Immigration

Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago has a history of welcoming immigrant students. Now it is trying to become a model in offering services to undocumented students.

When this 21-year-old Illinois State University senior walks anywhere, he says he constantly looks around him to see if there are any law enforcement officers nearby.

The Bloomington and Normal city councils will likely see a draft of dual ordinances that would stop local police from working with federal immigration authorities on deportation—even if Normal’s city manager says it’s bad public policy.

Nearly 300 people—mostly supporters—turned out to a Bloomington City Council meeting Monday dealing with a proposed Welcoming City ordinance.

The number of illegal immigrants taken from the McLean County jail and sent to immigration detention centers has more than doubled in the past year, from 15 to 39.

Anti-immigration voices are growing stronger around the U.S., and an advocate for tolerance and education said the best way to combat that kind of speech is by introducing immigrants to their neighbors.

President Donald Trump’s reversal of the Obama-era executive order protecting young undocumented immigrants from deportation has sparked debate in the Bloomington-Normal community.

Local opponents of President Donald Trump’s decision to end an Obama-era program for young immigrants turned up the volume Thursday, with new protests planned over the next few days.

Like many Americans, Gretchen Snow  was horrified at the photos of a drowned Syrian refugee child who washed up on the shores of Greece. Then there were the images of African families fleeing violence in their villages, walking on dirt roads, children in tow and their  belongings on their backs.

Snow decided she had to act. She was not alone.

Recent political rhetoric aside, the majority of immigrants living in the US. come here legally, and each has a compelling story to tell. Those are among the messages members of Bloomington-Normal's immigrant communities hope to convey at a conversation Thursday evening at Bloomington Public Library.

East Indian, Mexican, Caribbean and Latin American immigrants will share their personal stories.

Many social service workers burn out long before the quarter century mark. Not so Socorro Alvarez, the Hispanic Outreach director for the past 25 years at Bloomington's Western Avenue Community Center.

Illinois State University is not officially a "sanctuary campus," but plans to remain a safe haven for undocumented students.

That's according to education administration Professor Beth Hatt and Latin American studies Director Maura Toro-Morn. The two are co-founders of CAUSA, the Committee Assisting Undocumented Student Achievement.

The recent immigration directives from the Trump administration and Department of Homeland Security widened the net of undocumented people in the U.S. considered a priority for deportation. Immigration  attorney Charlotte Alvarez said that is changing how she offers advice.

"We're advising anyone who is undocumented to seek legal counselor to see if there's any options for adjusting or changing their status," said Alvarez. 

By the time Jenn Carrillo crossed into the U.S. illegally from Mexico,  her family had already tried for years to to obtain legal status.

The family's original petition was filed in 1996. That application is still pending.

"We still haven't heard back from that petition. I can look it up and track it and see where it is in the stack," Carrillo, who came here at age 10, said on GLT's Sound Ideas.

"For a lot of us, there is no legal remedy."

"Even though I don't have documents, this is my country and I will do whatever to defend it," said a 30-year-old undocumented immigrant who wants to be called Victor because he fears being deported under new Trump administration policies.

We're currently in a time of tumult, anger, and fear over immigration in this country.

This figured prominently during the presidential campaign and continues with the deportation enforcement policy of the Trump administration.

In this time of tension over immigration here is an example of how one group of Latinos created its own sense of community and belonging in a town in rural Indiana.