Chicago 1 of 8 cities braced for ICE raids expected Sunday
CHICAGO (WLS) -- The nationwide threat of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids expected Sunday are bringing fear and worry for many families across the country.
The raids would target more than 2,000 with final deportation orders, including families whose immigration cases were fast-tracked by judges in 10 major cities such as Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Miami. Raids that were planned in Houston, Texas and New Orleans, Louisiana were postponed after Hurricane Barry hit Saturday.
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It was unusually quiet Sunday morning along Albany Park's Montrose business corridor - something Alderman Rossana Rodriguez blames on the threatened raids.
"People are not coming out to do their grocery shopping as usual. People are not coming out to do their laundry in the laundromat as usual. They're not leading their lives as they usually do," she said.
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Immigration advocates mobilized in response to the threatened raids, fanning out across the heavily immigrant neighborhood after a brief training session. But so far, there hasn't been any activity. In fact, only a handful of arrests appear to have taken place nationwide this weekend, with the only confirmed case in Chicago happening Friday morning when an Edgewater woman and her 2-year-old daughter were briefly taken into custody before being released with an order of supervision.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot was in Little Village on Sunday with Senator Dick Durbin and Congressman Chuy Garcia, trying to calm nerves frayed by rampant rumors spreading through the community.
"We haven't heard of any confirmed raids, larger operations," Garcia said. "There are a couple of unconfirmed reports of a couple of apprehensions, but we don't know if it's part of something larger. I don't want to unnecessarily sow fear in the hearts of people with unsubstantiated reports at this time."
