related article to the recent protests

My town of Waukegan is mentioned in this article. If you go to the link there is a short video of the protest. "Unafraid, undocumented..." over and over. There is an ironic bit in the middle were the police officer just walks right over their sign. Also, the girl being handcuffed is smiling, reeking with arrogance...



Several arrested in immigration protests
Emotions also rise at hearing over Secure Communities program


By Antonio Olivo, Tribune reporter

August 18, 2011

About 40 protesters, including several who declared they were in the country illegally, marched and staged an impromptu sit-in Wednesday evening on the Near West Side during an emotionally charged hearing on a federal immigration enforcement program that has generated controversy nationwide.

The demonstrators, who oppose the federal Secure Communities program, blocked traffic and chanted "undocumented and unafraid" as Chicago police sought to control the protest.

"This minor event will mean that we can be deported," said Alaa Mukahhal, 25, who helped lead efforts to dare police to take action against the demonstrators.

One man appeared to push a police officer, and several arrests were made. The crowd had by then marched west on Washington Street toward the Dan Ryan Expressway, where protesters stood on the bridge and waved signs to traffic below that said "Stop 'Secure' Communities," cheering when motorists honked horns in support.

The Secure Communities program has come under increasing fire in recent weeks. Opponents argue the program sweeps up immigrants caught for minor infractions in addition to its intended targets, hardened criminals who are in the country illegally.

Last week, the Obama administration said the program would be expanded nationwide by 2013. That move is partly a response to several states, including Illinois, that have said they would no longer cooperate with the program.

On Wednesday, about 900 people attended a hearing by a federally appointed advisory council at a Near West Side union hall that generated emotional testimony from both sides of the debate.

Mario De la Rosa, of Waukegan, said he is fighting deportation proceedings after he was pulled over by Waukegan police in February for a busted taillight. De la Rosa, who is from Mexico, said he spent 12 days in custody before a federal immigration judge temporarily allowed for his release to care for a 24-year-old son who is disabled.

"If I leave, my wife and I are afraid my son will die," De la Rosa told the advisory council, which was made up of immigration attorneys, local law enforcement officials and other government employees.

Brian McCann, 64, said his brother was run over earlier this year by a man who was in the country illegally and had been convicted two years earlier of drunken driving.

"If this young man was deported, my brother would be alive," McCann said.

"At minimum, I want to see felons who are illegal to be deported," he said as a crowd chanted nearby, calling for the program's end.

aolivo@tribune.com

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... 0145.story