To individuals must remain.
Good morning, and thank you for joining us
for this committee on Health and Human Relations meeting.
It is 10 19 on January 27th, 2026,
and this meeting is now called to order.
On today's agenda, we have two items.
The first is a call on Governor JB Pritzker
to direct Illinois Commerce Commission
to cease all utility disconnections
for non-payment universally
and to adopt flexible temporary credit
and collection procedures.
The second is a subject matter hearing
to hear testimony from legislators, legal experts,
and community members directly impacted by the disregard
for civil rights and liberties
by the Federal Government's Immigration
Enforcement campaign.
Before we begin, I will call the role to establish Quorum
Vice Chair Ramirez, alderman Robinson.
Alderman Yancy Wo Gutierrez
Alderman Lopez, Alder Macho Lopez,
wo Fuentes Alderman Cruz.
Alderman Casada Alderman Lawson.
Alderman Man, Hoppen wo Manhattan present,
and Rodriguez Sanchez is present.
I have seven members present and we have a quorum.
I
We have a request
for remote participation setting Rule 59 from elder woman
Cruz Derman, ADA Derman Robinson, and Elder Woman Ramirez.
Can I get a motion to approve the remote participation?
All those in favor of allowing remote participation
signify by saying aye.
Opposed? Saying nay in the opinion of the chair. The aye.
Have it. Alderwoman Cruz, are you online?
Here, alderman Casada, are you here? Here present?
Alderman Robinson, are you here present? Wo Ramirez.
Are you here present? Thank you everybody.
You have been added to the role.
We will begin our meeting.
Welcome Mother Woman Gutierrez.
Uh, we'll begin our meeting with time for public comment.
The period is limited to 30 minutes,
and each speaker is limited to three minutes.
We have three speakers, uh, sign up
and we didn't get any virtual public, um,
any virtual, uh, speakers.
Um, and we are going to start with Mr. George Blakemore.
Anyway, I'm here to educate my, my people
and all of our citizens who are watching
and me go live with on Facebook.
The, a human relation, how a one human being relate
to another human being.
Uh, it could that sometime that relation is not good
with the very racist of people,
and especially with these Hispanics
that have invaded our nation, our county,
our city, our state, not going through immigration
and naturalization.
Now, fake news, I dare you to put this on your news.
They would editor me out.
This is ridiculous.
We only have one identifiable a person that's,
that's black here, one or two.
And the seats are all empty of men
and women that shows they have no interest.
Young lady, the chairman that shows that you are there.
Look at here. And what motivates you to do this?
To want the illegals to get all kind of electric and heat
and money and everything, and don't want them to pay.
It's cold outside. Somebody say, baby, it's cold outside.
You don't want, you don't want to pay.
And last time I spoke to you, you say, I'm a black lady,
and your hair was all curly, you say,
I said, I know you are.
I said, you've been telling me you Puerto Rican
that race stuff is deep.
Nobody wanna be black.
I guess blacks are a member
of the untouchable class at the bottom of the cash system.
Even those who look black don't even want to be black.
And you told me I'm a black woman.
So again, I, uh, it's very important
for a person of Mr.
Blakemore caliber to show up.
I don't even see the human relations commissioner here.
Well, from the city, from the county,
from the state and the national.
No, it, it's for, uh, this meeting is for matters.
Information matters. You see those empty seats? You see 'em.
She didn't have a quorum. And some of 'em called in.
We got one here.
I think they say he's from Haiti, somebody yes.
Or whatever, but they're all Hispanics.
And then one, one black.
Say she has a Hispanic, a lover
or whatever she told me, uh, uh, from the north side.
So again, uh, uh, information is very important
and it's very important.
Say you can't read, say you can't write, you can see,
you can see the seats are empty.
Um,
Thank you for your comments Mr.
Blakemore. Uh, our next speaker is Dennis White.
Good morning. Good morning.
Here's the thing. And the problem is corruption.
The mayor, the governor, the county president, half
of you all, you fallen under that category of corruption.
Corruption is these unnecessary property taxes.
Corruption is letting crime get outta control.
Corruption is at the, the kids cannot read
and write under the eighth grade level.
Corruption is you let these illegal do what you want to do.
You all are so corrupt, you get drunk off of corruption.
You guys over here, sitting down endorse everything
that what the mayor doing through the thought of the CTU
and CPS, this city don't have no money.
You all know this, but you don't care
because you all living on the six figure Saturday.
And we over here surviving, scratching, hustling, trying
to make ends meet for not only for us, but for our children.
And through the endorsement
of you all, you let Brandon Johnson do what he want to do.
And then you got the protestors over here.
You let them do what they wanna do,
then you let the liberals do what they wanna do.
So I can't say you all are dumb. That's obvious.
You are corrupt. And that's worse than being dumb.
And when y'all start, become politicians
during the election cycle.
So this, this, we gonna be hip to this one, one thing.
You all got less than over a year
and some months for the election.
So what y'all going to do?
You all going to knock on our doors, go to go to the schools
and you going to say things,
spit things outta y'all corrupt mouth
because you love the seats.
You love them seats more than you love the voters.
You love everything else.
But except for the citizens,
they're not here because it's too cold, which is bs.
And they don't have no interest no more.
But they all complain.
And especially in the black, uh, community,
you black aldermans, you failed us.
We're going get you out of these seats.
We going expose the Hispanic aldermans one way or another,
and we going to get the mayor outta that seat.
And we're going to get these illegal
aliens out of this country.
Our next speaker is Elizabeth Rockford.
Good morning, um, chairwoman and committee.
Uh, thank you for having this hearing.
My name is Elizabeth Ratchford
and I'm one of the police district counselors from
the 17th District.
Um, I'm here to represent my community.
And to let you know a little bit about what's been happening
up in Albany Park, um,
we have had a significant amount of ice, uh, coming up
to the community and, um, taking our community members.
And at one of the schools, um, many parents have been taken.
So we started doing corner watching,
and then we transitioned to a walking school bus,
and we decided that we didn't know that we could support
that through the entire, um, winter.
So we decided at Christmas break that we would, uh,
transition to going back to corner watching.
And two days before the end of, um, the semester
I was walking with a student,
couldn't have been older than 10,
and she said to me, is it true
that you're gonna stop walking us on December the 19th?
And I said, yes. That's when the semester ends.
And, um, she said, will the hunters be gone by then?
And, and I didn't know exactly what to say,
but when a child says to you that she feels like she
and her community members are being hunted,
that has stuck with me since that day.
And, um, I'm back to doing corner watching as often as I can
to protect these kids
and to let them know that their community supports them.
So I bring that story to you today so that you can
make sure that whatever we can do to support these kids
and these families to get them, um, trauma informed, um,
services so that their mental health, um, for the kids
and the families and the communities, um,
that they get supported.
Because who wants to even think of being a,
a grammar school student, um,
that feels like they're being hunted.
So thank you, um, for holding this.
Um, please do what you can to support these families.
Thank you.
Thank you for your comments.
Um, being there no more speakers for today,
we conclude the public comment period.
In addition to today's comments,
we received 10 written comments that were forwarded
to members via email.
Our first item of business is the approval
of the Rule 45 report.
Can I get a motion to approve the
October, 2025 Rule 45 report?
So move by other woman hadn't.
Uh, all those in favor
of approving the October, 2025 Rule 45 report, respond
by saying aye opposed nay in the opinion of the chair,
the ayes have it.
Uh, our first matter
for today is R 20 25 0 0 2 1 0 4 7,
which was introduced by my office
to call on Governor JB Pritzker
to direct Illinois Commerce Commission
to cease all utility disconnections
for nonpayment universally
and to adopt flexible temporary credit
and collection procedures.
Um, I want to take a moment to explain a little bit
of the context of why we are doing that.
We know that SNAP benefits
and other social safety, uh, programs
and benefits, um, are decreasing.
We are having, people are being very
challenged in terms of money.
Many bread winners are being, um,
separated from their families.
Um, and we know that we can expect
that utility bills are going
to cause extra undue hardship on our communities.
Um, uh, we know
that there is a conversation happening again this year about
another price increase, uh, with people's gas rates.
So we are concerned about
what our communities are experiencing right now,
and we think that it is important that the City
of Chicago takes a stance
and ask, uh, the governor to intervene.
Um, are there any questions
or comments about this, uh, resolution?
Anybody has comments? All right.
So can I get a motion to approve, uh,
R 20 25 0 0 2 1 0 4 7 other person Fuentes.
So move all those in favors, uh, signify by saying, aye.
Opposed, say nay in the opinion of the chair.
The ayes have it. And I will report this
as a do pass recommendation at the upcoming
city council meeting.
Our next matter for today's subject matter hearing
to hear testimony from, um,
the Federal Government Immigration Enforcement Campaign.
Um, first of all, I want to thank all of the people
who are in the box right now.
These are people that have been fighting in the front lines
so hard against the violence
and the attacks that we have been experiencing from the
federal government and in particular from ICE
and CVP.
Uh, many of us in this committee have had to
navigate the pain of seeing our communities terrorized.
Uh, many of us have been in front of federal agents trying
to become a buffer for our communities.
Um, and we are seeing the devastation
in our communities right now.
We are seeing what family separation looks like.
Um, I represent, um,
an immigrant neighborhood, Albany Park,
and my child goes to school with mostly immigrant children,
and some of his friends have been
separated from their families.
Um, we are seeing
this devastation firsthand
and in the wake of
what we have been observing in Minneapolis, which
is nothing short of horrifying.
We have seen two people get shot
and killed by federal agents while
observing and trying to protect their neighbors.
Um, we're living in unprecedented
times in contemporary history, I would say.
Um, fascism is here,
and I wanna say this because I need to get it off my chest.
In this council for
more than a year, we heard rhetoric
that the humanized immigrants for many of our colleagues.
And we have been sitting in this chamber, listening
to lawmakers talking about our neighbors
as if they are monsters, as if they deserve to be punished,
to be separated from their families, to be tortured,
to be incarcerated, to be kidnapped, to be shipped out.
And that is what we are observing right now.
But resistance is real,
solidarity is real.
People are out, are showing up for their neighbors.
We are helping create spaces to do that.
And I am very proud of a lot of people in this committee
that I have seen fight like hell
to protect our communities.
I am proud of so many of us,
and I am proud of the communities
and organizations that are stepping up right now.
So today we are going to talk about
what is happening in Minneapolis Today.
We're going to talk about what is happening
nationally today.
Um, we are going to talk about
how we can better protect Chicago
learning from the experiences of Minneapolis
or from, from what we have been doing already.
And it gives me hope
that we are here today having this conversation,
and that we have people here that are not giving up,
that are saying this is the time to fight.
And we are going to fight.
We will, uh, start the presentations, uh,
with our guests from Minneapolis.
But today we are joined by guests from the A CLU eer, two
of our local Rapid response networks, the Mayor's Office
of Immigrant, migrant and Refugee Rights,
the mayor's chief strategy Officers, and elected officials
and organizers from Minneapolis and St.
Paul. Um, we will start presentations
with our guest from Minneapolis, followed by A CLU
and then eer, and we will be ending
with our rapid response leaders.
Thank you so much rapid response leaders for your work.
It is lifesaving.
If, uh, everyone could please introduce yourselves, um,
before you speak with your name
and your title for the record.
Um, can we start
with the presentations from Minneapolis?
Are they here already? Okay.
So we are going to start with our colleague from, um,
the Minneapolis City Council, Elliot Payne.
Some of you know him, um,
for his work nationally on community safety.
And I am so grateful that he, he is here with us today.
Um, council member Elliot Payne, thank you for being here.
And you can start your remarks.
Thank you. Chair Rodriguez Sanchez.
Uh, my name is Elliot Payne.
I'm the President of Minneapolis City Council.
Uh, honored to be here with you all, um, saddened to be here
with you all that we have to have this type
of cross-jurisdictional collaboration in the face
of a federal government that, um,
has brought constitutional abuses to our city
day in and day out.
I, I cannot overstate the amount of
constitutional violations, not only that I've witnessed,
but that I've personally experienced being out in the
streets and getting assaulted by ice agents.
Um, this has obviously culminated in the murder of two
of our residents, Renee Good and Alex Prety.
Uh, these are people who are like
so many other residents of Minneapolis
who are just showing up for their neighbors, um,
pulling out their cell phones
and trying to bear witness to the atrocities
that this government is bringing to our cities.
Uh, at the beginning of the Trump administration,
it was actually, um, chair Rodriguez Sanchez
that reached out to me with some of the work
that was happening in Chicago around making sure
that people know their rights, that people are starting
to get connected into networks.
Uh, and we were witnessing from afar the atrocities
in Chicago, fearful of that coming to our city.
And I think that, um, any city who is watching this hearing
or paying attention to this hearing needs to pay attention
because, uh, we just saw that Bovino
has been demoted.
He is leaving the city,
but that doesn't mean that this operation is over,
and that doesn't mean that these abuses are gonna end.
So we all need to stay prepared, stay vigilant,
and continue building out the, the networks of care
that have helped sustain us as a city.
And I think that, um,
especially if you're watching from a distance, uh,
you see countless videos of agents assaulting observers
of abuses in the streets
and of observers showing up
with their whistles and their car horns.
But I think one of the things that we really need
to get across is the thousands of people who are, um,
supporting us collectively through
baking meals, baking cookies, bringing them
to the small businesses that are acting
as refuge on our major commercial corridors for the folks
who are in active foot patrol, for the folks
who are out in the cars, the free whistles
that almost every business has, the Know Your rights cards
that almost every business has.
Um, the hand warmers, uh, there's, there's, there's so much
so support and care that's going on.
The teachers in the schools working together to make sure
that, uh, their students are fed
and that their parents are cared for the envelopes of money
to help pay back rent so
that people can stay in their homes.
This has been a whole city mobilization
against this invasion.
And although every single day I'm hit
with such profound sadness from watching another one
of my neighbors disappeared off of the street,
oftentimes I show up to a site, to an empty car
and just people wiping the pepper spray off of their face
as we try to put together what happened.
But there are people that wrap their arms
around the families that were impacted.
And in that incident, in that incident, you know, I was able
to get on a phone with a lawyer, get a habeas petition, uh,
a habeas corpus petition submitted,
and actually get that person released only two hours later.
So the us being engaged and responding
and supporting each other is having a profound impact.
It's pushing back on this invasion.
We're seeing these, these smaller wind like bovino getting
demoted and removed from our city.
But that doesn't mean that we stop.
That means that we, we go harder
because the type of resistance
that they're seeing in Minneapolis is working.
The type of resistance, the resistance
that they're seeing in Minneapolis is making them second
guess their tactics.
But just because they changed their tactics
doesn't change their mission.
So that means that, um, we all need to stay united
and fighting back against this
fascist invasion of our cities.
Um, thank you so much.
Um, council Member Payne, um, can I ask you
to describe a little bit of the escalation that
you all have observed, um, in Minneapolis
and in terms of tactics?
And I think that
what we have seen in Chicago is horrific,
but observing Minneapolis has been
so eye-opening in terms of the escalation
and what they're capable of at this point is like,
constitutional rights don't exist anymore.
And I can you, can you speak a little bit to that?
Yeah. So, uh, one of the things
that I've been doing since the, the surge is just
being out in community,
walking along the major commercial corridor with,
at least within my district.
And one of the tactics is just the sheer volume
of, of, of agents that are roaming our city
and they're roaming our city in unmarked vehicles.
Um, usually two to three in each vehicle,
and they will literally just jump out of a truck
and start harassing somebody.
So this happened, uh, maybe two weeks ago where I was just
almost wrapping my night up
because it seemed like things were slowing down.
And then all of a sudden we see an SUV drive by,
flash their flashlights at us.
And so a bunch of people
started chasing in the direction of where they went.
I jumped in my car and caught up with them,
and they had pulled over at a bus stop
and started harassing somebody who was just getting off
of their shift of work and going home.
This was a US citizen, uh, happened to be brown.
And so they see somebody based on their skin color,
and they will just flood them and harass them.
We were surrounding them,
people were blowing their whistles.
I had my phone out and I was recording,
and I introduced myself as the council president,
which I thought would help deescalate.
Um, but all, all they did is start waving a taser around,
putting it in my staff's chest.
And as I was paying attention to that person,
another agent came and shoved me from behind.
Like, even when the council president is introducing
themselves, they, they use violence with impunity.
And, you know, when Alex party was killed on
that Saturday morning, it was right
after one
of the la the largest general strikes
in our country's history.
Uh, tens of thousands
of people were downtown peacefully protesting.
And it felt like it had shifted the narrative.
It felt like they were maybe going to be in retreat.
And then we see that very next morning waking up to the news
of another, one of our, our residents getting killed.
And the thing that really stood out to me is that
he was in the exact same position
that I was when I got shoved.
Uh, we were just trying to have our phones out
and step back, and they would walk up
to you and just shove you.
And what happened to Alex was they had shoved a woman
and he was just coming to their defense
and trying to help them up after falling over.
And then they started piling on top of him.
And so they, they don't even have any sense of, of,
of decency, of professionalism, of discipline, of, of, of,
of training, of tactics.
I mean, the most, the most basic things you would expect,
expect out of a professional law enforcement agency is just
completely absent here.
And I think that's because they're getting the direction
from the top that they needed to be escalating,
not deescalating.
They needed to start things, not, you know,
and I think they picked Minneapolis specifically
to create these types of conditions to try
to invoke the insurrection act, to create this spectacle,
uh, across our most progressive cities.
And so, um, this absolutely feels targeted.
It a absolutely feels like political retribution, and it fe
and it feels like they were picking a fight so
that they could expand their authoritarian rule over the
country and make an example out of us.
And what they didn't understand is
they picked the wrong city.
We agree with that. Thank you so much.
Um, council President Elliot Payne, I'm going to move on to,
um, the Council Vice President of San Paul Hua Young Kim,
um, if you could share your remarks.
We are going to have time, uh, for members
to ask questions at the end.
I just wanna, um, council President Payne to, um,
expand a little bit on what he was talking about.
But we're gonna move now to, uh, council vice president of,
um, St.
Paul, uh, who Young Kim.
Yeah. Hi, um, council Vice President Huang Kim,
thank you all for having folks provide our testimony today.
So, you know, just the unconstitutional, unlawful acts
of the federal government is requiring just unprecedented
courage from not just the Twin Cities, but across Minnesota.
Thousands of Minnesotans across our state are giving daily
action to support the safety of their neighbors.
They're doing laundry giving rides, standing watch,
and doing everyday things to help keep, um, the safety
and constitutional rights of their neighbors intact.
So I wanna talk a little bit about some
of the tactics that we're seeing.
They're finding ways to quickly str change their strategies
and finding ways to outmaneuver us
and continue their suppression tactics.
So we're seeing folks instead of military garb,
they're wearing baseball caps, beanies, sunglasses, hoodies,
puffy jackets, blue jeans,
but to minimize their tactical gear
because they are trying to blend in.
Some are no longer wearing face masks
and they are disguising themselves to blend in also as a way
for us to distrust one another.
We see them as Uber drivers,
construction workers, student drivers.
They're even contra contracting out with local businesses
so they can use their vehicles,
most notably a plumbing business that we saw.
And they're starting to put things on the dash
to look like civilian vehicles.
So stuffed animals, things that hang from the,
the rear view mirror, which of course is not legal.
And one of the more troubling ones that we've seen is
that they're using children as bait
to bait their parents out of the house and to kidnap them,
and they have even infiltrated some
of our rapid response infrastructure.
Um, and so we continue to ensure
that we are vetting our neighbors.
And this is really important for the safety and security,
but also an awareness piece for everyone
that is in a rapid response that you can't vet everyone
and everyone wants to help.
And so I think the, the takeaway
for me here truly is there might be a few folks in your
rapid response chats,
but if there's, you know, a hundred folks in it
and two people are, you know, spies,
there's more of us than them.
And so we have to continue, but continue safely
and being very cognizant
and thoughtful around who folks are.
And so one of the things that I'm really encouraging my
neighbors to do is just go in person, force everyone
to come in person to a, a meeting where everyone has
to meet each other face to face
and then start determine who,
who should and should not be in there.
They have increased intimidation
of our lawful constitutional observers, inclu,
including recording their faces,
boxing them into parking lots, um, taking down photos
of their, uh, cars and their license plates.
And they are absolutely accessing private information
to intimidate us at home.
We have many accounts of folks that are at a safe distance
watching ice vehicles move through their neighborhood,
and that ice vehicle that they're following drives them home
to their house and stalls outside their house as if
to tell them, we know exactly who you are
and we know exactly where you live.
We're seeing, um, just increased threats
of violence using chemical irritants
and bodily harm, just completely unprovoked.
Um, we see an escalation of violence depending on
what agent we are interacting with.
So ICE and HSI have, you know, very similar tactics,
but border border patrol agents are much quicker
to use force against us.
We see excessive flash bangs, tear gas,
and now even green fog, which is
much more psychological than than physical.
The last trend I wanna talk about is that this,
as we all know, this hasn't always been about racial
profiling, and it is absolutely blatant, um,
in my neighborhood, I believe was the first verified account
of them going to a random door knocking on
that neighbor's door and asking them if
they identify someone in a picture.
My neighbor declined and said no.
Then they followed up with a question, do you know any
of your Hmong neighbors?
My neighbor said, no. They then followed up with,
do you know any Asian people in your neighborhood?
So it's, it's warrantless, it's violent,
it is baseless, um, racial violence
that's happening here in St.
Paul. They're staking out grocery stores, restaurants,
schools, and childcare centers
that are predominantly serving bipoc communities.
We see ice agents walk into restaurants, order lunch
and come back 10, 15, 20 minutes
labor and arrest the workers.
We see folks being deported without a judge,
judge determining unlawful detainment.
And so we need folks to file habeas
petitions as soon as possible.
They're claiming to have warrants when they don't
and are threatening, um, force
and arrest charges if someone asserts their rights
against a search.
Um, so it's just, it's,
the escalation is incredibly quick right now.
And folks just really need to understand
what their rights are now more than ever.
So what this requires of me,
and I think of us as elected officials, I all
of you are already in deep trusted relationships
with your community members,
but now more than ever, we need
to be proactively reaching out.
Yesterday I met with one of my constituents
that's undocumented and they have been so terrified.
And now we need to get a plan together.
And so we need folks to just be prepared.
Preparation is the best defense right now.
Um, I'm showing how I'm responding by using my voice
and platform to notify and update
and spread accurate information to make sure residents know
how they can support each other.
Um, I'm also trained in deescalation.
Um, and so it's really important
that we have elected officials that are willing to step,
literally put their bodies on the line
to help protect their neighbors
because there is incredible amount of tension.
And so deescalation is super important.
That doesn't mean that we're calming necessarily,
like the feelings down and the tenseness down.
And I think we can show up really strongly
and clearly, um, using, you know,
nonviolent, peaceful protesting.
But we also need to utilize our skills as, as, uh,
leaders in our community to continue to keep people safe
by utilizing deescalation, uh, tactics.
And we just need additional oversight, including our police,
because the chaos that is caused by the illegal
and unconstitutional actions
of federal agents are absolutely a reiteration of
what our police forces often due to our communities.
All of these are inherently connected. And so in St.
Paul, we looked at, um,
passing a single separation ordinance like Minneapolis,
and in the end we decided to sort of parse it out
because some parts that were ready were holding up piece,
um, some parts that were not ready, we're holding up pieces
that were, so we are actually phasing out our pieces
of our separation ordinance, um, with parking IDs.
I'm looking at a moratorium on, uh,
detention centers in our zoning code
because where our zoning code is silent,
there's too much flexibility.
Um, and so think about even the ways
that you are using your power,
but not to maybe do the perfect thing at once,
but offer phase rollouts.
We also have a standing public hearing now at our city
council meeting so we can hear feedback, um,
like in time feedback from our
constituents every single week.
And so what this really requires of, of us is that we,
we need to understand not just what our rights are,
but how to use them.
Because we see nurses needing to know how
to use their rights, their rights as care providers
to help advocate for, um, for their patients.
The folks that are coming into hospitals chain change,
the bed business owners,
and when they can close, they have every right
to close their shop when they want to.
So not just do we know rights,
but how do we know to use them
and what resources do we need to provide to our constituents
to keep each other safe?
Thank you so much for, uh, your testimony.
It is super helpful for us right now as we think about what
we need to be focusing on in terms of organizing.
We're gonna come back, um, to both of you, uh, for
with questions a little later in the hearing.
I am going to now pass it on to Pon de Leon,
the Deputy Mayor of Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
Good morning. Oh, Good morning.
Yeah. Thank you.
Um, and thank you for, for the invitation to be here
with you today, am Leon Deputy Mayor for Immigrant, migrant
and Refugee Rights.
I wanna just start by, um, first thanking our colleagues
and friends in Minneapolis and St.
Paul for making the time to be here to share
the horrors and the, the injustices
that they are seeing on the ground
and some of what they're doing to combat that.
I think, you know, we have much to learn from each other,
um, and I know that when you're in the thick of it,
taking the time to, to do this
and be here really, um, is,
is very meaningful and it takes a lot.
So thank you so much for that.
I also would like to thank you, uh,
chairwoman Ana Rodriguez Sanchez,
and Vice Chair Julia Ramirez,
and members of the committee for convening us, um,
especially to to the older women.
Thank you for the way that you show up for your communities.
I know that you, um, you stand up for their rights.
You do what you can to protect them
and to show that you love your constituents
and you really are working hard for them.
And I wanna take a moment to express my gratitude, um, to,
you know, all of the people in Chicago and in Minneapolis
and other parts of our country that are, um,
taking risks every day to fight
for our constitutional rights, to protect their neighbors.
And really at this moment, to fight for our democracy.
Our, the efforts are not unseen.
Um, and, you know, we are beginning to see
how our communities have come together to do that.
As has been stated before this morning.
And in many places, we are all painfully aware
of the xenophobic militarized races, lawless tactics used
by federal agents, um, not only in Minneapolis
as we heard this morning, but also in Chicago
and in other parts of the country.
We know that there are violations
of constitutional protections.
We know that they are violating fundamental human rights,
and that these tactics have resulted
in the loss of human life.
At a meeting like today.
It is a privilege to be here, to be able
to bear witness at this moment when
what we need from our government, whether it's local, state,
or federal, is real courage and resolve and action.
Um, in Chicago, we experienced much of what
Minneapolis has seen, but not to that escalation.
And when I talk to folks
and think about we had 250 agents on the ground, if we were
to have 3000, how prepared, um, will we be for that?
And how coordinated we can be in the work that our city does
with the state, with the county, and with community.
Over the past few weeks, several
of us have been in communication
with colleagues in Minneapolis and St.
Paul, um, for moral support in both directions
and to share lessons learned and strategies.
We know that we have much to learn from each other.
We are carving out paths that haven't been traveled before.
We have not seen immigration enforcement at this scale
or at this pace.
And with so much, um, lawlessness
and what we are creating individually as cities
and now together in many ways is new.
Um, but we know that we have to do that work.
I wanted to share some of the city's strategy
and just to give credit to Mayor Johnson for very early on,
standing up firmly in support of immigrants
and against the, the tyranny
and the terror that our federal government is sponsoring.
Um, and the way that, you know, he always calls for us
to have a full force of government approach in the way
that we serve and protect Chicagoans the best that we can.
So our strategy has been grounded in that full, full force
of government in collaboration, accountability,
and the protection of human dignity.
A few of the points in the ways
that we've we've built this strategy
is one by public statements.
The mayor was one of the first mayors, if not the first,
to very publicly denounce
what was happening at the federal level.
Um, and he has not held back from being public about his
support for immigrants.
Um, for uplifting our constitutional rights
and for fighting back, we have used the power
of executive authority through executive orders,
launching the Protecting Chicago initiative, designating,
uh, city property as ice free zones, um,
calling on our department of law to use their force, uh,
their powers of litigation.
We've also used litigation very effectively.
The Department of Law has entered into numerous, uh,
lawsuits, has led some of those lawsuits and been successful
and has, uh, joined other cities
and filed amicus briefs in support.
We have begun to use the power of legislation
and, uh, I think, um, older person, Jesse Fuentes.
Later this afternoon, there will be an amendment
to the COPA Amendment to make sure that
that ordinance is clear
and gives jurisdiction to COPA
to investigate any potential violations
of the welcoming city ordinance by CPD.
And then, you know, there are protocols
and guidelines that go out to our departments
and sister agencies,
and these in many ways are living document.
The, the things that have been put in place
had never been tested to the degree
that they were tested in the last year.
And so we are looking regularly to update those guidances
and protocols and make sure that departments
and sister agencies are prepared in their way
to uphold the welcoming city ordinance
and to do more to protect the people
that use their services.
Um, this requires being in communication, listening
to our community, and making sure that those, uh, leaders
of our departments and sister agencies
are following through.
We also have put a strong emphasis on partnerships
and coalition building, working with city, state,
and county partners, but more importantly, with organizers
and advocates and community-based organizations,
rapid responders, being able to listen, to use
what we hear from our partners in the way that we,
we do the work that we do of city government,
and also to, to be open right to new possibilities
and collaborations with them.
And then finally, public information campaigns.
Perhaps the first thing we did was
to kick off a robust Know Your Rights campaign last January
that has evolved into, um, preparedness for families, uh,
working with small businesses, working with, uh, education,
you know, schools and city colleges, making sure
that people know their rights
and their resources, know how
to exercise those rights in ways that they can, very
personal decisions for how they protect themselves,
their families, um, and their and their communities.
And finally, Chicago remains committed to this full force
of government approach.
We remain committed to protecting the safety
and dignity of everyone that calls our city home.
I know that our mayor
and our administration will continue to speak out
to act decisively, to work across departments
with sister agencies, with community partners,
with city council members.
Um, because we, we have to, this is a moment that calls for
that collaboration and it calls for more, you know,
the killing of Renee, Nicole Good of Verio Gonzalez,
of Alex Preti of others that have died in detention centers.
Point to the very real danger
and injustice of a federal agency that has
denounced and de denied, has decided not to follow the law
that lacks accountability and oversight.
So Mayor Johnson is very publicly called to abolish ice.
We, we stand by that call and we'll support that work.
Um, it's time to hold ICE and CBP accountable.
It's time to dismantle a failed
and dangerous agency that replace
and to replace that with something
that is limited in its power, humane and accountable.
And that really focuses on due process
and that makes civil immigration, um, not an unsafe, um,
not, not something that could lead to the death
and the separation of families.
And finally, thank you again.
Chairwoman Rodriguez Sanchez, vice Chair Ramirez.
Thank you to the members of this committee
and to everyone who's here today to share their reflections,
their stories, um,
because every time we hear from the public,
from our communities, we use that to inform the work
of city government.
Um, and on behalf of the Office of Immigrant Migrant
and Refugee Rights, I just wanna say thank you
for having us here today.
Thank you, the mayor, PON Leon, we are so grateful
for your work, um,
and for how you have been showing up for all these years.
It's been a very difficult time.
Um, next we are going to go to Amanda Ero,
who is the co-executive director of Take Action Minnesota.
She was supposed to speak a little bit earlier,
but, um, couldn't make it until now.
So, Amanda, are you with us?
Amanda, are you with us? Amanda Otero?
Yeah. Can you hear me now?
Yes, we can hear you. Okay, great. Thank you so much.
Welcome. You can start your remarks.
Yeah, thank you for having me. Um, yep.
My name is Amanda Ro.
I'm co-executive Director at Take Action Minnesota.
We're a power organization, um, in Minnesota that does, um,
community organizing and issue advocacy.
Um, and I am also a leader with one
of our projects called
Minneapolis Families for Public Schools.
And it's out of that work that I will ground.
Um, my remarks today, um, Minneapolis Families
for Public Schools has been organizing families in, um,
within the Minneapolis Public Schools, um, school district
around, um, you know, issues
and visions for our schools over the last two years.
And in November, as we, uh, began to see increased,
you know, ice activity in our communities,
and then December 1st with the official announcement
of Operation Metro Surge, um, we, you know,
shifted our strategy into, um, building, uh,
and supporting sanctuary school teams.
Um, we have about a thousand over a thousand members active
in, um, 40 different, um, NPS school sites,
in site-based sanctuary teams.
Um, for context that's about half the schools in the
district and are now and are continuing to grow the number
of teams in NPS
and are now expanding into other districts as well as, um,
you know, federal agent activity is, um, going far
beyond just the Twin cities of Minneapolis and St.
Paul, um, sanctuary school teams.
The model actually comes from you all in Chicago.
So we learned from our organizer friends, um, in Chicago.
Um, and so just wanna share a little bit about what
that work has been looking and feeling like on the ground
and what we're specifically seeing around, um, you know,
federal agent actions, um, near to schools
and related to schools.
Um, so our sanctuary school teams, um, are organizing
around three different pillars.
They're doing, um, you know, patrolling
around schools at pickup and drop off
and being some of the first responders.
Um, if ICE is, um, near or on school grounds.
Um, they are organizing networks of mutual aid, um,
you know, providing rides
and transportation for students from families
who are too afraid to leave their homes, um, uh, doing,
you know, organizing grocery delivery for families
that are staying home, um, raising money to help, um,
families in our schools with rent and utility bills, um,
because so many folks are missing work right now.
Um, and then also, you know, are doing, um, organizing, um,
and campaigning to get, um, ice out
of our schools and out of our state.
Um, you know, I think hearing some of the remarks earlier,
I think one of the things that's been grounding
and important to me for context of, um, you know,
what this escalation in Minnesota, um, has felt like and,
and what makes it, you know, different, um,
and how the, you know, how it's evolving from, from other,
um, experiences, including of course you all in Chicago, is
that we do have 3000 agents on the ground
and, um, you know, we're in the, in terms
of the Twin Cities metro, we're, you know, we're a small,
uh, big city, right?
We about 4 million people.
And so I think that proportion, um, you know, something
that I've been trying to really convey to, to folks
as I'm sharing our stories is that the, the sort of
fear, um,
and the like impact is like palpable, you know, kind
of every block around the city.
And so I say that to orient to the experience in schools,
which, you know, at this point we have no verified accounts
of ICE attempting to enter a school.
Um, but ICE is very present, very close
to schools all the time throughout the day,
including at pick up and drop off
and have had instances, um, of going on to school property.
Um, and so, you know, our main, um, you know,
in the sanctuary school organizing, one
of the critical pieces is that patrolling at the time
that kids are, um, getting dropped off at school
or arriving to school and at times
that kids are getting picked up to make sure that they
and educators can enter
and leave, um, their school buildings safely.
Um, you know, I would say that, um,
we've also seen, I mean, I know folks are, you know, very,
I'm sure familiar with the story of Liam last week,
the five-year-old that was picked up and,
and that was right on his way home from school, right?
His parent and him were, were about to get home.
And so that's, so it's sort of
what we're really looking at is this context of like,
to live your daily life right now, you, um,
need a lot of, there needs to be a lot of care
and support for, um, so that people can still go to school,
can still go to work, can still go about their lives.
And many, many folks are just simply staying home.
And so the sanctuary schoolwork has been about,
primarily about making sure that people can be safe, um, in
what they're, what they're doing, um, out and about.
Um, and so for us, you know,
the way we would understand sort of a win
or a step forward at this time is, is keeping people safe,
is having ice leave our city, having it leave our state,
but also, um, you know, are thinking about how we, um,
both share lessons
and also, um, you know, are strategic about then, um,
supporting, you know, as, as we assume
that federal agents will continue
to go to other places, right?
How can we be in connection, relationship to share lessons
that we've learned from this time as well as, um,
have an impact so that, um, the operation is less, um, uh,
violent, um,
in other places moving forward. Thank you.
Thank you Amanda, for being here with us
and share your, your testimony.
Um, we're gonna come back to you
for questions a little later.
Um, we are going to move on
to our friend Ed Yoka from the ACL U.
Thank you so much, ed, for being here
and for, um, always answering the call.
Uh, thank you Chair Rodriguez
and members of the committee.
Uh, my name is Ed Yanka.
I'm the director of Communications
and public policy for the A CLU of Illinois.
It is truly an honor to be here with so many of the leaders,
uh, from Chicago
and Minneapolis who have been at the front lines
of protecting communities.
Um, as we've seen these invasions from federal forces
into our community from those sources, you're going
to hear you already have heard a lot today about
specific civil rights
and civil liberties violations, uh,
from the Trump administration's heavily armed masked forces.
I think one thing is clear, the tragic
and unnecessary shooting death of Alex Preti in Minneapolis
followed so closely after the death, uh, shooting death
of Renee Goode was entirely predictable,
given the brutality of an unleashed
and seemingly entitled ice and CPB.
And frankly, Chicago already knew this reality
after the killing of Mr. Gonzalez in Franklin Park
and the shooting of Ms. Martinez in the
Brighton Park neighborhood.
Rather than simply repeat the outrages
and the blatant violations that members of this committee
and others know all too well, my hope is to use a little bit
of the time here today to step back
and look at the untruths that are being used to justify
this government activity and this government violence.
'cause I think it is important
to learn from the way in which the truth has been
manipulated to justify this action to be, to be plain.
The immigration campaign carried out
by the Trump administration,
by the federal government using our tax dollars,
has been marked by lies and misrepresentations
and mythology as we push back against individual
outages and violations.
It is critical to understand the roots of this program,
including understanding where this is going
and that this has never been just about immigration.
In recent days, the Trump administration
conveniently lifted the veil on the true aim behind these
reckless activities, revealing the real purpose
of placing an armed paramilitary force on our streets.
And that is to exert control over state
and local governments who disagree with White House policy.
Again, it is not simply about
immigration enforcement.
The Attorney General of the United States.
Pam Bondi recently penned a letter to Minnesota officials
offering to end the siege
that we've heard about this morning In exchange
for three actions by state and local officials.
First General Bondy asked Minnesota officials
to end all sanctuary policies, presumably
with the administration coercing state
and local police officers in Minnesota
to henceforth cooperate
and collaborate in immigration enforcement.
Elevating the we house's vision of public safety
over local priorities that are determined
with community input.
Second, Bondy demanded that the state of Minnesota comply
with the Trump administration demands
that the state turn over personal
and private data about people receiving SNAP benefits
and others who have accessed other federal programs.
This data, of course, is to, is, is sought to further
trump's hyperbolic claims about fraud
and abuse, which is a justification for cutting off funding
that helps people live each day.
And finally, Bondy demanded that Minnesota officials
as she has in other states, including Illinois, turn over
to the Trump administration, all of the personal data
of every voter in the state to fuel investigations
into Trump's fever dream of mass voter fraud,
and allow him
to implicate himself in the coming midterm elections.
The letter and these demands clearly make clear
that the goal of placing these masked heavily armed ICE
and CPB agents in our communities is
to consolidate power in the hands of the White House
and an increasingly incoherent
and erratic president not anything else.
It is not as the White House regularly claims
that immigration abuses are necessary to tolerate in order
to advance public safety.
These claims are based on false narratives that immigrants
and others are somehow more dangerous
or more prone to prone to criminal activity.
The American Immigration Council among others report that
note that, uh, the reported crime rate
among immigrants is the same or lower than US citizens.
A 2017 study called the Effects
of Sanctuary Policies on Crime and Eco Economy
and the Economy notes
that the overall crime rates are higher in counties
where local law enforcement routinely cooperate
with federal immigration officials
rather than those counties that have sanctuary policies.
The administration, of course, also claims
and decries that they are simply
engaging in these activities to get quote the worst
of the worst close quote off our streets.
Statements from the Department of Homeland Security
statements that often prove
to be wrong regularly justify any action
by I store CU Customs
and Border Protection, no matter how outrageous, by claiming
that they are simply removing quote, murders, rapists,
child abusers, and others from our streets.
The facts tell a completely different story
During Operation Midway Blitz in the Chicago land area
as just one example, the best refor reporting is that fewer
than two in 10 of those detained on immigration charges
had any involvement in the criminal legal
system in their background.
And fewer than three in every 100 that's three out
of every 100 of those detained, had ever been charged
with a violent criminal offense no matter how long ago.
The suggestion that these operations in any way advance
public safety does not withstand
a modest evaluation of the evidence.
The Trump administration's most strident voices
likewise have lied about opposition
to their immigration policies.
Um, I will spare this bossy body a litany
of the hypocrisies from this administration when it
comes to free speech.
Rather, I'd simply note
that the Trump White House finds any action, even
lawful First Amendment action conducted by those
who oppose their position to be able to be written off
as the, the actions of paid agitators
or domestic terrorists.
Meanwhile, they forgive the blatantly illegal actions
of those who support them at the ACL U.
We have and we will continue to confront the, the violations
of civil rights and civil liberties when they're vi violated
anywhere by this administration.
In the first year of the Trump administration,
we have filed more than 250 legal actions
against this administration, and we're just getting started.
But as we continue to fight those cases in court, we need
to elevate the discussion to note what the real goals
of this administration are through this violence
and recklessness on our streets.
It is namely to control individuals, elected officials,
communities, and anyone who disagree
with their cramped narrow worldview.
As we confront individual wrongs, we cannot
ignore the ultimate ends of this administration to unwind
and destroy our very democracy.
Thank you for the opportunity to be here.
Thank you so much, ed, for being here.
Um, we're going to move to Ray Es now from icer.
I have to say thank you to Ray, not only for the work
that you are doing with icer, but all the work that you did.
While you are first deputy here,
we owe you OUA great debt of gratitude.
Thank you. Thank you, thank you. Thank you for your work.
Thank you.
Make this short.
Thank you everyone. Uh, good morning. Uh, my name is Ray Es.
My pronouns are they them.
I am currently the senior director
of Deportation defense at the Illinois Coalition
for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
So thank you chair and thank you to the members
of the committee for convening this hearing.
Um, as we know, we are here today
because we are witnessing a dangerous escalation in federal
immigration enforcement.
One that reflects not only overreach
by the federal government,
but a blatant disregard for the rule of law
and for people's constitutional rights.
These actions are not abstract policy debates.
They are showing up in real
and devastating ways in our communities across the country.
And very clearly here in Illinois,
we are seeing updated tactics from eyes
that are more aggressive, even less transparent than
what we witnessed during Operation Midway Blitz
and increasingly violent as well.
We are seeing enforcement actions that rely on intimidation,
misinformation, and coordination that skirts
or outright outright violates legal protections.
And this is not about public safety. This is about control.
It is about sending a message, particularly
to immigrant communities in welcoming
or in sanctuary cities like Chicago.
That place is that no place is truly safe.
The tactics we saw in Illinois last year
and the escalation we are witnessing in real time in
Minneapolis reflect the federal government willing
to stretch, bend
and ignore the law to advance a political agenda.
Constitutional rights to process protection from unlawful
search and seizure are treated as optional.
When the agenda is to disrupt, kidnap
and disappear our neighbors into the void
of the immigration detention system, that erosion
of rights should concern every single person in this room.
Because when constitutional protections are weakened
for one group, they are weakened for all of us.
We also need to be clear about the violence
of these enforcements actions.
Vi violence that does not only mean physical force,
though we are seeing that too.
And murder violence includes the trauma inflicted when
parents are taken without warning.
It includes the fear that keeps people from going to work,
school, or the doctor.
It includes the chilling effect on entire neighborhoods
where ice presence destabilizes daily life.
And that is why today's hearing is so important.
Over the last 12 months, the uh, Illinois Coalition
for Immigrant and Refugee Rights Family Support Network
Hotline has received thousands
of calls seeking from people seeking support
to navigate the deportation system in, in the country.
We have seen calls, uh,
detailing the impact on businesses, on schools.
The piece of our neighbors has been disrupted.
And all of this, uh, has pointed to also the very, uh,
reality that resources are also needed to face this moment.
And what I mean by that is essentially going back
to the solar point around, um,
these are actions are not abstract policy debates.
Uh, I ask the city council, this committee
and its members to continue to look for innovative ways
to support everyone that is being impacted
by the increasing rates and the violence.
We need to know what we're gonna be doing when we see more
than 200, 600 agents showing up in our streets.
We need to, we need to know, um, what kind
of training people will have at every level
of city government, as well as what are those collaborations
and bridges that we need to build with state, um,
and county to ensure the protection of all people in,
in the city and beyond.
Um, with this, I also will name that it is very important,
uh, to continue to uplift, uh, the stories,
to humanize the issue and to not let the, uh, dehumanization
or the rhetoric that attacks our community members
to be the only, um,
story about what's happening in our
communities and in our city.
Um, to this, I would say that the Illinois Coalition
for Immigrant and Refugee Rights will continue to, uh,
be focused in training.
Uh, like we did last year.
Uh, we supported, uh, hundreds of individuals in, um,
Migra watch or, uh, how to document law enforcement, uh,
immigration enforcement rates.
We will continue to do that, as well
as do workshops on Know Your Rights.
Uh, but we're also seeing, uh, that this moment,
and what we're hearing also from our colleagues in
Minneapolis, is that we need to, uh, reset on a lot
of this training deescalation.
Um, we have even heard people asking for training on what
to do if someone gets shot
because they're out there doing, uh, legal observing
or, uh, documenting ice.
And so these are the, the questions that we're getting
as community organizations.
Um, and I think that it is also fair
that we should have answers from, um, our city officials
in terms of what will happen when, um, masses
of citizens get arrested.
Uh, what are the mechanisms to protect people's, uh,
constitutional and legal rights
and civil rights in, in the ci in the city and in the state.
Um, again, this is why today's hearing is so important.
It's a moment to look through
and reflect on what we already experienced at Witness
during Operation Midway Blitz.
It is an opportunity for us to hear
and learn from what's happening in Minneapolis,
and I think it is a, a pointed, um, call to action
for everyone in this council, uh, to again, um, lean in
and think through innovative, uh, proposals
and policies that will keep everyone in the city safe.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for that, Ray.
Uh, we're gonna move to Sandra Puebla, who is the co-chair
of the Northwest side Rapid response.
Thank you, Sandra, for everything that you do day in
and day out to, you know, waking up in the morning
to 200 messages.
Um, we are so grateful for your work.
Thank you. Um, hello everyone.
My name is Sandra, um, Puebla,
and, um, I am proud to serve as one of the co-chairs
for the Northwest side Rapid Response team.
Um, I wanna first thank, um,
Alder woman Rosana Rodriguez Sanchez for, uh,
the invitation to speak today.
And I also really wanna thank you other person,
Jesse Fuentes, uh,
and Alderman Anthony Ada, for being there
with us since the very beginning.
Um, your dedication to keeping
our family safe is admirable, and your bravery
and your determination should be the standard,
especially in these times of crisis.
And so thank you for your advocacy here in
the halls of power.
And thank you for, uh,
putting your bodies on the line in the streets.
Um, we could not be doing this work without you
guys, so seriously.
Thank you. Um, you know, I'm a,
I'm a little emotional hearing, um,
the testimonies from our friends in Minnesota.
Um, it reminds me a lot of, uh, the, um,
the horrors of Midway Blitz.
Um, it reminds me of the days where
we were waking up at the crack of dawn
to those hundreds of messages.
Um, I remember driving to, uh, sures to try to get
to a tear gas situation
and getting stopped, uh, in order
to handle another tear gas situation on the northwest side.
Um, and so my heart is in Minnesota.
Um, and, uh, just all the love to you guys
as you face, um, this crisis.
Um, we, we heard a lot today about the, um,
the terror, uh,
that this administration has brought onto our communities.
Um, but today I really want to speak about the,
the beautiful work
that has been happening on the ground on the northwest side.
Um, the work that we have been able
to do in the past year is incredible.
Seeing the way community members have come together, um,
is something I have not seen in the, uh, 10 years
that I have been organizing.
Um, so a little background around our rapid response team.
Our team formed, um,
after the November, 2024 election, um, a lot of people
saw what the results of this election would bring,
and we decided that we needed to act as soon as we could.
Um, and so we held a, uh,
town hall at Roosevelt High School in Albany Park,
where we had over 500, uh, participants who were willing
to take action to keep their community safe.
Not just our immigrant communities,
but um, our L-G-B-T-Q neighbors, uh,
our unhoused neighbors, our students, um,
women's rights, everything.
Um, people were ready to fight.
Um, and so we hit the ground running on January 20th.
So it's been almost a year
that our rapid response team has been active.
Uh, we went out and below zero temperatures.
I was really surprised that we were able to get
around a hundred people to be outside of the train stations
and the Home Depots.
Uh, and they stayed there for a good two hours, um,
handing out know your rights information
to everyone in our community.
We knew that we needed to stay prepared, um, knowing
that there was gonna be a lot of, um, a lot
of violence in the, the coming months.
Um, and so for the past year, our volunteers,
which are composed of parents, teachers, students, workers,
have donated their time, their resources,
and their labor to keep one another safe.
We have canvas. We've patrolled, we've
provided medical relief, we've provided legal assistance
and care and to support
to every neighbor we can get in contact with.
Our neighbors came together to protect our children
and our schools from tear gas and violence.
Um, and despite the efforts of the federal government
to instill fear and uncertainty, our people came together
to show students that not only is there this their
neighborhood, but that the people
around them will always be present to keep each other safe.
There were several days during Operation Midway Blitz where
our people would wake up early in the morning
before going to work to ensure
that the neighborhood was free from the terror
and violence of Border Patrol.
The Northwest side counted on the updates from our team
to ensure that they were safe to leave their homes, um,
that they could go another day without worrying
where their loved one will be.
There were several days where, uh,
we spent almost an entire day trying to locate who
a vehicle belonged to.
We spent so many hours comforting
children, um,
and loved ones, uh, that learned
that their loved one was taken through our, um,
conversations with them.
Breaking that news to families was heartbreaking,
and we had to do that every single day for months.
Um, I, I can't begin to describe the emotional
and physical toll that it took on all of us
watching children scream, mothers cry
and fathers say goodbye day after day.
And yet, every day our community woke up
to continue the fight.
If the attacks have shown us anything, it is
that we are resilient in several cases.
It shows us that the strength
of our community is there and it always will be.
We did not wait for heroes to come and save the day.
We got up and we got to work.
Our Northwest Side Collective has shown us
how powerful we can be when we come together,
has shown us the ways in which our local
government can fight back.
I really cannot, um, speak on the work
of the Northwest side without giving credit
to our northwest side electeds, um, as I said, the alders,
but also State Senator Graciela Guzman, state rep,
Lillian Jimenez, state Rep, Wil gdi, um,
and of course, Congresswoman Dalia Ramirez.
They have expanded what constituent services means
and have decided to include deportation defense in that work
because they know that that is critical
to keeping their district safe.
Can we add, uh, cook County Commissioner Jessica?
Yes. Thank you. And Cook County Commissioner
Jessica Vasquez.
Um, and it is thanks to the offices that we've been able
to successfully assist in the release of a lot
of these residents.
This moment calls for more than impassioned speeches
and sassy social media posts.
This moment calls for boots on the ground,
and this moment calls for creativity
and an expansion of what solidarity
and community looks like.
Regardless of what happens in the spring,
our communities are ready.
We have seen what we can do when we organize,
and we will continue to defend the city
of Chicago. Thank you so much.
Yes, we will. Thank you, Sandra.
And we are going to, um, go
to Annie Ani, who is the co-chair of the Southwest, uh,
rapid Response Teams.
Um, go ahead, Annie.
And thank you so much for all the work
that you do across issues in this city.
Um, thank you for caring so much about our communities.
Thank you. Um, is this right? Yeah. Okay. Sorry.
It's my first time in the box. I'm a little nervous.
Um, but thank you other woman. Thank you, chair.
Uh, thank you Vice chair. I know you're on Zoom.
I really appreciate the work that you do
and really appreciate you always across all issues as well,
showing up for your community.
Right? Um, so I really appreciate it
and being able that to trust me to come to the box
and talk about the work that we're doing here.
Well, not here, sorry. In the southwest side of Chicago.
Um, so yeah, as mentioned, my name is Annie Ani.
I live in the southwest side of Chicago.
I'm one of the leads for the Southwest Rapid Response team
and work as the Immigration Defense Coordinator at the
Brandon Park Neighborhood Council.
I'm here to talk about the Southwest Rapid Response Team,
our work and what we've seen so far in the Southwest side
for the past year now.
Um, the Southwest Rapid Response team started up about
a year ago, right?
Um, the same as the Northwest side.
As we saw, we met where we saw the gap
and the needs for our community,
and wanted to make sure that our community
and neighbors felt safe.
So we started off as this very small mighty group,
and we have literally multiplied since.
Right? Um,
I've personally been taking notes from our friends in
Minneapolis and what they've been providing,
because I think it's very helpful to really realize just
how things have been escalating since, um,
there was more enforcement here in Chicago, um,
in which we're sure they're gonna come back.
So the Southwest Rapid Response Team works as a collective
of community leaders to respond to sightings
of ICE in the neighborhood, document detainment,
and follow up with families whose loved one,
uh, has been abducted.
We also provide for families who are afraid
to leave their homes and provide post care
and direction for those directly impacted by the raid
that have been happening in the south, uh,
southwest since last year.
The Southwest side was a target of ice and customs
and border protection for months last year,
and continue to cause danger to my community.
My neighbors have experienced indescribable fear
just for existing.
They're scared to take their children to school,
to go grocery shopping,
to pick up medicine at their local pharmacy, at times,
even go for a walk.
The fear agents coming to the door of their homes,
profiling them on the streets,
and separating them from their families.
We have consistently heard the lies and false narratives.
The Trump regime has spread about Chicago
to justify their power graph
as they send mass armed federal
agents into local communities.
The presence of ice DHS
and CBP in the fall as separation midway BLS
and operation at large have wreaked havoc on sin.
The simple sound of a horn triggers communities. Now.
We continue to see way the ways in which federal
agencies continue to escalate.
We've seen the death of individuals in the tensions,
the killings of Verio, Viega, Gonzalez, Renee, Nicole, good,
and Alex pre the shooting
of Mima Martinez in our own neighborhood in Brighton Park.
Rapid responders arrested, harassed,
and thousands of community members detained.
We have documented countless people
who have been indiscriminately detained.
A dad walking to Walgreens were a prescription for his son.
After a dental surgery, a young man on his bike
and another picked up outside of the train station.
Bystanders were getting snatched in a matter of seconds
and in front of our eyes, just because of how they look.
A teenager and her mom were kidnapped on the way
to the store, a decision they made out of necessity
because there was no more food left at home.
A raid on swap, an open air flee market that long served
as a home to street vendors, dads, moms, family members.
This is who's really being taken from our communities.
These are people who are embedded in our neighborhoods,
their absences felt.
When they are kidnapped. We must also support those
who are left behind, left
to navigate an already incredible
difficult immigration system.
In our experience in the Southwest, some of the ones left
to put pieces back together are 16
and 17 year olds,
wondering when they'll see their parents again, how
to make rent and put food on the table,
and at times figure out how
to take care of their younger siblings.
As Bryan and Park Neighborhood Council, we have
provided urgent support to over 35 families
who have a loved one detained through case management,
providing gift cards to meet ends, including
covering the cost of phone calls and commissary
and detention centers, accompanying students to school
and directly delivering groceries to their homes.
Additionally, our organization has organized food drives,
providing groceries to over 650 families
who have not been able to leave their homes outta fear.
BPNC has pivoted our work to ensure
that families know they're not alone,
from transitioning appointments remotely, to assisting
with temporary guardianship letters, court accompaniment,
housing assistance.
We know the need for support is vast.
As families navigate mountains of uncertainty.
As Southwest Rapid Response Team
and BPNC, we've been able to canvas a portion,
a large portion of the Southwest,
and have met with multiple small businesses
to remind them of their rights.
As private property owners, we've
provided over 65 know your rights presentations
to local community schools and organizations.
Additionally, we're continuing to talk to,
with our neighbors, organize our blocks,
support our local day laborers at known hotspots like Home
Depot, and providing rights
to children whose parents are afraid to leave home.
Right now, all eyes need to bear witness
to the injustice happening in front
of our eyes here in Chicago,
a couple hours away in Minneapolis earlier last year in Los
Angeles, the effect the effects of these masks,
federal agents are chilling.
ICE and CPP are operating without a hint of accountability
or transparency for their actions.
In October, agents caused a multi-vehicle car accident
that led to a full scale occupation of Brighton Park
with tear gas thrown down streets,
leaving families struggling to breathe,
guns aimed in crowds,
and an armory tank taken over the street.
An image I really never thought I would see blocks away from
where my children attend school.
Later that day, CBP told a full a story full of lies,
painting neighbors as the aggressors.
Thankfully, MIMA lived to tell the truth,
she survived her testimony, exposed the inconsistencies,
the exaggerations, and the false claim.
Renee, good Gonzalez and Alex Preti didn't get that chance.
But we know this story. We recognize the patterns,
the criminalization, the misinformation, the lack
of accountability, different names, same tactics.
We are witnessing the invasion of our communities
by federal law enforcement who continuously refuse
to identify themselves
and loved ones to be disappeared in the blink of an eye
as an organization and as a rapid response team,
as neighbors, we've been keeping each other safe.
We've been taking care of each other.
We need our elected officials at all
levels to do the same for us.
We're unafraid and we'll continue
to document federal agents crimes, illegal abductions,
and aggressive tactics.
We'll continue providing support to families
during these times, and we will continue
to answer every call because we are all we have.
Thank you.
Thank you so much, um, Annie, for your testimony.
Uh, we're going to take questions now.
Um, and we are waiting
for Congresswoman de Ramirez to join us.
She should be with us at, uh, 12, um, to give us an update
of federal, um, the federal actions that are being taken.
I'm going to start with a couple
of questions that I have you.
Okay. Um, this question is
for our friends in Minneapolis.
So any of you feel free to answer.
We heard, um, about tactics that are being used right now
by federal law enforcement.
One thing that I have been hearing is, um, an attempt to
offer families, um, food resources
and, and other, um, uh,
other help, um, and handing out flyers,
but the efforts are not real
and its eyes trying to lure people into trying to come get,
uh, food and other resources from them.
Um, do you know anything about that?
And if so, how are you thinking about in this
particular, for the electives?
How are you thinking about, uh, working through
validating organizations that are trying to offer help
to people and Elliot or Uhhuh?
Yeah, I'll jump in. Uh, I, I definitely saw reports of
that, uh, of ICE handing out flyers.
I've heard reports of, um, people coming up
to patrollers on watch at school,
pick up introducing themselves
as a concerned parent who's a part of Indivisible, wanting
to know how to get involved,
but people not recognizing that person.
Um, and I think, you know, at the beginning of this,
we had a lot of open group chats
where we were trying to welcome in as many people
as possible to help with
observing and patrolling.
Uh, where we've shifted to now is it's definitely, uh,
a more vetted process.
I think especially as elected people who already have a lot
of connections into our community, people are looking to us
to help with some of that vetting.
Um, going through the schools has been really helpful,
especially the, the, the parent network that,
you know, for the schools.
So not officially the school,
but some of the parent networks that already existed.
Uh, they are doing things like trying
to establish a buddy system so that there's no one database
of vulnerable family so that people can volunteer to,
uh, be the point person for a given family,
and then create a little bit of separation.
And so I think making sure,
and I think this is what's so important for other cities
that are not in active Siege, is starting
to build those networks of trust right now, so that when
you are next on the list, you've already have some of
that vetting already happening.
Thank you for that. Anybody else from Minnesota wants
to add to?
Um, I just wanna add one thing, um,
in particular about the,
and I know of one, you know, suspected flyer incident.
And then I think, think Council member Payne the, you know,
the, um, pickup incident that you're referring to.
You know, there may be other flyer incidents.
I will say the one that, um, kind of went
around the chats last week, um, my team did dig into
and we verified it was not in fact a flyer
being created by ice.
And so, and we've been really clear in saying that, that,
um, that doesn't mean that
that couldn't be a tactic that's used.
And so what feels really important is like having those,
um, processes to like really verify information.
We wanna be realistic about what we're dealing with, um,
but also, um, and know that tactics can evolve and change,
and that we need to be prepared
and also make sure that we're sharing verified information
and that we follow the thread to track down
what actually happened.
Um, and the other thing I, yeah, I really agree
with Council Member Payne, um,
what you've shared about like,
building those networks and the relationships.
And I think that's the other reason that
what you're seeing here on the ground in Minneapolis
is hyperlocal.
Like, it's not a Minneapolis public
schools district ride effort.
We're like in, within our school sites,
because that allows a better context for
that relationship building vetting,
and then also for an assessing of like what folks need
and what folks can offer.
And, and so I think that's just a really important,
the hyper-local is a really important lesson.
And we often, I mean,
almost every day I'm having a conversation, we're like,
but if we could make it a bigger structure,
and it's like, that's actually not always the
right choice in these moments.
I would also, yeah. I'll Double down.
Oh, just really quick.
Um, there's been a, uh, a really meaningful separation
of people who are doing, uh, active patrols and observing,
and people doing mutual aid so that your license plate as a,
as a patroller, it's getting, it's getting recorded by ice.
And so we want to make sure
that there isn't any cross-contamination of vehicles used
for patrol being used for pickup or for delivering food.
We wanna make sure that the folks
that are doing mutual aid are not getting caught up in the
dragnet of their, their surveillance system
that is expanding.
Uh, vice President. Kim, did you want to add something?
Um, that was exactly what I was going to add.
Oh, thank you, council president.
That was actually super helpful.
Um, uh, we also have a question about how are
you addressing, if you're comfortable sharing
with us the door to door rates that are happening right now?
Are there, is there any wisdom that you can share
with us about how you are addressing or,
or, um, supporting people during those times?
I mean, again, for us, it's just making sure
that folks understand what their rights are, right?
Um, so if an agent comes to the door, right?
What are something that you can put up on the inside
of your home to walk you through what your rights are,
what questions they can ask agents, um,
and also post something on the outside of the door to say,
if you cannot prove that you have a judicial warrant,
we will not be responding to this,
responding to at the door.
Um, and it's very, very scary, right?
There are threatening folks
through the door like, oh, we'll come back.
We know you're there. We'll take your whole family.
Um, and so that's why knowing how to utilize your rights
and enacting them when you need to is super important.
So for us, it's informing and educating folks,
but also providing resources.
So it's, it's literally on the backside of the door.
They can read it off as a script if they need to.
And we have that in multiple languages.
And, and I hate to say this,
but there are even networks
of safe houses getting set up right now, which
feels like very much a Nazi response.
But this is the real, this is the reality that we're under
as people are offering up.
And, and, and Minnesota has a pretty robust cabin culture.
So there's actually a lot of people who have cabins outside
of the city that are like offering up their cabin
for families that might be at risk.
And then the other thing I would say is that, um, we,
we've had some
of these networks established going
all the way back into the summer.
We started seeing sporadic, um,
abductions all last year.
Uh, it really started to ramp up in December,
but even then it was kind of a smaller group of people.
And then when Brene Good was killed, I mean, we, the, the,
the number of people volunteering has grown exponentially.
And so I think having that saturation, uh, of coverage
of patrols, whether that's mobile patrols
or, um, you know, foot patrols, uh, when it comes
to these door to door activities, it, we show up in mass
whenever we see any agent step out of a vehicle
for any reason, whether that's a door to door
or them harassing somebody at a bus stop.
And so I think that, you know,
what I would encourage is saying, look to Minneapolis
as your emergency.
Don't wait for the emergency to be something
that happens in your city.
Start getting to a point of saturation
before it's too late, so that if there is a door to door,
I mean, we will have 30, 50 people showing up.
And I think to that point, the vetting happens
so much earlier than when you want it
to happen versus when you need it to happen.
So heaven forbid you get 50 of your neighbors
that are like hyperlocal to Amanda's point, like, that is,
that is why a lot of this works.
And that's a lot of reason why these, these chats are vetted
because it is your next door neighbor
that you are volunteering with.
But set them up now and heaven forbid meet your neighbor,
but then you know who has been here from the start.
And that vetting doesn't happen when you need it to,
but has happens when you want it to.
So that pre-investment of that infrastructure
and relational infrastructure is super important.
Mike, is your question to the people from Minnesota.
Okay. Do you wanna go ahead then? We'll do
That. Yes. I have other comments
too.
Yeah, go ahead. Okay. Alright.
Um, thank you Madam Chair.
Um, you know, I want to thank you
for hosting this because I think
history, um, will be judging the moment
history will be judging how this country
post this fascist state that we're in now,
authoritarian state, at the very least, um,
history will judge us on how we hold those accountable
who are committing these acts of crime.
These murders, this terror in our great country
history will judge us as well on whether
we create justice in the next administration,
um, and those who are perpetrating these crimes.
I think that's why rapid response is so very crucial.
I thank you every day, all of you, for all the work
that you do, um, really all the work that we do.
'cause I know all of those who are here
are on the doors as well.
And I think it's critical that we're on the doors,
and I'm glad our friends in Minneapolis spoke
to this in seconds
because we need to record these crimes.
We need to make sure, for posterity's sake, for the future
that we are documenting what's happening.
It's a best practice post fascist regime
regimes across the world.
Um, it is a best practice
to hold those perpetrators accountable.
And I hope one day we have rooms like this full, um,
with tribunals
and prosecutions holding individuals accountable
for these great travesties that are occurring
in Minneapolis, that have occurred in Chicago.
And again, that's why I think it's so critical
that these networks are established,
that they're getting more sophisticated,
that they're getting more coordinated
and more precise in the work that we're doing.
I want to thank the folks in my neck
of the woods in the 22nd Ward
and in Lata, who also are working in tandem with, uh, y'all,
with y'all in Minnesota.
So I first just wanted to give
that context and that, thanks.
Um, the question is to, uh, my colleagues in,
in Minneapolis in Minnesota.
I'll be there in July, looking forward
to potentially connecting with you guys,
but to council President Payne
and to vice, uh, forgive me if I get the wrong, wrong title.
Vice President Kim, uh, to Amanda or Ro.
Um, I'm curious about, uh, two questions I have for you.
One is later today here in city council,
we'll be considering, um, who has jurisdiction,
what entity has jurisdiction over holding any violations
of our welcoming city ordinance, um, um,
those government officials, our local police district, if,
if any, violations, what will be the transparent way
and what will be the process in which we, uh,
hold those entities accountable?
I'm curious your experience with local police
and their engagement with ICE officers
and whether, uh, you have any kind of judgment
or assessments about how that relationship is playing out,
uh, in your great city.
Um, given
that we're gonna have this conversation later today in this
same very hall, and I have one more question
after that, and then I'm done.
Uh, I, I can jump in.
Uh, and just just to give some context, uh,
before the murder of George Floyd, our police department was
about 800.
Uh, it is now hovering around 600
and we have 3000 ice
and CBP agents here.
So just to give you a scale of
what our enforcement capacity is, and that's even
before we get into, um, the commitment to mission,
the commitment to our separation ordinance, the individual,
you know, judgment of officers,
let alone the individual judgment of our mayor
who oversees our police department.
So before we even, you know, litigate that, just
to give you a scale of, you know, if we see an ice agent
parked at one of our, our, our facilities staging,
our capacity to even confront them
is extraordinarily limited.
Um, and then also by way of background, we look
to Chicago's leadership in Mayor Johnson.
And our mayor passed an executive order to also ban the use
of city owned property for staging.
And then as a result of an ice raid for us
that happened this summer, we actually strengthened our
separation ordinance and codified
that ban in our separation ordinance
that they can't use our city owned facilities,
uh, for staging.
So we have those ordinances on our books,
but that's a, there's a huge gap between having
that ordinance on the books
and our capacity to enforce that ordinance,
let alone the willingness of individual police officers
to enforce that ordinance.
And so, I, I just wanted to share all that just to,
to share the reality of it.
Um, I feel, you know, I, I, my, our,
our political spectrum is one in which me
and the mayor are not always seeing
eye to eye on the issues.
But on this one, there's, there's alignment at least on
what our stated principles are in terms of this.
But it, you know, this isn't just a conversation I'm having
with the, the mayor.
It's, it's a conversation at the state level as well of,
you know, what is the mission of our,
our national guard when, when they're getting activated,
are they here to protect property
or are they here to protect the citizens of Minnesota
from the federal government?
And it, it, it, it elevates to a question
of something that's terrifying
and profound of state forces
of violence against state forces of violence.
We don't want to come to that,
but it is the question that's on the back
of our mind at all times of what would it really mean
to enforce our laws
In.
Okay. And then just, uh, one other question.
You know, um, my district, um,
my community in which I've lived my whole life, um,
we have a major business district, 26th Street,
we call it the capital of the Mexican Midwest, um,
where we get patrons from all over, um,
our great country, uh,
but certainly all over the Midwest going to our, you know,
quinceanera shops, uh, our amazing restaurants, um,
many of which are owned and operated by immigrants
or the children of immigrants.
The staff are immigrants, largely.
I believe that this is, this, this,
this ice engagement is real coordinated strategy to not just
deport people, kidnap people,
but it's also an effort to impact the quality of life
of all of our residents.
I'm curious what the impacts you see downstream are on
business, on employment in your major,
um, business districts, if you articulated that as of yet,
if you have data on that as of yet.
I know I was constantly asked by national,
international reporters about those data points,
and we're still looking at them.
I'm just curious if you've got, if you all have,
have looked at this critically.
I, I can give anecdotes on the ground.
Uh, a number of the immigrant owned businesses across my,
my, uh, commercial corridor
and my ward have either temporary closed
or indefinitely closed.
Uh, some of 'em have reopened, uh,
with a limited capacity doing takeout,
only keeping the front doors locked.
We've had volunteers, just neighbors showing up
to do prep cooking for some of these kitchens to,
to watch the doors for some of these kitchens.
Um, and you know, like I said, one of our, uh,
Mexican restaurants just closed indefinitely
'cause they couldn't guarantee the safety of their workers
or of their patrons.
And so, uh, I think that that's a really critical question
that I'm actually gonna take with me to make sure that
we're not just relying on these anecdotes.
'cause I think we're gonna have to find out
what this overall impact is gonna be.
We actually have a Federal Reserve bank here in Minneapolis,
and that's gonna be something I'm actually gonna start
conversations around to say,
how can we quantify this impact?
Because it's been profound just in my ward,
and it has to be profound across our entire metro.
Yeah, there are multiple businesses in my ward
that are a threat of closure right now,
and not temporarily, like indefinitely.
And so honestly, some of the asks I'm even making,
and they're ones that we are running, um, groceries out of.
So community members have stepped up
and they're running groceries out of,
so the grocery store side of these restaurants.
And, um, the nice thing about that is that there's a 3D tour
that folks can actually go
and order their groceries,
what they normally would versus just kind
of like you're given what you get.
Um, so there's like a dignity that's involved with this.
And I'm honestly telling folks just to donate, donate money
to the store, because as more stores close
and grocery stores, you know, have varying hours,
now the ones that stay open have even more
of a greater burden to carry, um, sort of the gaps in
that food network and food system.
And so, yeah, honestly, we're giving workers,
uh, rides to work.
We're, um, sta like doing, um, stationary patrols outside
and, you know, helping be the person
that stands in the front to unlock the door
and let customers in and out.
Um, but truthfully, like there is a great need of mutual aid
and business support right now just to keep them open.
And again, they're a huge part
of our worker ecosystem as well.
They're, they're keeping people employed right now.
And so if they close, um, there's going to be, yeah,
incredible economic, um, impacts from this.
And, um, every single day I hear of folks
that are on the cusp of closure
because the risk is, is too high.
Um, one thing I want to add just really quickly
to the last question is we've learned a lot
from all of you as well.
And so it's just the shared knowledge really helped us
stand up the things that we needed.
But one thing that I'm offering
to folks is our attorney general stood up an online portal
that you can submit the documents, the videos
and like, um, testimony around ice activity.
And I think that's really important if that's something
that your attorney general would be willing to do
or even your city attorney would be willing to do.
But we need somewhere to centralized
to collect that information.
So I don't know if you're already doing that or not,
but that's something that, um, has just been really,
really important for folks to take note of.
And the last thought on it is, you know, we're
constitutional observers, can o only get
better and better and better?
And one of the things that we really need folks
to do is concentrate on an agent and follow them
and their, um, activity
or have a whole like, view of the scene.
And that really helps us sort of con tie
that activity to specific people.
Um, and that was actually something
that I think was on a call that I had
with some folks from Chicago.
And, um, just personally, I've had a chance to work
with Senator Graciela on a very, um,
I don't know how to describe it.
A very intense and important, um, partnership for a family.
And you have a really tremendous senator, uh,
there in Chicago.
So she has been just an incredible tie in terms
of helping families connect with, um, consulates
that ever in Chicago that we,
we do not have in here Minnesota.
So making sure that folks are connected to, to even like all
of you and your connections to the resources
that families need, um,
is just incredibly important right now as well.
Well, um, I'll just finish with this, uh, for,
and forgive the, the, the moment of levity.
Um, but you know, I I want to send you all solidarity
and that solidarity is with you 99% of the time
because we are the new kings of the North, uh,
Caleb Williams, Chicago Bears making it happen.
Uh, outside of that,
however, I wanna say 99.9% of the, of, of my heart,
my energy is with you.
Look what you all have been
through over the last weeks and months.
It's just, it's, it's, it's not right.
Um, it's what we've experienced here in the city of Chicago.
We expect it to come back.
We know at this moment
there may be a wind down there in Minneapolis, uh,
but who knows if they're ever coming back.
And I just want to say from the bottom of my heart,
I thank you for all of your work.
We are brothers and sisters in this fight,
and I thank you for being on the front lines
and you know, I know we're gonna be on the front
lines as well together.
Um, and thank you for what you've taught us.
Thank you for sharing that we've potentially shared as well.
Um, but I do think we're stronger together.
So thank you for your efforts. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you so much.
Um, alderman Rodriguez, I believe
that we have Congresswoman de Ramirez joining us now,
and we would love to bring her online
to talk a little bit about
what she has been doing at the federal level, uh,
Congresswoman Ramirez.
Are you with us?
Do you see a noami trying to come in? Yes.
Congresswoman Ramirez, are you here with us?
Yes. Can you hear me? Yes.
Thank you so much for being here with us, uh,
Congresswoman Ramirez.
Um, we want to thank you for all the work
that you have been doing in DC
and everywhere, um, to protect us and, and to fight.
Um, we have spent, um,
about two hours already talking about
what is happening in Minneapolis
and how they are fighting back and how we are resisting
and how we're learning from each other.
And we wanted to bring you in to talk a little bit about
what you have been doing at the federal level
and what we can expect to see, um,
and any other remarks that you wanna share with us.
Thank you so much, chairwoman Rodriguez Sanchez.
And I also wanna thank the Committee on Health
and Human Relations for allowing me to testify today
on such an important topic.
I'm sure, um, these last two hours have been, um,
bone chilling in many ways as we talk about what's happening
around the country and the impact
that it has on our constituents every day.
As you mentioned, I'm Congresswoman Delia Catalina Ramirez,
and I represent Illinois Third Congressional District, uh,
that makes up a lot of the northwest part of the city
of Chicago, Humbold Park, Albany Park, Avondale, Belmont,
Craig Portage Park, Dunning,
and many other communities, as well
as the Northwestern suburbs.
I also serve on the Committee
of Homeland Security in Congress.
I'm the only member from the Illinois delegation
that serves in the Committee of Oversight.
Um, and that has the jurisdiction, um,
and oversight for so much of
what you're seeing happening across the country where
for more than a year, I've been conducting oversight
of the administration's use of DHS
to really just violate our civil rights.
And I wanna be clear today, um, as I'm talking to all
of you here in committee, in this precise moment,
the Department of Homeland Security
is in fact the biggest threat
to our collective safety funding.
It only fuels our own destruction
and the human suffering that you are seeing across the city
of Chicago in your respective wards.
As a Chicagoan, I know the tear that DHS is inflicting
with its unlimited resources and unchecked power.
We have seen it, uh, in our own neighborhoods.
I just did a press conference with a number
of organizations, um, talking about the impact
that this is having, whether it is an organization providing
shelter, providing childcare, providing resources
and social work in our schools,
or even providing youth employment and counseling.
You see, for more than a year,
our communities have witnessed the abductions,
the kidnappings, the militarization of our cities,
the murdering of our neighbors, the persecution of descent,
and the rise of fascism in our nation.
All fast facilitated
and funded by DHS immigration enforcement.
And as you know, we've been surveilled,
we've been threatened, we've been teargassed,
we've been shot subjected to warrantless arrests, rammed
with vehicles, kidnapped and disappeared.
Yet there are those in Congress
who would still expand the Department
of Homeland Securities budget
as if the 150 billion they already had wasn't enough
and ISIS capacity to enact this mass deportation agenda
that further hurts our communities.
And let me tell you, as they balloon the funding
that endangers our communities,
the Trump administration is threatening to steal $1 billion.
Let me say it again, $1 billion in federal funding from our
state's Childcare and social services.
That's the funding that our communities rely on, that
so many of our older people here are getting calls
about every single day.
Their actions are an assault on communities
that dare to dissent.
And they're really a roadmap not to thriving communities,
but to poverty, to scarcity, to sickness,
and to the toxicity that you're seeing around the country.
It's a roadmap that has delivered more than
32 deaths in detention.
Is, is deadliest year yet, as a matter of fact, uh,
for those of you that don't have the numbers of comparison,
that is three times the number we saw in 2024.
In 2025, US citizens in our neighborhoods being shot
and killed, all while campaign donors profit off the pain
of our neighbors, including our children.
As you are seeing so many of our children in detention,
thousands of them actually sitting in Louisiana
and Texas as we speak.
And why this hearing is so important is
because what we're hearing across the country,
our own constituents at protests, even on these coldest days
as we saw on Sunday, is that people are saying enough,
it's actually why I just recently, less than a week ago,
introduced a bill called Melt Ice Act.
What this bill would do is end immigration detention
and the monitoring you are seeing from ICE
and CVP, it would also disrupt DHL's
immigration enforcement.
I wanna remind people ICE was created after nine 11 in 2003,
and it would actually return the taxpayer dollars,
the billions of dollars
that you have seen robbed from our communities back
to the communities that have been most impacted
by the terrorism that you see from ICE
and CBP across our cities.
The Melt Ice Act doesn't just take away funds from DHS
and ice, it actually redirects funding towards wraparound
services, including housing,
healthcare, and community safety.
As I mentioned to you, especially those communities impacted
by immigration enforcement.
And look, let me wrap up in saying this to you. I'm clear.
Our tax dollars cannot be used
to terrorize our communities and violate our rights.
The Melt Ice Act is a line in the sand,
and it's also a declaration
that we cannot feel human suffering.
While say that we hear the pain
and we see the pain of our constituents, we have
to use every single to our disposal.
And that includes the power of the purse
to protect our communities from the campaign of terror,
death and destruction
that this administration has unleashed on Chicago
and every single community around the country.
I wanna add that I found it important to remind myself
that Department of Homeland Security did not always exist.
As I mentioned to you before, it is not inevitable.
Its existence does not stretch back to the founding
of our nation as some people would like to tell you.
In fact, as I mentioned
to you just a moment ago, it's lifetime.
It's 22 years. And so I'll end with saying this.
We brought the Department
of Homeland Security into this world.
We could redirect FEMA, TSA
and cybersecurity into other agencies
and build a world that is about healthy,
thriving communities and a world without DHS.
So how do we start? We start, we start by melting ice.
But that I wanna yield back to the committee.
And again, um, elder woman, thank you so much for having me,
uh, testify today in committee.
Thank you so much, Congresswoman Ramirez.
Um, thank you for being with us. Thank you for your work.
Um, thank you for giving us so much hope in this moment.
Um, I'm going to go to Alderman Anton Casada
that has had his hand raised for an hour.
Um, alderman Casada, are you there?
I sure am. Thank you, chairwoman. Go ahead.
Um, and thank you to members of the committee
and our our guests, um,
and to our congresswoman
who just gave extremely powerful words.
Um, that's the kind of leadership
that we need in the federal government.
And I wanna thank her for her moral clarity
and courage, uh, in calling for huge systemic reform, um,
in our nation's government.
I first want to begin by expressing very deep
and emotional solidarity to the people of Minneapolis
and to our representatives who are here today.
I'm emotional even just speaking now, um, the murders
of Renee Goode and Alex Prety, um, have been, uh,
hugely impactful to the soul of our nation
and to the members of, of our council.
Um, I cannot express enough, um, solidarity
and, um, mourning to your communities
that have been impacted by this reckless
and senseless enforcement, uh, by the federal government.
Um, so I I want to first begin by saying that, um, secondly,
as you heard from our rapid response,
are courageous rapid response leaders
here in the city of Chicago.
Um, we are doing everything that we can here in our city.
Um, but in light of recent events, um, in Minneapolis,
I wanted to highlight that, um,
our northwest side rapid response mutual aid group will be,
um, providing, uh,
and is collecting resources right now from our city
to deliver to your city.
And I will, I will ask, um, uh, our, my colleague, uh,
Sandra Puebla to elaborate a little bit more about
that coordination effort.
Um, and then thirdly, I also wanna, um, highlight, um,
you know, at the, at the very beginning of, uh,
this new Trump administration, second Trump administration
and their, uh, you know, initiation
of this mass deportation program, um, there were members
of our council that claimed inaccurately
and very naively
that the federal government was only gonna be targeting
people with criminal records.
And it is shameful
that they spread those lies in our community
and across our city because it is very apparent that
that is not the goal of this federal administration.
The federal administration is engaging in an ethnic
cleansing program to eliminate people
of color from our communities.
And they're indiscriminately going
after people warrant without warrants
and with deadly force, that is what is happening.
That is the historic precedent
that this administration is waging against our city.
And that is why, and, and against our nation.
And that is why we must act in a united front across our
nation to not only abolish ice,
but to make sure that we prosecute the leaders
and the agents responsible for these crimes against humanity
and the civil rights abuses that have been conducted.
So we must be firm, we must be clear,
and we must be unwavering in that mission in,
in the years ahead to protect our, our members
and our community, but fundamentally
transform our nation in the future
and hold these people accountable
and ensure that this never happens again
in the history of our nation.
So, um, my first question, I, I wanted to ask about the kind
of contradictions that, you know, we are seeing
between the interactions between local law enforcement
and federal law enforcement.
But my colleague, uh, alderman,
Mike Rodriguez spoke to that.
And I, I think, and for raising up that question,
I think another like secondary question that I have is,
I know that the Minneapolis City Council recently passed,
uh, the eviction moratorium resolution calling on Governor
Tim Walls to enact an eviction moratorium.
That is something that we are also seeking
to do here in the city of Chicago.
A number of my colleagues and I have spoken about this.
I would like to ask the members
of the Minneapolis City Council as to the thrust of
that resolution, uh, how it came about,
and, uh, you know, what, why you are calling for that.
Um, so, uh, council, uh, president Payne, uh, left
'cause he had another commitment.
Um, we have, um, vice, um,
president Kim from St.
Paul, and I don't know if she has any, um, details on that.
Um, council vice President Kim.
Yeah. Um, I led the resolution in St. Paul.
Um, essentially it's urging Governor Walls to call a state
of emergency so we can have an eviction moratorium just like
we did during the pandemic with folks not going to work
and their inability to pay, um, pay rent.
It's, you know, the last thing we need is a housing
crisis on our hands as well.
Um, and I'm very happy to, uh, send you the language.
It's the same as Minneapolis.
So, um, but the, the urgency
and responsiveness is to avoid an eviction crisis
and families completely being destabilized
because of their inability to go to work
and pay, pay for housing.
Um, we also included businesses as well
for the same reasons, as I mentioned earlier, is
that they're ecosystems of our workforce.
So when, when these, um, businesses go down, um,
their impact is directly on, um, immigrant families.
Fantastic. Thank you so much.
And yes, if you can please send, uh, that information
through the chair so that my colleagues
and I can review that and hopefully introduce our own
version as well shortly.
Derman, can we, um, can we allow now Sandra Puebla
to speak a little bit about your first question?
Sure, yeah. Okay.
Thank you. Um, so as an act of solidarity,
the Northwest side rapid response team, uh, is sending, um,
our wonderful state senator to, um, Minnesota.
And we will be collecting, uh, supplies, uh, today
and tomorrow to send over, um, to
the people on the ground, um, over there.
And so, uh, we have a few drop off sites, um,
and I again, want to thank our partners on the local level
for opening up their offices.
Uh, I made this ask at 10:00 PM last night
and I got these answers immediately.
So, uh, thank you.
State Senator Guzman, thank you, alderman Ada, uh,
Al Woman Rosana Rodriguez Sanchez,
and of course, um, Alder Woman, Ruth Cruz, um,
and other person Jesse Fuentes for saying yes, um,
for a last minute request.
And so, uh, these offices will be accepting, um,
mainly medical supplies, uh, to send over
to people in Minnesota.
And so, um, between today
and tomorrow, uh, some offices are open until five
and some will be extending their hours until eight, uh,
in order to receive, uh, the supplies, uh, to send over to
Minnesota, um, in hopes
that we can continue our partnership and our solidarity.
Thank you guys.
Ada, do you have any other questions now?
Yes. Sorry,
I started choking my, I was, uh, eating a snack.
I'm Gonna, you can call on Sandra,
so I was like, I took a little break.
Um, can you, my second question is for, pardon me.
I I, I have another question, otherwise.
Yeah. Okay. So one more question
and then I'm gonna go to elder woman Fuentes.
Uh, 'cause we are running a little behind now.
Sure. My last question is just, um,
regarding the coordination, the power and the impact
and the inspiration of the general strike
that took place in Minnesota.
Um, and so far, I guess in Minnesota, if you can speak to
that and, uh, kind of like what is the continued trajectory
of that movement and how we can, you know, adapt that
to other communities across the United States.
Am I the only one here from Minnesota right now? Yes.
Okay. Sorry. Thank you for saying No, that's okay.
Can you just repeat the first part of the question?
I heard, I heard the second part.
Yeah. If, if, um, you know, I know that you know the,
you know, uh, if you can speak to how the call
for the general strike was made, how it was coordinated, uh,
and kind of like what was the participation of the public,
um, you know, in, in that effort.
Um, you know, there's, there's things that you can always,
you can always see on the news,
but I think hearing it from, uh,
a leader like yourself would be really important context
for us here in Chicago.
Yeah. So we have, um,
an organized table called the Democracy Defense Table,
and they are doing sort
of nonviolent direct action trainings,
and they also are pulling together sort
of nonprofits and labor leaders.
And so it was, um, a very mass task.
Everyone had the same ask, right? Very detailed.
Um, and we had Marshalls, um, we had, you know,
incredible logistics.
I don't know if you all knew this,
but it was like negative 26 with like without wind,
with windchill in Minnesota
when the general strike happened.
And we still had like tens and tens
and tens of thousands of people,
but we had to open up, um, one of our arenas,
like one of our sports complex.
Um, so it was safe for folks to participate
and had a warming center at the end.
Um, but the coordination was done through sort of the,
this democracy defense table.
They had even a mini sort of coordinating off group of that
that only focused on the general strike.
And we actually have, um, like East African and Somali
and I think, um, black student associations here in
Minnesota that are now calling for a
nationwide strike on Friday.
Um, and so, you know, trying to lift that up to best,
to the best of our abilities.
Um, and there is a march connected to it,
but I'm sure just like all of you do when you, you know,
take the streets, you need marshals, you need safety people,
you need sort of a coordinating committee
and certainly communication between everyone when,
when it's all happening.
Um, we have an incredible marshaling program here in
Minnesota, our Women's March
and, uh, twin cities invisible, um, are the ones that offer
that service quite often.
Um, and so, um, yeah, we did it through, through sort
of a subset coordinating group of something
that we're calling the Democracy defense table.
Thank
You.
Thank you Alderman Casada
and thank you, um, council Vice President Kim for staying
with us and answering questions.
I'm going to pass it now to other woman Ententes.
Yeah. Thank you so much.
Uh, council, vice president,
before you head out, I'm sure you're very busy.
I, I do have a question that I believe that you can answer.
Um, um, I, I wanted to understand the roles
of your emergency management agencies
and how they help sort
of coordinate city resources in this moment.
Um, I know that there is possibly an executive order sort
of established, but can you just talk
to us a little bit about the role
of your emergency management agencies in this moment?
Yeah, so ours sort of fit within very clear parameters
and it's usually done through coordinating our, you know,
EMS fire police, um, state entities.
And so we, I don't know if this is the same for every city,
but we actually have a space where they all go together
to meet, and we call it the emergency operating Center.
And that person's primary function is to sort
of coordinate all of the entities open lines
of communication and help sort
of coordinate how we work together.
Ours is not like enacted or active right now.
That's not saying there isn't a
possibility of that happening.
Um, but even when folks take the streets, that
that depending on the size and scale may
or may not sort of activate that space.
But for the large like focus,
it's much more coordinating all of the multi entities
that have to engage much more than sort
of being the directive, if that makes sense.
Um, and yeah,
we have a pretty small staff there as well.
I think there's maybe four or five folks
and some of those dollars are being, uh, funded
through the UI grant, um, which we don't want
to be relying on anymore.
So just as a side note, you know, for those positions
that feel relative
and are impacted, you know,
finding general operating money for them is important.
But yeah, I was just much more a coordinating entity than a
directive entity is sad answer to the question.
Yeah. Thank you. And then, uh, another question.
We, we've seen, uh, through many videos
that have circulated nationally, sort of the rejection
of EMTs to provide aid, uh, to individuals that had been,
uh, shot by Border Patrol in ice.
What are legislative sort
of directions you are thinking about as it is concerned
to making sure that we can get medical attention
and AIDS individuals that are harmed by federal agents?
Yeah, I mean, I think this is, you know, sort
of connected, dare we say,
to even a separation ordinance, right?
If we say no public safety officials get to engage
with ICE at all, you know, does
that actually include our EMS?
So the City of St. Paul runs their own EMS program here.
Um, and I don't want that to happen.
We had an incident on Rose Street, which is like,
just like three houses over the line from my ward,
where ICE was absolutely denying medical attention.
And I had to get the chief of fire
to just physically go down there and yell at them
and say, you are denying this person medical care.
So I think, you know, how you coach them
and kind of talk through
what those processes look like is
really important right now.
And then additionally, just as a side note, unfortunately,
we've had incidences
where ICE agents are literally pulling people out
of hospital beds at HCMC
and at Regions Hospital, the, um, kind
of trauma center here in St.
Paul, um, they denied access to the direct family member.
Once that person, um, arrived by ambulance
and was detained by ice,
we were seeing them shackled to the bed.
And when family members attempt to gain access, they're told
that you have to speak to ICE to get any medical updates.
So even thinking as we think about the care
of those patients as they move from EMS
to transport into like emergency setting, you know, work
with the hospitals, talk about their policies, um, it went
so far as the woman whose husband
unfortunately had a heart attack.
He is alive. He had a heart attack while he was being
detained, um,
and they refused that he was even a, a, a patient of theirs.
Um, and then later they threatened to charge her
with trespassing.
So an already impacted family that is trying to gain access
as if it is any other person,
if immigration is a civil matter.
So please do work with your hospitals.
There are really amazing state legislators
that are working on this issue
for more proactive policies to push.
But this is also why even nursing staff, if you work
with the unions, like nurses need also need
to understand the rights of their patients.
And so it's like you have a right to ask for a social worker
that actually hopefully separates them from the ICE agent,
but right now we're seeing that they're just like breaking
HIPAA laws and are standing while someone's getting medical
attention and sharing medical information.
But usually if you ask
for a social worker that'll separate you
and you can ask for a lawyer.
So even nurses need to understand the immigration rights
of their parents when they come in.
So, um, think about
how your separation ordinance might impact sort
of your ability to, to deploy even your, um,
first responders and the ones
that are ambulance and medic related.
Think about, you know, then the continuation of that care
and into the hospital settings as well.
Yeah. Thank you. That's, that's extremely helpful.
Um, and, and one last piece before I I let you go.
You, you've been so informative and helpful.
I'm in Alderman Rodriguez alluded
to it earlier in his comments.
I'm introducing an amendment to our COPA ordinance, our, uh,
civilian office of police accountability to ensure that
copa, the office itself has jurisdiction
to investigate any violations
of our welcoming city ordinance that may be, um, conducted
by our local police department in your jurisdiction
and your municipality who sort
of oversees those investigations, who has jurisdiction.
And about how many sort of violations have you all heard,
uh, as a city as it relates to local police, uh,
participating or cooperating with federal agents?
We, um, to my knowledge, thankfully,
haven't received that many.
However, um,
we had an incident very like in my ward
where we were responded.
And, um, that was sort of one
of the first big clashes in St.
Paul. And unfortunately, we saw our St.
Paul police tear gas pepper spray
and shooting on lethal indiscriminately, um, into the crowd.
Um, myself was hit by all of those.
The person standing next to me was hit by all of them.
And so, you know, I believe I, I witnessed a clear violation
of that separation ordinance.
And so we had a public hearing.
Folks are filing things with our PC arc board,
which sounds like it's similar to yours.
We don't have the ability, we only have the ability
to make recommendations to the chief,
but ultimately how they are, um, reprimanded
and what that looks like is also like connected
to the police union and their contract.
So right now we wanna give our PC arc a lot more teeth
because the police chief
and the union, their positionality is gonna be
potentially very different than ours.
Right. And then we also have complaints going
to the post board as well.
And that's why I said earlier,
it's really important when observers show up that they,
you know, whole scene or watch someone's activity
because you need to connect it with a badge number.
Mm. Um, and I think a lot of people sometimes miss that.
So we admittedly don't have as many teeth as we want to,
however, we have a public safety committee of the council,
and I know that is one of the things
that the chair is going to be taking on.
And we are absolutely actively, um,
collecting complaints right now for the row street incident.
Thank you. Uh, vice President Kim
and I cannot express enough just how grateful we are
for the local leadership
that we see both in Minneapolis and St.
Paul. Uh, there's so much
that we've learned in this hearing,
and I think there's also so much that we are learning, um,
from how you are navigating such a traumatic, uh, series
of events and know that Chicago stands in solidarity, um,
both as legislators and as organizers.
So thank you for being in the hearing today.
I have one more question, Cheryl, if you would, uh, permit,
uh, ed, I'm interested in, in your take both on
what we're witnessing in, uh, Minnesota in terms
of the denials of healthcare, medical attention
to individuals that are being harmed by federal agencies,
and the both the state sort of, uh, pathway
and the city pathway that you see
and how we can course correct, uh,
particularly here in the state of Illinois, uh, with,
you know, some of, I think the proactive preparation we're
trying to take and what we believe will be a return
of border patrol and ICE to the city of Chicago.
Yeah. Thank you for that, that question.
I think a couple of things that stand out.
Number one, the denial of healthcare, the denial
of treatment to people who've been injured in these
shootings is number one, clearly a violation
of the regulations that, uh, exist for ice.
And for CPB, I think, you know, one of the problems
that exist, one of the problems that exist in that area is,
is that those regulations, of course, are just enforced
by the administration and they're adopted by the agencies.
I, you know, it's not something we would've ever thought of
before, but writing that into
a statute at the federal level would, would be something
that would be incredibly important as we move forward.
Um, you know, we have those statutes about rendering aid.
Uh, you know, some of that was part of the safety act
that the, in, at the state level in terms of rendering aid,
in terms of reporting abuses by other officers, I think we,
there, there are ways we have to look to kind of actually
activate that at the state and the local level.
Uh, as, as we move forward.
I think it's one of the things for folks to think about,
you know, in this period, again, if we see this as an ebb
before, um, you know, we have another siege return.
Thank you. Um,
and then, you know, finally, Sandra Ani
and Ray, you know, thank you for, for all the work
that you all have done in our city from coordinating rapid
response teams to ensuring that people are safe
to engaging in proper vetting, to being in solidarity
with Sister Cities who are struggling in this moment
and continuing to extend your capacity, uh, so
that we can not only exemplify our values in our,
in being a welcoming city, but just doing the basic.
And that is standing up for human rights.
And so, you know, you deserve much more than the
acknowledgement in being in this box today.
And I am, uh, confident
that one day we will pay the proper acknowledgements, uh,
that all three of you deserve.
And Deputy Mayor Beatriz, I, I can't tell you just
how grateful, uh, I am, not just as an older person,
but as a constituent in a overwhelming Latino ward, um,
and a resident in a city that believes in,
in dignifying all of our residents.
The position that this administration has taken, uh,
in regards to the activity
of federal agents in our city will not be forgotten.
Thank you. Thank you, chairwoman.
Thank you so much. Other woman, Fuentes.
Um, I want to thank everybody
that took time to be here today.
I think that we learn a lot.
I think that we also started an important conversation
with our siblings in Minnesota that will be followed by lots
of more conversations offline, uh, to continue
to learn from each other, to continue to support each other,
to show solidarity with each other.
Um, I am so thankful for all of you in the box.
I'm not gonna keep saying the same thing,
but as if my heart goes out to all of you in, in,
in gratitude, because we need all of us right now.
Before I wrap up, I just want Ed to share a little bit
of information that I asked for at the very beginning, um,
before we started the hearing, I do know that one
of the tools that we have been using in order
to survive this moment, um, is the courts.
And I would appreciate if you could give us some numbers of
how we are doing on that battle, on that, on using that tool
and on those battles. Yeah,
If, you know, one of the things, I think it goes
to the lack of honesty and facts
and information that the administration uses,
is if you look at across the, the range of violations
of civil rights and civil liberties, from free speech cases
to immigration related cases to funding cases
at the district court level, they are losing on an average
of about 75 to 80% of the time,
courts are issuing injunctions, blocking their actions,
keeping them from moving forward, you know, with some
of the grotesque actions that they would like to, you know,
it, that number as we'd know,
has been reduced when it's gone up to some
of the appellate courts that are particularly,
uh, conservative.
And, you know,
the Supreme Court itself has been problematic.
But when you look at courts at the district level
where judges hear testimony, where you think about,
you know, uh, commander Bino actually having
to answer questions under oath,
and then having a judge ruled that he wasn't truthful,
you know, time and again when that they have been subject to
that scrutiny, they simply, their, their talking points
collapse, uh, instantaneously.
And so, you know, the courts have been a vehicle, I think
as we can say for some delay, some distraction.
Um, and, you know,
and some deterring, uh, it's not the long-term answer.
That's all of the things
that we've talked about in this room.
Thank you so much. And, uh,
would there be no further business before committee?
Can I get a motion to adjourn? Gutierrez?
Uh, so moves here. No objections.
So order and the meeting of the Committee on Health
and Human Relations is adjourn.