Rally crowd opposes federal immigration crackdown after ICE arrest at McLean County courthouse

A small crowd rallied Monday outside the McLean County Law and Justice Center to oppose the federal immigration crackdown and request support from local elected officials.

LUCIR [Latinos United for Change and Immigrant Rights], The Immigration Project, and Punks Against Trump organized the rally. It came two weeks after Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] took into custody a man who was at the McLean County courthouse for a criminal hearing.

Emily Bollinger

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WGLT

The rally began with music from local musician Marcos Mendez and remarks from local activist and LUCIR co-founder Sonny Garcia. The crowd, made up of about 30 citizens, chanted "No hate! No fear! Immigrants are welcome here!"

“Last week, we got reports that ICE was in our courthouse,” Garcia said.

Also speaking at the rally was Oriah Matich, president of Punks Against Trump.

“Every day, families are torn apart by ICE, an agency that claims to protect but instead spreads nothing but fear,” Matich said. “Children cry in cages and parents disappear without warning. Homes are raided in the middle of the night — not because someone committed a crime, but because of the color of their skin. That is not justice. That is cruelty.”

Matich said her remarks should not be taken as a speech but as a call to action.

“Scream and fight and never stop,” Matich said.

Charlotte Alvarez, executive director of The Immigration Project, said Monday's demonstration is more than just passion. It’s an abundance of caution.

Emily Bollinger

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WGLT

“We’re asking for transparency and making sure that we are being as protective as possible for our community in this moment when ICE officials are conducting enforcement operations that are violating people’s rights,” Alvarez said.

Alvarez said The Immigration Project wants to make sure everyone understands that national enforcement operations should be separated from local law enforcement and local court.

“We’re in talks with the McLean County Board and we want to talk to Sheriff Lane and we want to talk to the court to make sure everyone is aware of and upholding state law under the Trust Act,” Alvarez said.

The Trust Act prohibits Illinois law enforcement from detaining people based on their immigration status and assisting in civil immigration enforcement. Law enforcement cannot hold people based on federal immigration warrants in most cases, but they can make arrests for federal criminal warrants.

Alvarez said the rally was not meant to communicate that the county government has done anything wrong but rather to send a warning message.

Maura Toro-Morn from Illinois State University's Coalition Assisting Undocumented Student Achievement [CAUSA], said Bloomington-Normal is similar to many cities across the country.

Emily Bollinger

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WGLT

“We are a community that has been nurtured by immigrant labor and as the quotas ramps up, I think it behooves us as a community to continue to affirm the reality that is lived on the ground on a day-to-day basis,” Toro-Morn said.

Toro-Morn said she hopes the rally persuades community leaders and citizens to coalesce with those who want to keep ICE out of the local government.

“I see this as a part of getting ahead of the curve in many ways. It is an opportunity to make visible the work of immigrants in the community,” said Toro-Morn, also a professor at ISU.

“We play baseball, we go to church, we go to events and we are the fabric of this community. Anything that threatens that fabric threatens all of us,” Toro-Morn said.

Several of the rally speakers also addressed these concerns with the McLean County Board earlier this month, in the immediate days after the arrest.

Some attendees entered the sheriff’s office but said they were unable to speak with Sheriff Matt Lane, though Lane has previously told WGLT that immigration presence at the courthouse is rare.