Tomorrow OBL groups will go to a hearing to protest the Chicago police arresting illegal immigrants and holding them in inhumane holding places. This sanctuary ordinance has got to go!!!



Dear friends and activists: this is the letter we intend to present at City
Council tomorrow, at the hearings on the possible Chicago Police Department
and Immigration collaboration. Please send comments/corrections. Thanks!
Mujica
*****************************

Open letter to Mr. Richard M. Daley, Mayor of the City of Chicago, and

To the City Council:

Mr. Daley and members of the Chicago City Council:

Both you and the members of the City Council supported the May Day 2008
march and rally calling for 'legalization for all the undocumented' and
'equal rights for all workers' in the United States. At the rally in Federal
Plaza, you said that "immigrants past, present and future built Chicago" and
the city "needs" them.

But today, the George W. Bush administration is escalating its unjustifiable
and unnecessary war on the undocumented. The May 12th raid at the
Agriprocessors Inc. plant in Postville, Iowa served to deepen fear and
terror in immigrant communities across the nation and criminalize millions
of undocumented workers. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents
arrested 389 workers during the militarized raid. Subsequently, the workers
caught up in Bush's brutal dragnet were forced to appear in court, in
shackles, and 270 of them were sentenced five months imprisonment for the
'crime' of working. Is this the fate of all 12 million undocumented workers
in the United States? Will this happen in Chicago?

In Chicago, we have real concerns about a growing crackdown on immigrant
communities. Chicago and Cook County are sanctuaries for immigrant
communities, but the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency of the
Department of Homeland Security is finding loopholes in the Sanctuary
legislations of both entities, making them, in fact, collaborators in the
enforcement of an outdated and broken immigration system.

In particular, some practices by the Chicago Police Department may be
jeopardizing the freedom and livelihood of the city's immigrant community.

Since 1996, law changes open the door to consider any crime a "felony", and
we understand that the Chicago Police Department officers have clear
indications to look for the highest possible charges even when the suspect
committed only a petty crime or misdemeanor.

We have uncovered cases of harsh accusations, such as DUI to a person who
was not driving a vehicle, and "criminal trespass" to a worker after a gate
was opened to him to enter a workplace.

This kind of accusations imply that an immigrant who would have been freed
on a $100 dollar bond at the police station end up instead in Cook County
jail, where bonds are not accepted once ICE learns they are non-citizens.

We have indications, in some cases, that Chicago Police Department officers
have rejected identification thru Matricula Consular ID's and, even worse,
we have testimonies of police officers telling suspects that they are going
to be deported for being here illegally.

One more practice we found is asking where detainees "are from", under the
reasoning that non-citizens could have added rights under the Geneva
Convention. Rarely this kind of information benefits the suspect, and
instead flags them to ICE.

Considering the state of the economy, to which immigrants undoubtedly
contribute in Chicago, and in light of the considerations exposed in this
letter, we have a number of proposals to be implemented by you, Mr. Mayor
and City Council members. We feel these proposals can make words into deeds,
where and when it actually matters, and send a strong message to the those
who wish to pollute the air with hatred and fear that Chicago will stand
with immigrant workers: past, present and future.

1. Chicago, as a Sanctuary City, led by the Mayor's office and City
Council, should organize a public campaign to let the undocumented know they
are safe in Chicago. Every undocumented immigrant should know their rights
under the Sanctuary ordinances, what exactly is covered and what not, what
kind of violations may jeopardize their freedom, and eventually their stay
in this City, and what petty offenses and misdemeanors should not, under the
law, make them end up in the hands of authorities other than the City's.

This campaign should be implemented through a TV, billboards, radio,
newspapers and other media and forms. We recommend the Mayor's office study
elements of the campaign recently initiated by the Mayor and the City of San
Francisco.

2. All City authorities, starting with the Chicago Police Department
should be trained in pro-immigrant policies. The training should teach and
or remind City officers that Ordinance Chapter 2-173 of the City Codes
clearly establishes that "No agent or agency shall request information about
or otherwise investigate or assist in the investigation of the citizenship
or residency status of any person unless such inquiry or investigation is
required by Illinois State Statute, federal regulation, or court decision."

Information regarding rights under the Geneva Convention should be given to
suspects as their Miranda rights are, instead of actively investigating the
place of birth of any suspect.

3. An immediate review, as ordered by Chapter 2-173-060, of "All
applications, questionnaires, and interview forms used in relation to City
of Chicago benefits, opportunities, or services", with particular emphasis
on any form or log used by the Chicago Police Department, and specially
those the Chicago Police Department gives to any other agency or department
outside the City.

4. Mayor Daley and the City Council should demand, in the strongest
possible way, an immediate end to terrifying Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) raids in homes, neighborhoods and workplaces. Mayor Daley
and the City Council should also condemn the sentencing of undocumented
workers in Postville, Iowa and call for their immediate release. Let
everyone in Chicago, in Illinois, in the nation and the world see how strong
the belief is in Chicago that we need immigrants, that we respect their
contribution, that we know they are workers not criminals. This can be done.
It has been done elsewhere.

--
Jorge Mujica


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