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Students protest raid on illegal immigrants

April 21, 2006

BY RUMMANA HUSSAIN Staff Reporter


More than two dozen University of Illinois at Chicago students joined immigration activists Thursday to protest the federal government's nationwide raid and arrests of more than a thousand undocumented employees of a crate and pallet manufacturer this week.

UIC graduate Sabah Khan, 24, said U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff's campaign targeting employers who hire illegal workers will trample both immigrant and human rights.

"These recent raids on hundreds of people were a scary resemblance to Nazi Germany, and anyone with a conscience should see how atrocious this is," he said.

On Thursday, Chertoff pledged a crackdown on companies that hire illegal immigrants.

Managers face criminal charges



Chertoff's announcement came after the federal government arrested seven IFCO Systems managers and former managers on criminal charges in the biggest work-site enforcement operation against a single employer.

More than 1,100 illegal immigrants also were arrested in the probe, which was conducted Wednesday and Thursday here and in 25 other states, Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Gail Montenegro said. Twenty-four men and two women were arrested at the Germany-based company's Chicago facility at 2000 W. 32nd St., Montenegro said.

At UIC's campus, students urged their classmates to attend an immigration rights march on May 1 that will start at Union Park and continue downtown.

Some in the crowd Thursday held signs that read, "We Already Live on Stolen Land, We Are All Illegal" and "No Jim Crow Junior, Yes Amnesty."

"We think this is very unfair," said first-year medical student Cristina Chavez, the great grandniece of legendary Mexican-American labor leader Cesar Chavez. "Everybody deserves rights, immigrants included."

rhussain@suntimes.com