Chanting "Illinois is not Arizona," local activists escalated their push for immigration reform today by trying to block the deportation of illegal immigrants from a federal detention center in suburban Broadview, the first of what they vowed would be a campaign of civil disobedience.
After briefly blocking a departing van, two dozen protesters were arrested on disorderly conduct charges as part of a movement energized by Arizona's passage last week of the nation's toughest law against illegal immigrants. The law allows police to single out suspected immigrants and demand proof of legal residence.
The new law -- which critics say will lead to racial profiling but proponents defend as a matter of security -- has sparked a revival of the immigration debate. In Washington, President Barack Obama called the measure "misguided" and Senate leaders have moved the issue back to the top of their agenda.
Frustrated that Obama has not acted on a promise to push for reform, activists in Chicago and elsewhere say they are planning acts of disobedience akin to sit-ins at previously scheduled marches around the country on Saturday, including a march past the White House.
In Chicago, thousands of demonstrators are expected to participate in a pro-reform march through the Loop.
"We have to escalate to another level because they have forced us," said Fabian Morales, one of those arrested and a principal organizer of Saturday's march. "We've tried to do this peacefully and have not been given a peaceful solution. We have to look for another level."
Tuesday's arrests in Broadview were planned by activists hoping to rekindle a movement that in 2007 inspired several hundred thousand people to march in the streets, sparking comparisons to the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
By midafternoon, however, the deportation of 67 Mexican nationals went ahead as scheduled, with most of the prisoners deported for criminal violations, said Gail Montenegro, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The agency "respects the fundamental right of individuals to protest. However, despite the recent protests, ICE agents continued their operations as planned," Montenegro said in a statement.
The demonstrators numbered about 100 and included priests, rabbis, labor organizers and relatives of deported immigrants. Twenty-four of them planted themselves on the road, hoping to stop the federal bus that heads twice a week to O'Hare International Airport for scheduled deportation flights.
But the first vehicle to pull out was a Kenosha County van ferrying illegal immigrants to Wisconsin, where they also were likely to face deportation proceedings. After a 15-minute standoff, the van reversed and headed back into the detention center as the crowd cheered and chanted "no deportations today."
The demonstration was more civil than disobedient. The demonstrators, many of whom camped overnight outside the center, were taken into custody one by one without handcuffs about 7:15 a.m. They were taken to the Broadview police station, where they were charged with misdemeanors, processed and promptly released with May 24 court dates.
Holding up photos of people who already have been deported, the protestors called the Arizona law a dangerous precedent likely to foment resentment against Latino immigrants in areas of the country where frustrations over illegal immigration runs high.
"There is now a racial reign of terror spreading across the country and it has to be stopped," said Joshua Hoyt, director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and one of those arrested.
Dan Stein, president of the Washington-based Federation for American Immigration Reform, which supports tougher immigration enforcement, dismissed such talk as disingenuous.
"In the end, this is about lawlessness and security and respect for law," Stein said.
For Broadview police chief Raymond Pelletier, upholding the law Tuesday was a bit uncomfortable. Among the crowd of protesters along the mostly industrial strip of Beach Street that hosts the federal detention center were religious figures and other community leaders.
"I never wanted to arrest a priest," the chief said as an idling police wagon prepared to ferry away the demonstrators.
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/04/protesters-stop-van-of-deportees-headed-for-ohare.html
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