Chicago Quiet As ICE Raids Begin Nationwide

CHICAGO, IL — Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids are underway across the country, including in New York, Maryland and Texas, although enforcement actions in the Chicago remained quiet Sunday.

As of 1:30 p.m., no ICE activity had been reported to the Family Support Network Hotline, a service of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. The hotline helps undocumented immigrants with legal and other issues.

Acting ICE director Matt Albence address those actions early Sunday morning on FoxNews.

"I will say that using the term "raids" does everyone a disservice," he said. "What we are doing is targeting specific individuals who had their day in immigration court and had been ordered to be removed."

Albence said that the people who are targeted are those who came to the country seeking asylum, yet did not complete the process. He said they were given the opportunity to turn themselves in in February, yet only 3 percent of those people did.

He declined to speak about the specifics of the operations underway.

Meanwhile, activists are telling immigrants across the Chicagoland area to know their rights as the region prepared for the raids that began overnight Sunday and will last through the next week.

"We are telling people in our community to know their rights. Teach your children not to open the door. Even if ICE is at your door, you don't have to let them in," said Lorena Varela, executive director of Comunidad En Acción, a Chicago Heights-based nonprofit immigrant rights group.

At least one group of citizen volunteers patrolled Albany Park with the intent to disrupt federal deportation raids, the Sun-Times reported. However, by Sunday afternoon, no action had been taken. There had been unconfirmed reports since Thursday that ICE had been seen in Chicago neighborhoods and surrounding suburbs, including Wicker Park, Chicago Heights and Cicero. Some public schools opted to sending messages to parents to assure them of their children's safety, including this text message from Benito Juarez Community High School in Pilsen:

"Juarez Community A: Familias de la Juarez
Hay actividad de ICE en Chicago. Este mensaje es para informar a todos que proteger a nuestros estudiantes es la maxima prioridad. Por ley, ICE NO tiene derecho de entrar a la Juarez. Haremos todo para impedir que ICE ingrese a las instalaciones de la Juarez. Si necesitan ayuda con inmigracion, por favor de mandar un texto o un mensaje de correo a jcocon@cps.edu. Juarez Families, There is increased ICE activity in Chicago. Protecting our students is our priority. ICE can not enter and will not enter Juarez. Questions? or need assistance with immigration, please contact me."

Thousands of people turned out at Chicago's Daley Plaza late Saturday morning for protests against the large-scale ICE raids in 10 cities across the country, including in the Chicagoland area. This comes after a night of vigils nationwide to protest conditions in U.S. migrant camps.

Municipalities across the region, too, alerted residents about the raids and how local officials would respond to them. This week, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot moved to block ICE officials' access to city police databases and vowed that the city and Chicago Police Department will not cooperate with the sweeps, expected to start Sunday.

Chicago Heights Mayor David Gonzalez issued a statement Friday saying the the city also would not cooperate with ICE agents. "Chicago Heights will continue to stand with our refugees and do not support rounding up immigrant families or separating families simply to play political games," he said.

However, in Oak Lawn, Village Manager Larry Deetjen told Patch that the village "supports the U.S. Constitution and all sworn law enforcement officers," adding, "We work with all levels of government to keep our citizens, visitors, guests, customers and businesses safe and crime free. We are a 'Nation of Laws.'"

The White House confirmed Friday that at least 2,000 undocumented immigrants will be taken into custody during the raids. Children, other immigrants and possibly citizens are expected to be swept up as "collateral" during the action, news outlets reported.

These types of raids are not new. According to a Politico report, the Obama administration ordered more than 2 million people deported and swept many of them up in series of raids in October and November 2015.