IL-Crowds march to protest immigration raids
Crowds march in western suburbs to protest immigration raids
By Joseph Ruzich | Special to the Chicago Tribune
September 26, 2008
Jose Herrera said he came to the United States when he was 7. Arrested at an Immigration raid recently and detained for three months in Cook County Jail, he has a court case pending in which he's trying to gain permanent residency.
"I have a 7-year-old child to support," said Herrera, 25. "These raids don't do any good. They just separate families."
He joined more than 100 people Wednesday night who marched and held a candlelight vigil in the western suburbs in an effort to halt raids, address inhuman conditions at Immigration detention centers and urge enactment of a state law that would give clergy access to detainees in county jails.
The protesters, spearheaded by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, marched several miles from Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church in Melrose Park to a detention center in Broadview near Lexington and Beach Streets, where they held a candlelight vigil.
Many held signs that read "Stop the Raids" and others shouted "No Deportations!" in Spanish. Some marchers included families with relatives who are currently or have been deported or are being held in detention centers.
"Every Friday morning, religious leaders stand outside the Broadview detention center and pray," said Sister Joann Persch, a member of the Sisters and Brothers of Immigrants with the archdiocese of Chicago. "As religious leaders, we felt it made sense to go into those centers and to pray with detainees."
The proposed legislation would allow Persch and other clergy members access to jails throughout the state. She thinks those in immigrant detention centers should have the same religious rights as others serving time for criminal offenses.
Diego Bonesatti, an official with Mt. Carmel Church, said: "We are living in a period of aggressive Immigration enforcement. Detention is one of the key elements of enforcement. But detention, unfortunately, deprives some immigrants of their rights, and it has an effect on a person's morality."
Bonesatti said detainees don't have much choice but to be deported.
"A typical bond amount to get out of detention is between $5,000 and $8,000. For an increasingly impoverished community, this is a difficult burden to overcome. Most detainees just sign their deportation orders," he said.
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