St. Charles demonstrators rally to support ban on federal immigration enforcement agencies, denounce ICE and Border Patrol
President Donald Trump spoke Saturday morning about his efforts to deploy the National Guard in cities around the country, including Chicago.
Earlier this week, the president said he was dropping his push to deploy troops in the city, for now . They were sent in October, but there were legal challenges.
Just before Christmas, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked their deployment to the streets of Chicago. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker applauded that decision, saying the president lost in court when Illinois stood up against him.
The National Guard is gone, but federal immigration agents remain in the Chicago area. On Saturday, a group in west suburban St. Charles rallied, calling on the city to pass legislation to ban the agencies in the area.
Dozens of peaceful demonstrators once again took to the streets of suburban St. Charles to protest federal immigration activities in the area. They want ICE gone from the city.
"We don't want ICE in our area," Fox Valley resident Sheri Miranda said. "We don't wanna have what's going on with the Trump administration."
Concerned residents from the Fox Valley resident gathered to show support for immigrants in the community being targeted.
"It's wrong. It's totally wrong," St. Charles resident Bernie Kehoe said. "I mean, it's against the Constitution. This country's for everybody, not just for a certain amount of people."
Saturday's protest was organized by the grassroots group We Can Lead Change, and it came just days before large crowds are expected to attend the St. Charles City Council meeting on Monday, where the community will once again denounce what they call violent tactics by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents and demand a ban on the federal agencies.
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"We do have immigrants in our community, and they serve us well, and they are our neighbors, and we feel like we need them to know we do support them in this community," We Can Lead Change organizer Miki Powell said. "Some of them are scared."
They include naturalized citizen and Fox Valley resident Marcelo Miranda, who immigrated to the United States from Mexico years ago.
"I'm pretty concerned, but at the same time I put my face up and keep going," Miranda said.
The protesters want the council to pass an ordinance prohibiting federal immigration agents from using public property for their operations. That's in addition to existing regulations like the Trust Act, which already limit local law enforcement's cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
"I just hate what's going on in our country," Elgin resident Sharon Sutton said. "I hate to see what's happening to people that I know and care about."
Similar actions have been taken in other communities to curb federal immigration activities.
Rally organizers are encouraging people to frequent businesses either staffed by immigrants or owned by them.
