CHICAGO (WLS) — Two Illinois congressmen attempted to visit a monitoring center in the South Loop that oversees immigrants residing in the U.S. without legal status; however, they were denied entry.
U.S. Representatives Raja Krishnamoorthi and Jonathan Jackson requested a tour of the facility but were refused access by an individual who allegedly identified himself as a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official.
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Immigrants periodically check in at the facility, as a part of their agreement to continue living in the U.S.
The congressmen assert that they have the right to inspect the facility. They mentioned that after entering, the police were notified, and they were subsequently asked to vacate the premises.
“This is what our constituents are demanding, as well, that we figure out what the heck is going on with these facilities,” Krishnamoorthi said.
Krishnamoorthi and Jackson are calling out the Trump administration for its crackdown on immigrants across the U.S. and specifically in the Chicago area.
“Children and families should not live in fear. We’re going to deal with this in a normal process, and Mr. Trump and his administration are being overaggressive. And they’re simply wrong and violating U.S. law,” Jackson said.
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The congressmen eventually made their way inside the building, where they stayed for roughly half an hour. During that time, two Chicago police officers were called to the building. Eventually, Krishnamoorthi and Jackson exited the building.
“We talked to an ICE officer who refused to identify himself. He was wearing a mask to obscure his identity. We asked for his name. We asked for his badge. He refused,” Krishnamoorthi said. “He then called Chicago police to evict us from the property as trespassers. This is federally paid property. We should be able to conduct oversight here.”
Throughout the day, people trickled in and out of the building, including the mother of two U.S. National Guardsmen. They say their mom received a text message to check in at the location.
“We just fear of her being detained and us not being there. We can’t really do anything about it, and can’t get involved in that. But we just always want to be with her no matter what,” Andres Reyes said.
The brothers say the incident at the location earlier this month drove their decision to escort their mom.
More than a dozen people were seen taken away from the building by what appeared to be ICE agents on June 4.
In a sitdown interview with ABC7 Chicago’s I-Team, the director of the Chicago ICE Field Office offered some clarity on that situation.
“For those cases, those are the ones that were ordered to check in because they had final orders of removal, right? So, they were ordered removed from an immigration judge, and they had no further impediments to removal,” Sam Olson said.
The mother of the two National Guardsmen declined to comment when she left, after roughly three hours inside.
One of her sons said an agent inside told her not to talk to the news when she left. Her son believes it was a deliberate effort to intimidate her.
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