Blog Archive

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Immigration Raid in La Villita

I got a call from a friend this afternoon saying Immigration and Customs Enforcement had raided the Discount Mall on 26th Street in Little Village. Tonight at 10 I went to watch the news next door and it was the top story on Univision. Dawn and I watched it together while we kept her littlest brother company.

"People will be afraid to go out of their houses now," Dawn predicted.

It was so creepy watching this on TV. I just biked down 26th Street right past there on Sunday. I couldn't help thinking this is how it started in Germany under the Nazis--police rounding up people and taking them away. I said this to Dawn, who read Elie Wiesel's Night last year for school.

"Yeah," she said. "I think about this sometimes. What if they came for my mom or dad? What if they came for me?"

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Although this raid was targeted for only certain individuals, why didnt the FEDERAL authorities then go after the perpetrators that are selling these fake I.D.'s? If they had a list at hand then why create so much chaos and close of the mall down with inocent bystanders, why scare so many innocent people? I was telling my wife that if this was the case in another demographic area they would have never done this at Hawthorne Mall in Vernon Hills, Northbrook Mall in Northbrook or any other mall for that matter! It is because they can get away with it thats why...

I will not be able to attend tomorrows meeting so can you please brief me on it? I was at the Peace and Education Coalition meeting, which individual were you? If possible can you email me the details to education149@yahoo.com, thanks much!

Maritza said...

I agree with you on the question of scaring innocent people and whether they actually busted those who are profiting from selling fake IDs. There was no need for that raid to be handled the way ICE chose to handle it.

I will post about tomorrow's meeting. Given the current climate and the fact that I talk about many of my neighbors (and sometimes their immigration status) candidly (without using real names, but still), I will not reveal my identity on this blog.

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