A crowd of about 200 gathered outside Chute Middle School around 2:15 p.m. Friday for an impromptu news conference, with many decked out in festive Halloween apparel. But between skeleton earrings, themed t-shirts and full-fledged costumes, a sea of brightly-colored whistles stood out from the crowd.
Students peered out from the school’s windows to get a good view of the conference — one student held up a handmade sign reading, “Get Rid of ICE.”
The news conference came in response to widespread activity by federal immigration agents in Evanston on Friday. The Department of Homeland Security made several arrests across Evanston and Skokie, including of protesting citizens and those it said lacked legal status, a DHS spokesperson confirmed to The Daily.
Demian Kogan, the Illinois Coalition for Immigration and Refugee Rights’ senior director of organizing, called Friday’s immigration operations “disgusting” and “morally reprehensible.” He added that rather than being an isolated incident, federal immigration enforcement has become a “daily reality in Illinois.”
“Today is supposed to be a day where families go out in the community, connect with their neighbors, enjoy themselves and build relationships with one another,” Kogan said. “The message that (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) was trying to send in Evanston, in Skokie and Albany Park and in these other areas, is that they will not allow the residents of these areas to be able to live lives peacefully, regardless of where they come from or who they are.”
City sees day of widespread immigration enforcement
In a text alert around 11 a.m., ICIRR wrote that ICE and Border Patrol had a “large presence” in the city and Skokie. Agents in the area also had support from helicopters flying over Crawford Avenue and Church Street in Skokie, the alert read.
In an emailed statement to The Daily, a DHS spokesperson said that the U.S. Border Patrol conducted immigration enforcement operations in Evanston and Skokie on Friday, which they said culminated in the arrest of five Mexican immigrants lacking permanent status. The spokesperson claimed the immigrants’ criminal histories included “criminal trespass and multiple illegal entries into the country.”
Around noon, at least 10 federal immigration agents were present at Oakton Street and Asbury Avenue when a civilian vehicle rear-ended an agent’s vehicle. Agents pulled the driver out and detained them as several community members gathered at the scene, multiple sources confirmed to The Daily.
Evanston/Skokie School District 65 board member Andrew Wymer said he joined a “caravan” of around five cars following the Border Patrol vehicle five minutes before the crash. About 20 people gathered in the immediate aftermath, and the crowd grew as the situation escalated, Wymer said. In the emailed statement, the DHS spokesperson said a vehicle crashed into a Border Patrol vehicle after “aggressive tailgating.”
In a news release, the Evanston Police Department said officers arrived at the scene after pepper spray appeared to have been deployed. DHS confirmed the arrest of three U.S. citizens and said pepper spray was deployed against an individual who resisted arrest. Federal immigration agents also punched people and sat on someone’s neck, Mayor Daniel Biss said. In a 2:10 p.m. X post, EPD said the incident was clear.
Responding officers were not able to get any information from the federal agents present at the scene, Biss told The Daily. Earlier in the week, at a Monday council meeting, EPD announced its new policy to have a supervisor at every immigration enforcement scene in an effort to obtain information about the federal agencies conducting the enforcement activity.
In the Friday X post, EPD wrote that it is responding to several reports of federal activity around the city. The incidents will be reviewed and more information will be sent out at a later time, EPD wrote.
In a Friday afternoon email to residents, the city confirmed that federal immigration agents were present at several locations across Evanston. In another email later that day, the city advised families to exercise additional caution during trick-or-treating activities — the city’s trick-or-treating hours were from 4-7 p.m.
Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino was also present throughout operations in Evanston on Friday, Biss confirmed.
Evanston schools respond with soft lockdowns
Evanston/Skokie School District 65 schools held recess indoors Friday morning to keep students and staff safe, Superintendent Angel Turner wrote to parents in an email shortly before noon. She added that there has not been ICE presence on District 65 school grounds, but recent activity near several schools has led to heightened concerns in the school community.
“Our schools are and will remain safe and welcoming spaces for all, regardless of immigration status,” Turner wrote.
Evanston Township High School also implemented its closed campus protocol due to “federal activity” in the area, Superintendent Marcus Campbell wrote in an email to parents at 11:45 a.m. Friday.
Campbell emphasized that there was no threat to the campus and no federal activity on school grounds.
Students remained on campus for lunch and free blocks, and dismissal took place as regularly scheduled at 3:35 p.m. In a follow-up email sent at 2:45 p.m., Campbell wrote that the district is working with city officials and EPD to coordinate safety measures. Students who did not feel comfortable leaving campus were advised to gather in the school’s South Cafeteria after dismissal, the email said.
Campbell encouraged families to be present at dismissal to “support the sense of safety for all students.”
The Friday crash at Oakton Street and Asbury Avenue occurred near Chute. District 65 staff and Superintendent Angel Turner also spoke at the news conference Friday afternoon, addressing the implications of federal activity on students and families.
Allie Harned, a social worker at Chute, said the district spent 10 months preparing for “the worst of the worst” and called the situation “worse than that.”
“I’ve witnessed some horror today, a block away from Chute Middle School,” Harned said.
The crash and subsequent confrontation was the latest in a series of verified federal immigration reports on Oakton Street and near Evanston schools.
Earlier Friday morning around 9:30 a.m., agents detained one person in a landscaping crew at Oakton Street and Sherman Avenue, according to an ICIRR alert sent at 10:18 a.m. It was the fifth ICIRR-verified sighting of federal agents on Oakton Street in October.
“Unfortunately, this is getting normal down here on the south side (of Evanston),” Wymer said at the scene of the crash. “Our kids shouldn’t be experiencing terror, and our neighbors shouldn’t be experiencing this.”
Local leaders speak out, call for community action
Prominent elected officials and community leaders also spoke at the conference, including Biss, U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Evanston), Cook County Commissioner Josina Morita and Skokie Mayor Ann Tennes.
“Our message for ICE is simple: Get the hell out of Evanston,” Biss said. “I cannot thank enough the incredible group of people standing behind me, people patrolling the streets of Evanston right now, rising up together, arm in arm, to keep our neighbors safe.”
ICIRR’s Kogan said he thought the escalated enforcement was partly in response to the Illinois General Assembly’s newest bill Friday limiting immigration enforcement across the state. The bill includes banning civil arrests at and near courthouses, protecting those receiving hospital care and safeguarding student data at public universities. ICIRR was a driving force in advocating for the bill.
Tennes also addressed the crowd, expressing gratitude for volunteer groups and relating the experience of parents in Evanston to that of parents in Skokie. She encouraged attendees to look out for their neighbors by contributing to legal aid funds and making sure they “are taken care of in every way that we can.”
Second Baptist Church Pastor Michael Nabors, representing the interfaith community of Evanston and the Evanston/North Shore branch of the NAACP, led the crowd in a chant of “Up with liberation. Down with deportation.”
“Justice is not in America today,” Nabors said. “Justice is not in Washington, D.C. Justice is not on the Supreme Court today. Justice is not in the executive branch. Justice is not in the house or in the Senate. But I want you to know that justice is in the Evanston community.”
Marisa Guerra Echeverria, Ashley Dong and Emily Lichty contributed reporting.
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