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Vol. 72/No. 39      October 6, 2008

 
Workers jailed in Chicago for misdemeanors,
but kept incarcerated by immigration police
 
BY JORGE LERTORA  
CHICAGO—Sixty people participated in a September 9 public forum in the Pilsen neighborhood to hear testimony about workers arrested by the Chicago police and then placed on immigration hold.

The forum was sponsored by the March 10 Coalition.

Authorities kept 59 people in jail, some for as long as five months. They had been detained for traffic violations and other misdemeanors. “So far we have won the release of around 20 people,” reported Jorge Mújica, leader of the March 10 Coalition. “This shows it’s possible to fight and to win.” The detainees’ families and fighters for legalization of the undocumented have been organizing marches, vigils, and picket lines in front of city hall to demand the workers’ freedom.

José Herrera, 25, was arrested for driving without a license and speeding. Herrera addressed the meeting, explaining he was released as a result of the protests, but with an electronic ankle bracelet. “If it wasn’t for what happened to me I wouldn’t know this fight so close. Now I am ready to help others, the ones who are still in jail,” he said.

Luis León was taken into the Cook County jail in February. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) placed a hold on him and he was moved to five different jails during his six-month incarceration. His wife, María León, had been marching with other relatives of people in jail. At a court hearing on September 11 a judge granted León a temporary work permit.

ICE spokesperson Gail Montenegro said that the agency has three agents stationed at the Cook County courthouse who review the arrest records each day and look into any cases involving individuals born outside of the United States. “ICE does not racially profile,” Montenegro told the Chicago Tribune.

But in at least one case authorities placed a U.S. citizen, Salvador Contreras, on immigration hold because the arresting officer identified him as Mexican. Arrested in April on firearms charges, Contreras is still being held in the Robinson Correctional Center.

José Landaverde, of the Anglican Mission of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic church in the La Villita neighborhood, announced three other people had just been released: Ramferi Velázquez, Raúl Martínez, and Teodoro González.

Severa Avilés explained how the police arrested her husband, Jacobo Avilés, for parking over the yellow line on the street. He was released after they paid $5,000 in legal fees.

Other speakers at the forum addressed issues of discrimination and police abuse, including Nancy Flores, whose brother Miguel was killed last year by an off-duty cop, and Paula Carballido, whose brother is serving a 35-year sentence at Stateville prison for a crime he did not commit.
 
 
Related articles:
Supporters of Troy Davis win temporary stay of execution
Georgia SWP: ‘Free Troy Davis!’
Los Angeles-area police killed 35 people this year  
 
 
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