Durbin Condemns ICE Activity During Halloween Weekend In Chicago
Durbin also highlighted his visit to Little Village on Friday, where he met with high school students who organized a walk out to protest “Operation Midway Blitz”
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, delivered a speech on the Senate floor condemning the Trump Administration’s immigration enforcement actions during Halloween weekend in the Chicagoland area. During his speech, Durbin also reflected on his visit to Little Village on Friday, where he met with high school students who organized a walk out to protest the Administration’s “Operation Midway Blitz.”
Durbin has continuously gone to the Senate floor and made clear that the increased presence and enforcement actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents in Illinois are not about public safety, but instead are part of the President’s political theater.
Durbin said, “I’ve been to a lot of meetings with a lot of so-called experts on this country and its future. I learned more in that hour at that high school with those young women than in many of those other meetings. They knew exactly what they were doing was dangerous… Most of them were in tears when they talked to me about this experience. One of the leaders said, ‘I’m an American. I was born here. I love this country. And I want to be part of it. Look what it’s doing to our families…’ But their [the students’] love [for] their family and their willingness to risk everything for their parents, that’s the reality of life in Chicago and many neighborhoods today.”
“When President Trump announced publicly that he was going to send in the military, if necessary, [and] ICE forces to go through Chicago, he said he was looking ‘for rapists and murderers and terrorists and the criminally insane…’ Of all the people that they arrested and detained, 70 percent of them have no criminal [convictions]. And yet they’re being harassed.”
Durbin condemned the immigration raids happening on Halloween weekend, specifically.
“Governor Pritzker asked for a special favor. He asked ICE agents to take off Halloween night. Spare the kids. Don’t make them worry about whether, when they go out for candy, someone would be arrested. I joined him in the plea… You know what happened? Kristi Norm said by no means, we’re going out… And they did,” Durbin said.
“They are snatching up people right and left. Who are their targets? The Hispanic population… It is a racist effort. It is not about ‘terrorists or murderers and rapists.’ It is about people with an accent, people who look like they’re Hispanic,” Durbin continued.
During his speech, Durbin read a Chicago Tribune article that highlighted some stories about Halloween weekend. According to the Chicago Tribune, a Skokie resident who identifies as a Republican—Morgan Krupinkski— said, “two workers from an American company, The Scottish Plumber, were doing flood control work on his property in the 8300 block of Harding Avenue when federal agents’ vehicles came down the residential street. The agents stopped and demanded documents from both workers, who were able to produce evidence they were U.S. citizens.” Krupinski told the Chicago Tribune, “As someone who believes in the Constitution, for someone to be stopped by federal agents because of the color of their skin and their appearance, and to be asked for papers is completely unimaginable and completely unconstitutional, because where is probable cause?”
Durbin said, “This is not American. This is not necessary. This is intimidation. Intimidation felt by a high school in Little Village in Chicago, an intimidation felt by a suburb north of Chicago which is not usually characterized as Hispanic in nature. But they were going after the workers who were raking the leaves.”
Durbin concluded, “And as I reflect on going back every weekend and seeing further evidence of this travesty, I think the bottom line [is that] there are good stories coming out of this as well. Neighbors who finally gathered together with their neighbors… and [are] stand[ing] up for those who are being harassed by ICE.”
Video of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here.
Audio of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here.
Footage of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here for TV Stations.
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