Illinois bans private immigration centers as ICE raids loom

Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill into law Friday that bans private immigration detention centers from the state, making Illinois the first state to take such a measure. The bill, HB 2040, was one of three measures to protect undocumented immigrants. The other two bills Pritzker signed prohibit local law enforcement officers from working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement offers to target migrants in the state and allow undocumented students to receive financial aid at public institutions.

Illinois is bracing itself for mass raids that ICE plans to carry out in many cities, Chicago included, beginning this weekend. The government has increasingly turned to private detention centers to house migrants who entered the country illegally, as U.S. Customs and Border Protection struggles to keep up with the influx of migrants at the southern border who need shelter. Advocates for undocumented immigrants have criticized the Trump administration for treating migrants cruelly at these border shelters. "Illinois is and always will be a welcoming state," Pritzker said in a statement Friday. "Let me be perfectly clear: the state of Illinois stands as a firewall against Donald Trump's attacks on our immigrant communities. In the face of attempts to stoke fear, exploit division, and force families into the shadows, we are taking action."

The imminent ICE operation, set to begin Sunday, aims to apprehend up to 2,000 undocumented immigrants in up to 10 cities. President Trump defended the agency’s actions, tweeting, “The people that Ice will apprehend have already been ordered to be deported. This means that they have run from the law and run from the courts. These are people that are supposed to go back to their home country. They broke the law by coming into the country, & now by staying.”

Chicago’s Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot, like Gov. Pritzker, has vowed to protect Chicagoans as best she can, and has directed Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson to abolish ICE’s access to the Chicago Police Department’s databases that track undocumented immigrants in Chicago. “Chicago will always be a welcoming city and a champion for the rights of our immigrant and refugee communities, and I encourage any resident in need of legal aid to contact the National Immigrant Justice Center,” she said Friday.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/illinois-bans-private-immigration-centers-as-ice-raids-loom

Pelosi calls on religious leaders to demand Trump halt plans for mass ICE raids

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi implored religious leaders to call on President Trump to stop federal official from conducting raids in cities targeting undocumented immigrants across the country this weekend. In a statement Saturday, Pelosi said that while many Americans will attend religious services Sunday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will carry out “heartless raids” authorized by Trump. “It is my hope that before Sunday, leaders of the faith-based community and other organizations that respect the dignity and worth of people will call upon the President to stop this brutal action which will tear families apart and inject terror into our communities,” Pelosi wrote.

The imminent ICE operation, set to begin Sunday, aims to apprehend up to 2,000 undocumented immigrants in up to 10 cities. Trump defended the agency’s actions, tweeting, “The people that Ice will apprehend have already been ordered to be deported. This means that they have run from the law and run from the courts. These are people that are supposed to go back to their home country. They broke the law by coming into the country, & now by staying.” Pelosi said immigrants across the country are hard-working individuals who deserve to know “that they have rights in America.”

Pelosi referenced Trump’s last-minute decision Thursday to call off a military strike against Iran, which he later said was because the potential death count was not "proportional" to Tehran shooting down an unmanned drone. The Democrat said "I hope" Trump would apply the same value to immigrant children. “As President Reagan said, ‘Thanks to each wave of new arrivals to this land of opportunity, we’re a nation forever young, forever bursting with energy and new ideas, and always on the cutting edge, always leading the world to the next frontier … If we ever closed the door to new Americans, our leadership in the world would soon be lost," Pelosi concluded.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/congress/pelosi-calls-on-religious-leaders-to-demand-trump-halt-plans-for-mass-ice-raids