his billionaire friends
at the expense of everyone else.
But as we see something more insidious is being perpetrated,
there is this normalization of authoritarianism.
There is an erosion of constitutional law and democracy,
and above all, there is this legalization of cruelty
that has moved our nation into a new era.
The importance, uh, for all of us today
to highlight these conversations, uh, is
to help memorialize these tragedies, quite frankly.
Um, my deepest fear is that the situation
that we're in can get worse.
Um, we're only a couple months into this administration,
and I think that they are looking, uh, to play an end game.
Um, I think that they're trying to move their chips, uh,
and the judicial branch and the legislative branch
and the executive branch to consolidate more of their power
to utilize these scapegoat, um, culture wars, um,
these xenophobic campaigns to distract people from
who the real enemy is, uh,
to make us turn against each other, to have people who
other norm other, you know,
otherwise normally wouldn't, uh, be, you know, apologists
for, uh, fascist wannabes turn against their own neighbors.
Um, and people who would rather spend their time, uh,
coming out to things like this and,
and just lie about our neighbors, uh, and,
and just, you know, uh, avoid the, any, any accountability
for their idol, adulterous, uh, leaders.
Um, but we need to be really crystal clear about
what this body needs to do, um, and what, what our city
and what our nation needs to do at this time.
Um, future generations will look back
and ask us what we did in this moment.
Uh, and, you know, it's really clear
that this administration is trying to do anything
that they can to outlaw any descent, to outlaw speech,
to outlaw resistance.
Um, and that's what fascist dictators do all the time.
So I, I really want to commend my colleagues
for bringing this conversation forward.
Um, I guess, you know, just some of the questions
that I have, and I think we kind of went through some
of the, the things that we could be doing,
like the amicus briefs, encouraging our federal officials
making ice, uh, you know, officials identify themselves.
Um, I think a question that I have just so
that we can really, uh, highlight it, uh, for this body
to take action around is, um, how has the impact
of the growing demand for legal resources impacted
or impeded access to those legal resources?
Um, and like, what kind of need do you all have, uh,
and what kind of role can our state and our county
and our city play, um, in absence of this, uh, you know,
uh, federal government?
So I think that's my first question.
Can you could just highlight again, what is
that need materially
and how have you seen that increase of demand historically?
Uh, and what kind of role can we be
playing to help you all out?
The need that we're seeing is, is just representation,
but not, not only just that,
but also for people that may not have relief options.
Um, so for example,
someone might be in immigration court proceedings, um,
and they could be eligible for a U visa.
So there's an application that can be applied for, um,
that there is a service that can be done.
Um, but unfortunately, if there aren't, for example,
any relief options, um, current grants can make it difficult
to represent someone
because they want,
how many applications have you filed, for example?
Um, so one of the things that we're also fighting for, um,
is universal rep in the sense
of everyone has access to an attorney.
Um, regardless of, uh, whether
or not there is something that can be fought for,
you'll have someone that can represent you,
that can give you your options
and make an informed decision about what happens next.
And one of the, uh, initiatives that we have, uh, is called,
uh, meet a with our partners, um, to provide, um,
representation to those who are detained, um,
through their entire process.
And we, uh, receive referrals through, uh, the, uh,
ICER family support hotline.
And so being creative about how we can get representation
to folks, uh, broadly, um, is one of the things that,
that are needed and just really the funding,
um, to be able to do that.
Like I mentioned, we're also working with our partners
to kind of, uh, bring in pro pro bono support.
Uh, and what's making it difficult is just finding how
to plug them in, uh,
with these enforcement actions happening so quickly.
Uh, and so having, again, coming, coming back to funding
to be able to put thought into
how do we create those systems, uh, we're ma doing the best
with what we have right now in the sense of brainstorming.
Uh, we work together, uh, with, uh, partners at the, um,
at the state level as well, to be able to develop a system,
for example, on how we can get pro bono support on habeas
petitions for people who are being detained
and have that rapid response.
Uh, so those are just some of the ideas that came to mind.
Uh, welcome. Any clarifying questions?
Great. Uh, did you wanna say anything to that?
You know, given that NIJC does most
of the direct representation work in this area, I,
I would defer to Cecilia.
I think her answer was thoughtful and thorough.
Excellent. Um, do you have any recommendations on
what we all could be doing individually
as legislators in our community?
Um, you know, I think that there is this, uh,
mischaracterization of,
whenever we talk about, uh, the need
to help people understand their constitutional rights.
Some people always like to, to pigeonhole that conversation
and thinking that we're only looking out for people
with mixed immigration statuses
or, you know, uh, different immigration statuses.
But really this is a thing about all American citizens.
Um, so how, what kind of recommendations do you have for us
to better normalize that conversation
and to maybe spread that education more in our communities?
Alderman, thank you. That it's a really good question,
and I think one of the things
that we have been thinking a lot about is how
to broaden the conversation,
because a lot of the abuse of power
that we're seeing is not limited just
to the immigration space.
Precise. You know, I mentioned
that the A CLU has filed 27 lawsuits in the immigration
space, but we filed more than 67, uh, in the, you know,
in the, the six months, the,
in which the administration has been in office.
So I think, I think one of the things is, is going back
to a little bit of a fundamental kind
of discussion about civics and the separation of powers.
Um, you know, I've had this opportunity,
and in fact, Cecilia was with me on, on one
of these occasions to do a number of town hall meetings
with federal representatives over the last few months.
What is fascinating is just the concerns
that people have about the structure
of the government itself,
and the way that power is being coalesced into the hands
of just the White House in just one person, right?
And so, you know, I think at the local level,
that might be something, and I'd be more than happy to talk
to you about it, is thinking about like town hall meetings
where you just talk about, you know, what the structure
of government is and the threat that comes to any of us when
that power is abused, when the power
of any one branch is APU abused and, and not kept in check.
I think, I think that's one discussion that we could have,
because that discussion ought to outlive whatever happens
with this particular administration, right?
That's always a threat that is with us.
So I think that is a place that, that is happening.
And the other part of that is, is that, you know, again,
I think we also need to let people ventilate, uh, as,
as older woman Mond was talking about the concerns
and the grievances that they feel,
because I think in some ways too, it helps when,
when people do that, to hear the thoughts of others
and the concerns of others and the experiences of others.
I think it just makes us all more empathetic
for one another, and goodness knows, we meet,
need more sympathy
and empathy in our society these days. Yeah.
I, I really appreciate you just getting back to the,
the fundamentals.
And I think that's what's really discouraging about the
moment that we're in, is that really, you know, I think the,
the, the, the environment that we find ourselves in
with these extremities is a reflection of social decay.
Um, and I think that social decay, um,
has been a long time making, um, I mean,
it's built into the foundations
and fabric of, of this nation, um, from the enslavement
of black people to the genocide of Native Americans,
to the civil rights movement, to women's suffrage movement,
to the labor rights movement.
Um, we have been in constant tension with one another,
but I think where we find ourselves now in the second
Guilded age, um, where so much wealth
and power has been consolidated to a a minute, minute, few,
our communities are left to fight for scraps.
Um, and I think that a lot of old pains
and current pains are being brought up.
And I think a lot of scapegoating is happening
in between our communities.
And it's, it's hurtful, it's painful, and,
and I yearn for the day where we can all have peace
and prosperity across all of our communities
and all of our neighborhoods.
But if we don't act now, um, if we do not salvage
what there is, um, we will goosestep our way toward a,
a horrible and dark future.
And that's what I, I, I'm very afraid of right now.
And I think that, uh, the conversation
that we're having today is, again, super important for us
to memorialize, um,
because these very same conversations could be looked at 50
years from now, a hundred years from now, um, as the moment
that our country entered a point of no return.
Um, so I thank all of you today again for your,
your leadership, uh,
and for your clarity. Thank you, chairman.
Definitely. Thank you.
Um, next, uh, Alderwoman man, Haworth,
Thank you chair.
I wanna thank my colleagues,
especially Chair Roseanna Rodriguez Sanchez, uh,
on the hearing that we had about the attacks on our,
our public health systems right now,
and chair, uh, Maria Hadden.
Um, and thank you for Anthony Casada, also my colleague
for speaking so eloquently and the moment we are in today,
and the need for us to memorialize where we are.
Also, want to thank those of us that are here, um,
in speaking, uh, thank you, Carla,
for being here from the mayor's office in Jesus
and, uh, Cecilia from NIJC.
I know that you're working really hard nationally
with Indivisibles who are grassroots across the nation, who,
who really are just regular folks that want to get involved,
and they found it, uh, locally
and local power is, is how we're going
to protect our democracy by getting
people civically engaged.
And, uh, I wanna, especially thank ACA who in, uh, 2016,
um, who was very kind to somebody like me
who started an Indivisible chapter locally
and in the state of Illinois.
And, um, and we have to, we have to remember
where we have been, and we, so, uh, so thank you for that.
I, I do, um, appreciate your comments about getting
to the fundamentals and how is it that we are structured,
because that is really it.
It's how we can affect our systems that we have today,
because that is truly how we are being attacked.
They are using the systems that we have against us,
and people are silently disappearing.
Um, and that includes in our institutions, such
as our educational systems in Illinois,
where student visas are just being revoked.
And so, so I I have three kids and they're in college,
and they, they ask me, they say, what are we gonna do?
What are we gonna do? My, my, my, my classmates?
They're not coming back. They're just disappearing.
And so what, what is it that we can teach people now?
Um, and Carla said something really powerful
and she said, we, we can't do this alone.
We can't do this in isolation.
We can't do this ourselves,
and we can't be isolated from each other.
So I think to your point of bringing people together
to talk about where we are today
and what we can do as, as a body of people
who want to protect our democracy, it's so important
to those who are listening who don't usually come
to city council meetings.
There's so many things that you could do.
Um, and one of them includes protecting free speech
through supporting our local, independent news media,
especially ethnic news media.
We have to do that
because for some whose language is not first, uh,
English is not their first language, that is
where they're getting their information,
and that's how they're getting informed.
Um, so I do think, wanna thank those
that spoke earlier today about how, um,
adult literacy is so important, um,
and that we need to, uh, support those, those groups
who are, uh, working towards that end.
Um, I think the last thing that I,
I wanna say is that, um, thank you Ed, for also pointing out
that it's not just immigration as an issue.
It's really, again, our structures
and how we put people in powerful positions in our systems.
And it points to how we are structured with our, um,
how are we protecting voters' rights,
and how are we protecting the integrity
of our elections.
So, I would like to continue to have these conversations
with you all with our board office in the 48th ward.
We welcome you in Edgewater and Uptown.
Anytime that you're there, we, we would love to have you
and figure out ways that we can continue this
conversation at the local levels. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Uh,
do any members have any further questions?
As questions have not concluded, uh, I want to thank, uh,
my colleague, Alderwoman Rodriguez Sanchez, uh,
for bringing this resolution to the committee.
Uh, I also wanna thank all the panelists, uh, really
for taking the time to meet here in the hearing.
Uh, given the amount of work you all have
separate from this, I can't thank you enough.
Um, I hope that all of you are able to find time
for yourselves, because as we ended, uh, as stated prior,
we're a couple months into a four year term.
And so we wanna make sure
that y'all are in it for the long haul.
You guys are the front lines. And so, um,
I personally thank you and appreciate the work that you do.
Um, so that being said,
we will let you all Oh, absolutely.
Sorry. Yeah, Rhonda, absolutely. Awe a woman ahead.
Um, I, I really want to, um, show appreciation for Carla
and Jesus for being here today
and for all the city is doing, um, to fight this agenda
that we, uh, find ourselves facing.
Um, we want to be able to collaborate as much as we can to,
to get the best possible outcomes.
And we really appreciate your presence here today.
Definitely. Thank you. Uh, okay.
So, uh, we will go to the final item today.
Uh, it is item number one,
a brief update on activities undertaken by this committee,
uh, as well as a quick presentation from the Office
of Immigrant Migrant Refugee Rights on their work in, uh,
the African Diaspora communities.
Uh, the matter will have no votes to, to be taken.
Uh, we are getting the presentation up.
Okay, so we'll go go into the work that we've had for, uh,
we've been engaged in for the past quarter.
You'd go to the first slide.
Alright, so we, uh, as we kind of went
through on the agenda, we went through, uh,
what our hearing was today, uh, on the rights report,
we're gonna go over the Know Your rights training works
that have happened, uh, immigration briefings, our support
for detained constituents, uh, and legislative
and advocacy priorities.
Uh, and then we will be speaking to Necca Obasi,
a senior analyst with the Office
of Immigrant Migrant Refugee Rights.
Alright, so to give folks background, we've had, actually,
this is our second hearing, uh, this month
as a prior hearing, uh, in covering the subject matter,
we were not able to get to this quarter reporting.
So we've done a number of trainings, uh,
for different communities, whether it's ALS
and staff, to understand how to, um, access resources
and provide information in this moment to nonprofits
and community based
organizations, businesses, parents, students.
We also focus on doing language specific trainings.
So, uh, Spanish, Haitian, Creole, uh, Hindi Udo and Arabic,
and as well as L-G-B-T-Q-U, uh, QIA community.
Uh, we've done 15, uh, know your rights trainings,
uh, in the year so far.
Uh, currently, uh, given some concerns
and threats, uh, we are looking, uh,
to identify safety protocols
and doing some of the know your rights, uh, trainings
and information as, uh, we get all that determined,
we will communicating out any updates.
Um, in addition, we also have monthly briefings on
immigration updates that are impacting Chicagoans.
Uh, those are held on the third Thur,
uh, Tuesday of every month.
Uh, around average, we've had about a hundred
to 200 people attend.
Each of the meetings on the topics include enforcement
trends, immigration policy, uh,
and we have, uh, immigration attorneys
who then are there to answer questions.
Uh, it is open to the public, uh, again,
the third Tuesday of every month.
Our next briefing is August 19th at 1:00 PM
and people can register at bit lee slash
CIR, uh, briefing.
Uh, we will also make that available to folks through our,
uh, commu, uh,
committee on Immigrant Refugee Rights Newsletter
as well, uh, as our website.
Welcome to chicago.org.
Uh, so the committee has also created an immigration
enforcement reporting
and detention support guide, uh, which includes information
for Chicago area municipal offices, so your ward offices,
as well as others, uh, on how to report ICE activity, how
to locate a constituent that has been detained by ice, how
to submit inquiries, uh, with a detained constituents,
congressional representatives, uh, legal support resources,
and other, uh, avenues, uh,
in which community members can get involved in supporting,
uh, undocumented neighbors in the community.
Uh, you can find that guide at Bit Lee slash c irr,
immigrants Support Guide.
Um, we've actually been sharing
with other cities across the country as well,
and doing best practice sharing and learning.
So, um, very appreciative of the information.
We know there's so much happening so often in real time,
we wanna make sure that there's this resource
for folks who may need it.
Uh, similarly, we will share that out in the newsletter,
and it'll be on welcome to chicago.org,
uh, on July 25th.
So tomorrow, uh, we're hosting a round table for staff
of Chicago area elected officials to share information on
how to respond to immigration enforcement
and support constituents who are targeted by ice.
So attendees for that round table will be
congressional staff from our Illinois delegation, uh,
the governor's office staff, uh, state, uh, rep,
representative and senator, staff
and staff from county as well as city board offices, uh,
can, uh, we want to thank Congressman Quigley
and Senator Durbin, uh, for co-hosting.
And so, uh, when we have conversations,
I know I've had colleagues ask, well,
are we working with the state?
Are we working with the county? What's going on?
Uh, we are engaged as, as is the office of, uh,
immigrant Migrant refugee rights with the staff to make sure
that there is the communication necessary
to effectively move forward, uh,
in the moment that we find ourselves.
So, uh, similarly, we also partner, uh, through ex
external advocacy and engagement.
We partner with immigrant groups to provide resources
and advocate for immigrant and refugee rights.
So the recent, uh,
efforts include the Chicago is With You Task Force, uh,
which, uh, we chair with, uh, clerk Ana Valencia, as well
as Deputy Mayor, bat Del Leon.
Uh, we had a Latino unit in Springfield, uh, where, uh,
members on the committee went to go speak to, uh,
our state folks in relation to
what they saw going on and how we can partner.
Uh, we also had our Chicago African Summit
and Resource fair, uh, as well as the future
of Western Avenue Public Transit Town Hall.
So a lot of different avenues to have these conversations
and partnering up with different ones.
Uh, as we get different events on the calendar,
we'll be sharing that information as well.
So now we want to, uh, pivot over to kind
of the legislative work
we've been doing here at the committee.
Uh, wanna make sure that our, uh, colleagues
and committee members are, uh,
aware in case they wanna partner on any of this work
or want to present, uh, any other things to the committee.
So we've been working through different categories.
I think first and foremost is protecting immigrant
and refugee communities from like the Trump overreaches, uh,
and really unconstitutional actions.
So, uh, looking at the welcoming city ordinance compliance,
uh, I think those of you have seen,
there's an incident on June 4th where we wanna look
and identify how things occurred.
I think from it is, uh, also important to memorialize
what work has been done, uh,
when the right calls are being made,
but also things that we can learn from
what has been really unprecedented activity.
And so in, uh, putting forth the order to call for the data,
uh, body worn cameras information related
to the June 4th incident,
although, uh, one of our colleagues, uh, did, uh,
actually two of our colleagues deferred
and published the matter.
Um, as, uh, mayor Johnson stated recently in a press
conference, uh, the order is not
required to get that information.
And so we are engaging with the mayor's office to, uh,
to the best of our ability get, uh, some of
that information in the interest of public transparency.
Uh, we also are looking at a data privacy audit.
So how the city protects, uh, identity information.
We know that similarly,
there had been a FOIA from the Department
of Homeland Security to CPD.
And so having conversations related to
what information can be given, what is redacted,
what is the policy and how does that work,
or questions that we're looking at to better identify how
to make sure that people's rights are protected, knowing
that it's not just the undocumented population.
We're thinking about that when we're talking about our trans
siblings, when we're talking about, um, uh,
people seeking reproductive health
and coming into the state, uh, state
and the city, that we do everything possible
to protect all the populations, uh, who are gonna need it
to make sure that their identities are kept private.
Uh, we also, along with Alderman Mike Rodriguez,
introduced legislation
or a resolution calling on the state
to pass legislation relating to banning masks,
but really more so for acquiring identification.
I think there are concerns related to two things.
One, due process
and making sure that, um,
when these things are moving forward,
that people are identified,
but also the concern that people who may not be,
they may not have the best intent
or may be unstable, might impersonate ice agents in order
to do things that we've seen stories
of even elected officials being, um, attacked by those
who seek to, um, impersonate law enforcement.
And so we wanna make sure that that is just,
again, accountability.
Um, separately from those, we are also looking through, uh,
supporting, uh, migrant and mobile entrepreneurship.
So looking at street vendor legislation,
so you've got food carts, um,
where food is prepared differently based on different
cultures, but also it's challenging whether you're
undocumented or from another culture
or just trying to be an entrepreneur
who doesn't wanna do a storefront,
but potentially just wants to do a mobile cart somewhere.
Establishing the rules
and guidelines to help make it easy
to do things the legal route,
while also making sure enforcement is in place.
And we're thinking about the spaces where that can occur,
uh, so that people aren't just being shoved off
and said that they can't operate.
Uh, in a world where we want everyone
to have the ability to sustain themselves.
We think it's crucial to get this information.
Uh, and, and also legislation moving forward
and want to thank, um, uh, the mayor's office
for their partnership and their work on this.
So we look forward to continuing that work.
Uh, we are also looking at, um, pedler outreach.
So this is more related to, um, some of the folks
that you see on the street, whether they're selling candies
or they're coming into, uh, storefronts
and businesses looking to do.
So. Um, there's concerns about not only, you know,
from from small business owners,
but really the concerns about
what might be potentially child
or other trafficking efforts.
And so what we're doing currently is, uh, partnering
with different, uh, organizations to canvas along the areas,
to develop relationships, to be able to provide resources,
uh, and really make people feel comfortable should they need
to access resources related to public safety.
Uh, we also wanna make sure that there's, uh, information
to our small businesses to have a better understanding on
what these dynamics are, what the resources are,
and who they can reach out to.
Because in the absence
of feeling like they've got other resources, we do,
we are concerned that people
who are vulnerable will be further criminalized.
And so being able to find different ways to deescalate,
to have communication happen, to really communicate
with the peddlers as to what the business rights are
and aren't, uh, is equally important.
So, uh, we've done six volunteer trainings
and nine canvases in 2025 related to this work
and will continue to do so.
Uh, we've been partner with different chambers
of commerce, uh, to do so.
So I will actually from here, pass it off, uh,
to, uh, NECA OI from the Office of Immigrant Migrant
and Refugee Rights so that we can share some
of the work happening related to the African diaspora.
Um, it is the intent
and hope for this committee
to really create more intentional space to be able
to share what's going on, because I think often,
although we're talking about immigrants
and undocumented neighbors in general,
people often think it is only a Latino issue,
even though we all know it isn't.
And so we wanna make sure
and be clear that creating the intentional space
to hear what's going on as related
to the African diaspora is heard by everyone so
that we can find ident, um, opportunities to partner knowing
that, again, the same systems that are,
that are being created now
to attack vulnerable populations are continuing.
And so the opportunity for us to be able to partner
and encounter that, um, is here
and we wanna make sure we're continue to partner.
So I will pass it off, uh, to Ms. Abbasi.
Thank you very much. Um, chairman Vasquez and, uh, elders
and, uh, the, uh, committee on immigrant refugee rights,
all officials, city officials present
and members of the public.
Thank you for this opportunity
to tell you a little bit about the work I've been doing in
as, um, senior Community Liaison
and the Office of Immigrant Migrant Refugee Rights.
And as chairman said, my name is Neko Bassi.
Just an overview of my role as Senior Community Liaison, uh,
is to, one of the main things is for me to improve services
to diverse, uh,
immigrant migrant refugee communities in Chicago,
and kind of nurture their sense of belonging,
because a lot of time people, uh,
feel unseen and unheard.
And the largest part of my bucket is, um,
African immigrants
and the African diaspora,
including the islands South America and so on.
Um, my role is also to increase engagement
with these communities so that they, um,
we can have collaboration with them, know
what their issues are
and the various community-based organizations
and institutions and so on.
And this also includes international organizations
and diplomatic missions.
And generally, my role is to prioritize persons of African,
African Diaspora origin in Chicago, as well as new arrivals.
So establish communities as well as the people
that are just, uh, getting here.
And, uh, in addition to that role,
the, the following, um, goals are
to facilitate strong connections
with African Diaspora com communities
and other Chicago residents.
So to kind of bridge, um, the way that African
diaspora residents assimilate with other communities, um,
to know what their unique challenges are.
There's, you know, what one group faces,
not always what another faces.
So to really understand and address issues
and challenges that are unique to these communities
to advocate from, promote equitable access
to city services and programs.
A lot of times because of things like language barriers,
just a certain feeling of intimidation, uh,
people are not able to, uh, you know,
or don't know how to access services
that they are entitled to.
And so my role, uh, I facilitate that along with, um,
other, uh, community-based organizations.
Sometimes it's just a question of com, uh, connecting them
to the right people and yeah.
And so I have, uh, as an advisory group,
the African Diaspora Engagement Council, which is made up
of elders and various people
and organizations in the community,
and they provide me with guidance.
We meet, um, virtually usually every two months
and, uh, either, uh,
and when we do meet in person, we meet here in City Hall
or one of the members can offer their offices and so on.
And I hope you can read this.
This is just a list of, this is a list,
a great, um, PowerPoint presentation creator.
I am not. So this is a list of, um, members.
You can see there's some, uh, community org associations,
like the Tanzanian Community Association has members on this
council, the Senegalese, um, the elders,
and then now, uh, c uh, members of c
of the Committee on Immigrant Refugee rights are joining
us for these meetings.
Alder Vasquez has been very good in being concerned
and being interested in what we're doing,
and so I'll let you read that yourselves then.
Um, so these are some, uh,
external meetings and events that I have participated in.
One of the strongest, um,
African community-based organizations we have is United
African Organization and they have a, a summit each year.
I was able to attend that,
but UAO is, is, yes, it is, uh,
a United African organization,
but they serve anybody in need.
And so they have their offices in the south side
and they serve immigrants
and anyone that is in need of their services.
I was able to attend a National Immigrant Inclusion
conference in, uh, Houston, which was very enlightening
to see what other, um, cities are experiencing
and just to share best practices and, and so on.
Um, through the organization building Peaceful Bridges,
I was able to secure donations of books for
our bilingual children in CPS.
And this was, uh, very welcomed by, um, by CPS.
This, the books were in Spanish and in in English,
and with beautiful pictures.
And so that's a community-based organization.
They are out of, I want to say Will met.
And so, uh, through my connections with them,
they donated these books.
Um, I was able to attend, I attend, um,
rainbow Pushes meetings,
but especially their annual People's Conference,
which was a, a extremely interesting.
And I was able to com, um, to meet more community members,
either those that can be of service to the people I work
with or, or, um, those that I have not been able to connect
to in the African diaspora community, in support
of African diaspora communities.
I tried to, we tried to go to the events,
so Haitian Flag Day,
and also the, um, glo, uh,
African Global Chambers of Commerce.
They had their Africa Day celebration.
Africa Day is, um, a un um,
uh, or, um, declared holiday, which marks
the time in 1963 that African, um, countries started
to be free from, um, colonization.
And so on that date, 25th of May Kala,
25th of May, uh,
in 1963 was when they formed the African Union.
So, and then, um, I attend monthly meetings
of African Immigrant Leadership Forum,
black Immigrant Support Network, Chicago Refugee Quarterly,
as well as the Illinois Department of Human Rights, um,
black Immigration Task Force meetings.
And so just a few pictures from some of these things
that I mentioned.
I was on a panel at the National
Immigrant Inclusion Conference.
People really wanted to know about our new
arrivals mission in Chicago.
Um, they're very proud to have spoken about that.
And then international engagement that I have, I engage
with several, uh, consulates.
I have, um, ambassadors and other people reaching out to me
because they've heard of one program or other in Chicago,
and they would like to learn more about it.
And so I engage with them.
I engage with World Business Chicago City Cities
International, because people reach out to me
and say, oh, we would like to, we have this amount
of our people in Chicago.
We would like a consulate.
So I help to connect them to the right people.
Uh, and I've attended these various, uh, leadership forums,
the most recent of which is African Ambassadors Economic
Forum, where I got
to share about the one shelter system in Chicago,
and also one summer.
Chicago is something that many, uh,
people internationally want to hear about.
And so I was able to, to share about that, how,
and how I was able to help our young, um, ch um,
youth from immigrant communities to also register
and take advantage of that program.
And so, um, there is a bid
to have the Nigerian Consulate in Chicago,
and this is the group that came to meet with the mayor to
seek his approval of that idea.
And just this mother, um, we've been able
to build a very strong relationship
with the Colombian consulate,
and we were able to, um, uh, uh, attend some
of their celebrations with staff here who are
of Colombian origin, as well as the IR team.
And we were able to, um, also celebrate Afro-Colombian Day.
Yeah. So,
and in this recent leadership forum, I went, I was able
to meet with the president of, uh, St.
Martin, that's him in the middle,
and the vice president, the lady with a yellow jacket.
And, um, uh, connecting with them so
that they can connect me to their community here in Chicago
and fill me in on their different needs.
And then I can see, refer them to people
that can help them out.
And these are just a few other events
that I've been able to organize.
There was such a need among, um, the Senegalese, uh,
new Arrival co, uh, community for City Keys.
There was a lot of language barriers.
So I was able to work, uh, um, with, um,
actually c um, this, uh, body here
and organize a special city key event at the UAO
headquarters for them, uh,
participate in Haitian Independence Day, um,
for the first time that we know of, um, Africa, uh,
a Global Africa Day was celebrated here at City Hall,
a small, uh, celebration, which, um, the
elders on my, uh,
council on the African Diaspora Engagement Council helped,
uh, financially as well as in other ways for that to,
to happen, as well as UAO
and the other community-based organizations.
They helped to fund the refreshments and so on.
And we did it on the fourth floor here at City Hall.
Um, as I mentioned
before, we did have Afro-Colombian Day celebration,
and this was at Kennedy King College.
And, um, president Katonya Webb Walker was very
generous in allowing the use of the space.
And her staff also, especially, uh,
Jen Mason, I have to mention her.
And then Ki Swahili Day celebration was
at Malcolm X College.
Unfortunately, president Sanders couldn't attend as
he unfortunately lost his mother at the same time.
So our condolences go out to him.
Um, and these are pi pictures from these various,
uh, celebrations.
I have to say that, um, one of the main things
that I get out of this job is
the Tanzanian Association.
You know, when we're planning work,
Swahili Day, I dunno what happened.
And I apologized to them,
and they told me, don't ever apologize.
Nobody saw us before.
You said, no one really knew we existed,
and now we feel seen and heard.
And that, that really touched me
because it was just a very simple act of collaborating
with them to celebrate their language, which is spoken
by 13 countries in Africa, over 300 million people
around the world, and also spoken in Oman
and Yemen in the Middle East.
So it is a language we're celebrating and,
and, um, you know, they, they're very appreciative.
And these are just some other, um, um,
events like the Guinean Flag G raising.
They've had flag grazing before,
but the fact that they had a, a declaration
or proclamation from the mayor, it, they,
it just elevated them.
Even though the mayor couldn't be there,
and I was there to hand this to them,
they felt very elevated.
So just little things for communities to feel
that they belong.
And then another part of my, uh,
work is finding partners.
So now as some federal funding is being removed from certain
things, it becomes even more important to find organizations
where we can refer people.
So Christopher House, they do get some state funding,
but a, a lot of their funding is private.
And this is somewhere that if a child is not allowed to go
to Head Start, I can send them to Christopher House.
And another organization
that does the same thing is Madonna Mission.
I don't have them on a slide.
So I build relationship with these organizations so
that I can, uh, know where to refer people to get services
that they may not otherwise get.
And as I said, I try to make myself available to go
to some other community, um, events Now, uh,
deputy Mayor, uh, Delian made asked me to not to forget
to mention the individual cases that I work with.
So I, I, um, work one-on-one with individuals
to solve their problems.
For example, um, there, there's a, a young man
who was in need of glasses was very new here,
and I noticed him squinting.
So I asked him, why are you always squinting?
And he said he had contact lenses, he lost them.
And so I was able to, uh, find
a community-based organization
that helped him to get glasses.
There was another lady who, due
to a cultural misunderstanding,
her baby was taken away from her.
And this was extremely heart heartbreaking.
So I worked with DFSS and Haitian Congress,
and we were able to get her the right mental evaluations
and so on, and then her baby was returned to her.
So I just wanted to, uh, give those examples
that on a day-to-day basis, there are cases like that,
and all they need is someone to facilitate, um,
them getting the right services, someone
that they can relate to,
and someone they feels understands their culture.
And so that's it.
But I don't want to leave without saying,
please follow us on social media.
Imer, this is Imer social media.
And again, I want to thank you so much for this opportunity.
Thank you. Are there any questions?
Uh, yes. First, thank you so much.
Um, I, my first question is how you find time in the day,
given all the work that you've got going on,
but, um, one, I wanna really thank you for your work.
I wanna thank Mayor Johnson for really having the position
and having you in it to do this kind of work.
I think it's not only is it frontline taking care of people,
but it is also to your point, platforming communities
that need to be front and center and typically aren't.
Um, as well as making sure that we all understand every,
everything everyone's going through.
And so, um, I think my first question is actually
through the chair to give you time, is if you can go back
to the slide where the organizations real quick, um,
In the beginning. Yeah,
Yeah, yeah. And, and while you're
doing that, here's what I, here's
what we would ask for, I had asked for through the committee
is the location, the addresses, the website
for all the organizations so that we
as city council members actually know which ones are in
our ward or where they're all located.
Right. Okay. Because it would allow us the ability
to help partner Okay.
On that. So I think, I think if we get that information
and then we can share it out with everyone,
we can also include it on the welcome to chicago.org, kind
of like website as a map to show people
where the different things, uh, um, as well as any events
that are on the calendar that you'd like us all to be aware
of and help spread through our newsletters.
Um, I was very honored
and fortunate to be there for, uh, African Union Day, uh,
which was amazing.
So yeah, let, let us know.
We'll put it on the calendar, we'll get our folks to, to,
um, uplift it as well.
And so, uh, I think similarly kind
of the questions we've been asking the folks
that come up here are what opportunities you,
you believe there are for members of this council, whether
through our ward offices or legislatively, what are things
that we can do to help uplift
and support the work that, that you're doing?
Yes, thank you very much for the question.
I will, these things you asked
for, I will share them with Diana.
And then, um, how the elders
and members of the council can help is there are
people living in, for example, your wards.
Uh, I'll give you an example of a a, a lady.
She started a nonprofit.
She wants to provide, um, in her area food for the elderly.
She's been doing it and now she's registered, uh, 5 0 1 C3,
but she needs space.
So, you know, if people on this committee can help
with things like that, because my knowledge is limited
and my ability is limited,
but, you know, help with connecting, um, me
and the people I'm helping with resources.
That's, that's, uh, uh, one thing.
Another thing is to amplify events.
I would love for you to be able to help amplify events, um,
that you know, that, that come out of these communities
or are in service of these communities.
Um, and also just remember that, um,
these, uh, uh, people of African descent,
they are working, they're taxpayers,
they're your constituents.
And to see them as such and to treat them as such and yes,
Yeah. And, and in, in
some regard, they're our bosses.
They pay taxes like everybody else. Yes, they, right.
So as city employees, we also have to keep that in mind.
I think something we've seen in different communities is
a lot of times when people come from other countries,
they are not comfortable even going
to government for support systems.
Yes. And so the amount of relationship building you have
to do to build that kind of trust, um, is invaluable.
And so, yeah, I think partnering with our office as well
as any of the other, uh, city council member offices,
send us all of those our way so we can figure out
where we can partner up, whether it is seeing
who can help fund a storefront
or if there's some office space that we might be able
to share for such opportunities.
Um, I'll speak for myself,
but I know talking to a number of our colleagues
we're more than happy
and feel a duty to kind of offer up those spaces to do so.
And so, yeah, I think, I think you, I I might, if,
if we're able to find the time,
'cause again, you're doing a lot, uh, would like
to have you be almost like a regular part of our hearings
to be able to let us know like what's coming up
in the, in the quarter.
Obviously we wanna be mindful of, of your time as well.
But in order to help amplify those things, uh,
if you wanna join the show,
we can do this every other month or whenever we're doing it
As much as, uh, I possibly can.
I would be honored to, oh
No, the honors on mine.
Thank you for that. So, um, uh, members
of this committee, if you have questions. Yeah. Alderwoman,
Thank you so much for being here,
and thank you so much for your work.
You do Beautiful, beautiful work.
And we're so grateful to you and, um,
and to the whole office for, for the work
that y'all are doing.
Do you have a partnership by any chance, uh,
with the Global Gardens in Albany Park?
I beg with who? The Global Gardens? No.
So I would love to connect to, with the Global Gardens.
Um, it is a project that helps integrate
refugees from different parts of the world
through the practice
of their traditional agricultural techniques.
And, um, there's people from everywhere there,
but there's several people
that are from the African diaspora,
and I think that they would be very, very happy
to be in partnership with you.
Um, it is a beautiful project, so I think
that you would also love visiting it.
So if we can stay in touch
and I can absolutely take you there
and we can see what kind of partnerships we can create.
They grow their own food, uh, during the summer they go
to farmer's markets to sell their food.
They have a CSA program where, um,
the neighbors in the community can buy, um,
produce from them.
And there's restaurants that also buy produce from them.
Oh, wow. And I think it's a beautiful project
and I think that it would be great for you
to be in partnership with them. Oh,
I would, and my team would love to meet them.
I knew one such organization
that was somewhere in the north side
and I connected a family from Central African Republic
with them, but this was in a prior role.
I'm not sure. It's Global Garden.
So yes, I, and my, and the I team would love to please
and thank you, yes.
Field trip, that's all. Thank you,
Uh, members, if you have any other questions.
Okay. Well, I wanna thank you for this.
I know we've had conversations, uh, you know,
whether it's a Zoom meeting or not,
but I think to be able to see it as a presentation
and see all the work that you've been doing, also,
the pictures are great, but all, all the work
that you have been doing, um, we wanna make sure
that any efforts that we can to amplify
and provide support, um, it really is remarkable stuff
and it is an unfortunate reality that
because of the moment we're in, it kind
of necessitated that work.
Um, but I think it's an opportunity, uh,
and something that we should appreciate
that at least it's happening because we know,
but for this, it might not have been occurring before.
And so I want to thank you as well, the Office
of Immigrant Migrant Refugee Rights
for all the work that you all do.
Um, I, I'd say it's thankless work,
but we try our best to thank you guys as much as possible
and, and, um, you all do
a very important service and duty to the city.
And so I want to thank you very much for that.
Thank you. And I echo that by thanking all
of you in this committee for everything
that you do, for all of us.
We're truly grateful. Thank you. Thank you.
So, um, copies of all presentations
and written public comment will be sent
to the committee members, uh, shortly
and will be hosted on our website.
Welcome to chicago.org.
Within a week, uh, any
through the chair follow us will be sent to all,
all alders pending response from executive departments
and the mayor's office with no
further business before the committee.
May I have a motion to adjourn? Uh, Alder Min Casada.
So moves, hearing no objections.
So ordered the meeting of the Committee on Immigrant
and Refugee Rights is now adjourned.