On the first floor of the Cook County Administration Building in the Loop, a colorful altar with portraits and painted skulls lines the hallway, a Mexican tradition known as the Day of the Dead, commemorating deceased loved ones before Halloween.<\/p>\n
Four floors up, community members and congressmen sounded the alarm over the Trump administration\u2019s attack on Chicago\u2019s immigrant community during a \u201cshadow\u201d congressional hearing today.<\/p>\n
A series of shadow hearings, which are unofficial public meetings, have been led by U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, and other congressional Democrats, titled \u201cKidnapped and Disappeared: Trump\u2019s assault on Chicago,\u201d as a platform to voice concern over the Trump administration\u2019s \u201cunlawful and aggressive\u201d immigration enforcement in Chicago.<\/p>\n
Nineteen members of Congress, including local U.S. Reps. Jes\u00fas \u201cChuy\u201d Garc\u00eda and Mike Quigley gathered to hear community testimony and discuss its implications.<\/p>\n
A teenager identified only as Genesis O., whose mother, Laura Murillo, was taken by federal immigration agents while selling tamales, was one of seven witnesses and a focal point of the meeting.<\/p>\n
In a teary-eyed statement, Genesis, 19, described how, after her mother was detained, the responsibility of putting food on the table and taking care of her 16-year-old disabled sister is now on her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m only 19 years old. I\u2019m still a kid who has so much to learn and yet I feel like in the last four weeks, I\u2019ve grown up fast,\u201d she said. The added responsibilities were also affecting her mental and physical health, she said.<\/p>\n
Another witness, Any Huamani, a member of a Southwest Side rapid response network, spoke about how the community is helping families living in fear of ICE with resources such as food delivery. Huamani said her network delivered groceries to about 100 families.<\/p>\n
Huamani expressed concerns over the government\u2019s lack of accountability and transparency, highlighting Border Patrol boss Gregory Bovino\u2019s use of tear gas and aggressive immigration enforcement tactics.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Trump regime is actively used in Chicago as a show for entertainment, while families are being torn apart,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Community members are helping walk children to school in an environment of fear and distrust amid immigration enforcement operations near schools, some testified.<\/p>\n
Juliet De Jesus Alejandre, executive director of the Logan Square Neighborhood Association, another witness at the hearing, said community members were helping pick up and drop off elementary students from about 65 families at one local school.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe amount of trust you need to have in that moment,\u201d Alejandre said. \u201cI can\u2019t even imagine leaving a 7-year-old to go with somebody that you\u2019re hoping will come back. Thankfully, it\u2019s all been safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quigley highlighted the plight of children and young adults who are suddenly left without a caregiver. He recounted walking an 8-year-old girl from a shelter to school because she \u201chas to have someone white walk her to school.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On the first floor of the Cook County Administration Building in the Loop, a colorful altar with portraits…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":126361,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,5386,1818,409,165213,165214,165212],"class_list":{"0":"post-333238","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-illinois","11":"tag-immigration","12":"tag-jesus-chuy-garcia","13":"tag-mike-quigley","14":"tag-shadow-hearing"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115439059902470327","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}