The South Side Weekly is an independent non-profit newspaper by and for the South Side of Chicago. We provide high-quality, critical arts and public interest coverage, and equip and develop journalists, artists, photographers, and mediamakers of all backgrounds.
Volume 12, Issue 3
Editors-in-Chief Jacqueline Serrato
Adam Przybyl
Investigations Editor Jim Daley
Senior Editors Martha Bayne
Christopher Good
Olivia Stovicek
Sam Stecklow
Alma Campos
Jocelyn Martinez-Rosales
Community Builder Chima Ikoro
Public Meetings Editor Scott Pemberton
Visuals Editor Kayla Bickham
Deputy Visuals Editor Shane Tolentino
Staff Illustrators Mell Montezuma
Shane Tolentino
Director of
Fact Checking: Ellie Gilbert-Bair Fact Checkers: Ella Beiser
Jim Daley
Patrick Edwards
Cordell Longstreath
Lauren Sheperd
Sebastiana Smith
Layout Editor Tony Zralka
Executive Director Malik Jackson
Office Manager Mary Leonard
Advertising Manager Susan Malone
Webmaster Pat Sier
The Weekly publishes online weekly and in print every other Thursday. We seek contributions from all over the city.
Send submissions, story ideas, comments, or questions to editor@southsideweekly.com or mail to:
South Side Weekly
6100 S. Blackstone Ave. Chicago, IL 60637
For advertising inquiries, please contact: Susan Malone (773) 358-3129 or email: malone@southsideweekly.com
For general inquiries, please call: (773) 643-8533
IN CHICAGO
The People vs. Trump
On Monday, a federal judge blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order that would severely limit birthright citizenship. It’s the third blow from the bench against the order since Trump signed it; last week, federal judges in Maryland and Washington also issued injunctions against it.
Trump’s attempt to roll back birthright citizenship is an attack on a fundamental principle that undergirds the modern American experiment: that anyone born here is a citizen. It’s a principle that was hard-won across decades by Americans both free and unfree, the children of enslaved people and the children of immigrants.
In the 1850s, Dred Scott, himself an enslaved man, issued the first salvo in the fight to extend citizenship to all Americans. A decade later, more than 125,000 Union soldiers—many of whom were immigrants or formerly enslaved people—were killed fighting the Confederacy in the Civil War. That conflict led to the passage of the 14th Amendment that extended birthright citizenship to the children of the formerly enslaved.
In 1898, Wong Kim Ark, born in San Francisco to Chinese immigrants, won a landmark Supreme Court case that held that everyone born on U.S. soil is an American citizen. In the 1950s and 60s, civil rights protesters endured state violence, terrorist murders, and prison to extend the full promise of citizenship to everyone. In 1982, the Court held in Plyler v. Doe that, regardless of immigration status, all people are entitled to equal protection under the law.
Now, Trump is trying to single-handedly reverse these advances.
“There are moments in the world’s history when people look back and ask, ‘Where were the lawyers, where were the judges?’” said U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour, a Reagan appointee who issued the first injunction against Trump’s birthright order. “In these moments, the rule of law becomes especially vulnerable. I refuse to let that beacon go dark today.”
The judiciary may be the last official bulwark against Trump’s shocking assault on the Constitution. Since his inauguration, the president has issued dozens of executive orders that clearly overreach his lawful powers. Concurrently, he’s enabled Elon Musk to wage a war on the federal bureaucracy that in all respects amounts to a bloodless coup by an unappointed billionaire.
With a sycophantic Republican party firmly in control of both houses of Congress and all too happy to see the rise of authoritarianism, judges are the only branch of government left to defend democracy. Trump, Musk, and Vice President J.D. Vance, well aware of the judicial roadblock to their authoritarian ambitions, have all signaled their intention to defy the courts. If they make good on their threats, the last vestiges of Constitutional order will crumble and the United States will for all intents and purposes be a dictatorship.
In spite of all this, we remain hopeful. The first sentence of the Constitution establishes the United States as the union of the people, and ordinary Americans have always been the staunchest defenders of our democracy. It was the people who won the rights enshrined in the 14th Amendment. The people organized into rapid-response groups in Chicago, so thoroughly stymied federal agents’ attempts to detain immigrants, that Trump’s “border czar” was publicly taken aback. Last week, the people assembled in fifty statehouses nationwide in a show of solidarity against the president’s delusions. In the coming months and years, we the people— descendants of the enslaved, migrants, and the tired and poor who yearned to breathe free—are the ones who can beat back fascist efforts to destroy America.
IN THIS ISSUE
‘a raisin in the sun’ gets it due at court theatre
The production of Lorraine Hansberry’s 1957 play is running through March 2.
zoe pharo, hyde park herald ................ 4 how executive orders shape u.s. immigration policy
Using executive orders to change U.S. immigration policy isn’t new, or as easy to implement as one might think.
katrina pham, aydali campa, borderless magazine 5 cómo las órdenes ejecutivas pueden afectar la política de inmigración de ee.uu.
El uso de órdenes ejecutivas para cambiar la política de inmigración de Estados Unidos no es algo nuevo. Tampoco es tan fácil de implementar como podría pensarse. katrina pham, aydali campa, borderless magazine 7 what to know about trump’s effort to end birthright citizenship
Trump’s controversial executive order looks to deny citizenship to children born to noncitizens. The order has been temporarily blocked by a judge who called the move “blatantly unconstitutional.”
tara mobasher, samantha nicole monje, borderless magazine 9 lo que debes saber sobre el intento de trump de ponerle fin a la ciudadanía por nacimiento
La polémica orden ejecutiva de Trump busca negarles la ciudadanía a los hijos de padres indocumentados en el país. La orden ha sido bloqueada por ser inconstitucional. tara mobasher, samantha nicole monje, borderless magazine ............... 10 building the house
Co-owners Vick Lavender and Jerry Morrison on their love for music and their radical vision of an artist-centric record store.
nick merlock jackson 11 father of the black age
South Side artist Turtel Onli, a longtime Weekly contributor, passed away in January. alex harrell 14 representing redemption
A violence interrupter who grew up in Chicago’s gang culture tells his story in a new book he co-authors. evan f. moore ......................................... 17
op-ed: can we drive 25?
The way we build our streets matters and has a big impact on traffic safety. In my neighborhood of Archer Heights, we’ve built Pulaski to be seven lanes wide. dixon galvez-searle 19
how are chicago schools responding to increased immigration enforcement?
Trump in his first week in office canceled a previous policy to keep ICE agents away from “sensitive locations,” such as schools and churches.
reema amin, samantha smylie, chalkbeat chicago 21 public meetings report
A recap of select open meetings at the local, county, and state level.
scott pemberton and documenters 23
Cover photo by Michael Brosilow for Court Theatre
‘A Raisin in the Sun’ Gets Its Due at Court Theatre
The production of Lorraine Hansberry’s 1957 play is running through March 2.
BY ZOE PHARO, HYDE PARK HERALD
This story was originally published by the Hyde Park Herald.
When Gabrielle RandleBent, Court Theatre’s senior artistic producer, realized last season that the theater had never produced anything written by South Side native Lorraine Hansberry, it “felt like an inevitability” that she would direct something of Hansberry’s.
“It didn’t feel like the typical choice,” Randle-Bent said more than sixty years after Hansberry’s death. “It became very clear that we couldn’t wait any longer.”
The wait is over—“A Raisin in the Sun,” Hansberry’s famed 1957 play set on the South Side, is running at Court now through March 2. With deep ties to the community, it’s a production, Randle-Bent said, that comes after years of work to bring more Black stories to Court.
“A lot of people had to do a lot of hard work in order to make this a place where we felt comfortable taking this on,” she said. “Anybody can tell this story, but not everybody can tell this story to the people whose story it is.”
The story is a study of a workingclass Black family in the late 1940s. When the patriarch of the Younger family dies, leaving behind a $10,000 life insurance check (adjusted for inflation, that’s more than $130,000 today), three generations of the family allow themselves to dream of a better life. The aspirations are varied: Walter wants to invest it in a liquor store, Beneatha wants to use it for her education and Lena, their mother, wants to buy a home in an all-white neighborhood. The title comes from Langston Hughes’ poem “Harlem,” in which he asks, “What happens to a dream
deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?”
The first play written by a Black woman to be produced on Broadway, “A Raisin in the Sun” is partly inspired by Hansberry’s own experience growing up in a racially segregated Woodlawn. In 1937, Hansberry’s father, Carl Hansberry, mortgaged a three-flat in the neighborhood in an attempt to challenge the area’s restrictive covenants, which barred Black people from leasing or buying any property in the community. The home, located just a few blocks south of Washington Park, was subject to swift backlash—neighbors violently evicted the family, throwing their things out into the street.
Undeterred, Carl Hansberry embarked on a three-year legal battle for the right to return to his home, arguing his case before the Supreme Court in Hansberry vs. Lee
in 1940. The case was a success—the court ruled that the Hansberrys had a right to the property, and made an additional approximately 500 parcels of land in Woodlawn available to Black people.
But her father’s legacy was a complicated one. A real estate speculator, his expansion of the kitchenette apartment— small units made by subdividing buildings, cramming as many as seven or eight families into a space previously occupied by two— earned him the moniker the “Kitchenette King.” Largely occupied by working-class Black people newly arrived from the South, kitchenettes were infamous on the South Side for their cramped spaces (often no larger than 100 square feet), lack of heat and pest infestations.
The kitchenette, where the Youngers dream of leaving, is a space Randle-Bent describes as “the antagonist of this play.”
“[These] beautiful pieces of classical architecture were divided and carved into barely habitable spaces for migrating Black families,” she said. “We hear the vacuum cleaner, we hear the toilet, we hear the water run, we hear the people outside. They’re not alone, which is a beautiful thing, but then they also don’t have enough space, which is an impossible thing.”
Kitchenette apartments feature heavily in Richard Wright’s 1940 novel “Native Son,” as well as Gwendolyn Brooks’ 1953 novella “Maud Martha,” the latter of which was a big source of inspiration for RandleBent.
The backdrop, she added, is not “a dramaturgical abstraction,” but rather a place many audience members, especially those from the South Side, are going to be intimately familiar with.
“Our audiences are going to be able to come in and see their grandmother’s living room,” she said.
Though the play carries a universal message—it has been translated into thirtyfive languages and performed in more than thirty countries—Randle-Bent said audiences may miss a few particularities specific to Chicago. These include details such as early industrial craftsmanship which gave the city five architectural styles and the building boom that followed the Great Chicago Fire, many of which were later carved into kitchenettes.
Though this is the first time “A Raisin in the Sun” will take the stage at Court, the theater did previously put on a production of "Raisin," a musical adaptation written by Charlotte Zaltzberg and Robert B. Nemiroff, Hansberry's husband.
In reinterpreting the play for Court, Randle-Bent said its South Side roots take
Court Theatre’s production of “A Raisin in the Sun” runs through March 2.
Photo by Michael Brosilow for Court Theatre
center stage in myriad ways.
“This isn’t a show where we had to go out and find the community,” she said.
All but one cast member grew up in Chicago, most of them on the South and West sides. Because of this, Randle-Bent said, each cast member brings their own history and valuable expertise to the show.
“This isn’t just a classic. It’s ours, and it’s our audiences’ and it’s this place’s show,” she said. “The ability to honor this play in this place with that expertise just felt like a really, really special gift.”
J. Nicole Brooks, who plays Mrs. Johnson, the Youngers’ nosy neighbor, grew up in Washington Park and started her professional acting career on Court’s stage in 1998. “A Raisin in the Sun” was the first play she ever read.
“The connection for me was knowing these people, these characters on an intimate level, knowing them without having to know what the text or the dialogue said,” Brooks said.
She added that Hansberry, a Black woman and lesbian, and Hansberry’s work have long been “a beacon” for her. Brooks came out of semi-acting retirement when Randle-Bent reached out to her about playing Mrs. Johnson, who she described as both a “clown” and a “messenger.”
“The clown is not there to make the audience laugh, the clown is there to remain truthful to themselves, and the laugh only comes because they are invested in that truth,” Brooks explained. She grew up around similar characters who could “make you laugh at some of the darkest” things.
In addition to her role at Court, Randle-Bent is a senior lecturer in theater and performance studies at the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. candidate in theater at Northwestern University, where she studies and writes about Hansberry.
Though her research focuses more on Hansberry’s final play, “Le Blanc,” she reflected that in her own recent move to North Kenwood, she realized exactly where the author had been situated.
“Her brilliance was so often from the place of an outside looking in,” she said, referring to Hansberry’s middleclass upbringing. “What you have is this play, you sort of take it at face value. But when you’re here you can really see that
it is written by the little girl sitting in the back seat of the car while her dad got out to collect the rent.”
The youngest of four children, Hansberry left college to pursue writing in New York, first as a newspaper staffer, and then later full-time. In 1957, at age twentynine, she wrote “A Raisin in the Sun,” which won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play and was nominated for four Tony Awards. She died only a few years later at the age of thirty-four.
Throughout the play’s run, Court is hosting a bevy of community programming around the neighborhood and city.
The public programming includes a community reading series, a conversation about the history of housing justice with the National Public Housing Museum and an art-making opportunity with the Hyde Park Art Center. There will also be a screening of the 1971 film “Bushman,” which is about an African academic who immigrates to America, at the Logan Center, 915 E. 60th St.
Reflecting on the play’s themes, Kamilah Rashied, the director of engagement for Court, said the Youngers represent countless Black families who were subjected to restrictive covenants, predatory lending and redlining.
“So much of the plot of this play is about a family trying to reconcile their dreams, their own personal dreams, their own family legacy—trying to reconcile that dream with the American nightmare of discrimination,” she told the Herald. “We’re still trying to do that work.”
The play is “connected to much bigger things about belonging in America—who gets to belong, and the idea that part of that belonging, the way that you buy your way into that dream of belonging is home ownership,” she added.
With the performance and subsequent programming, Rashied said, Court aims to give people a place to consider what happens when laws—whether the rule of law or unspoken social rules—get in the way of dreams.
“I think there are lots of reasons for us to be reconsidering those questions right now,” she said. ¬
Zoe Pharo is a staff writer at the Hyde Park Herald.
How Executive Orders Shape U.S. Immigration Policy
Using executive orders to change U.S. immigration policy isn’t new, or as easy to implement as one might think.
BY KATRINA PHAM, AYDALI CAMPA, BORDERLESS MAGAZINE
This story was originally published by Borderless Magazine. Visit their website and sign up for their newsletter at Borderlessmag.org
Using executive orders to change U.S. immigration policy isn’t new. It also isn’t as easy to implement as one might think.
On his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed twenty-six executive orders—more than any modern president. A number of those were related to immigration policy, including orders to suspend the U.S. refugee admissions program, designate certain cartel gangs as foreign terrorist groups and cut federal funds from sanctuary jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with immigration enforcement operations.
Some of those orders took effect instantly and had immediate impacts on the lives of asylum seekers and refugees, such as the suspension of the CBP One app for asylum seekers at the border and the cancellation of flights for Afghan refugees who were previously cleared by immigration officials.
Other executive orders, including his attempt to deny birthright citizenship to children of parents without legal status, have faced several legal challenges that have stopped them from taking effect.
Amid the slew of executive orders, Borderless spoke to Colleen Putzel-
Kavanaugh of the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) to explain executive orders, their limitations and the implications of using them to handle immigration policy.
Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh is an associate policy analyst with MPI’s U.S. Immigration Policy Program. MPI is an independent, nonpartisan think tank that conducts research and analysis on immigration policy.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Borderless: What is an executive order?
Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh: An executive order is an order given by the President to implement some sort of policy; it’s a policy directive. They function similarly to a law in that they need to be followed—but they don’t go through Congress, which leaves them wide open to litigation. That’s why we’ve seen so much back and forth with immigration policy via executive order. They could be in place, be litigated and then not be in place anymore.
When does an executive order take effect? And does it happen immediately after one is issued?
It depends on the order. Sometimes, an executive order gives a directive
to take effect in a certain number of days. Sometimes, it would be effective immediately. Sometimes, an executive order sets up for something else.
Is it common for a President to use executive orders to change immigration policy and why?
Executive orders have played a huge part in immigration policy, particularly in the last thirty years. Up until recently, when Congress passed the Laken Riley Act, Congress hadn’t passed an immigration bill in about thirty years. Immigration bills typically died in Congress or didn’t get signed by the president. What that meant was that nothing actually changed within immigration policy unless it happened via executive order.
In light of the recent passage of the Laken Riley Act, it’s really hard to know if that trend will continue. Will this Congress be more open to passing immigration legislation?
To what extent can executive orders change immigration policy? What are some other limitations to enacting executive orders?
We’ve heard about the Trump administration wanting to enact a mass deportation campaign. The executive orders that have been signed lay some groundwork for such an effort, but many of the directives include things such as “ICE needs to expand its detention capacity,” or “X number of agents need to be hired.”
While those are directives, they’re not always easy to implement because of the operational realities on the ground. Part of the limitation of executive orders is resources because they don’t come with any additional funding for these agencies to carry out their directives.
Not only are there operational challenges, but executive orders can mean that immigration agencies are spread very thin. It can throw sand in the gears of all of these different operations that need to happen all at once.
However, we are seeing more and more guidance being issued to different agencies after executive orders are
signed. That matters because executive orders say really, really big ideas—but the nitty-gritty of how to actually enact an executive order often comes in the guidance to agencies that follows.
Have there been any long-term impacts on immigration policy that stem from an executive order? If so, what are some examples you can share?
A lot of border measures might have a decrease in irregular border arrivals for a couple of months, and then it would go back up again. However, the Secure the Border rule that happened in June [under President Joe Biden], coupled with different options for people to migrate more regularly as well as increased enforcement from countries like Mexico or Panama, all came together to see this reduction in border arrivals.
Biden’s executive order to limit asylum at the border lived on past the end of his term. Is that common? Or is it more common for presidents—as Trump did in his first week in office—to rewrite and rescind executive orders issued in a previous administration? That is, do executive orders often change between presidential terms?
We’ve seen a lot of flip-flop. One example is the interior guidance for ICE about who should be the top priorities for ICE for removal. Under Trump, essentially
away, and that was instantly litigated. This time, the executive order calls for reporting back to see if a travel ban is necessary for certain countries, so it’s somewhat enhanced.
Some of his newly signed executive orders, like birthright citizenship, face legal challenges. What comes next?
everyone and functionally anyone who had a removal order or who was in the country unauthorized was prioritized. Under the Biden administration, we saw those priorities narrowed, but now those policies have been rescinded, and we’re back to functionally targeting everyone who could be subject to removal.
But then we’ve seen other rules have durability, like the “Remain in Mexico” program.
In his first term, Trump only signed one executive order on his first day in office. This time around, Trump signed twenty-six executive orders on his first day, more than any modern president. How would you compare Trump’s week one approach to immigration this term versus his previous term?
The Trump administration is coming into its second term with both the benefit of time and hindsight, having had four years to prepare and know what worked and didn’t work previously.
Many of his executive orders are already facing challenges, as they did in his first term, and may continue to face challenges, but we also see this combination that we didn’t see before: It’s not just a lot of orders; It’s a package of orders coming together to potentially change a lot of pieces of the immigration system as we currently know it.
In the first term, they ordered a ban on travel from certain countries right
It really depends on each different case. What’s also complicated is that there are often multiple cases against one of the executive orders. The birthright citizenship order, for example, has several different legal cases, so the lifetime of each of those cases may be different. The next steps would be to determine whether this is prohibited from going into effect or if it will still go into effect in some way.
Is there anything else readers should understand as they hear more about executive orders?
We’re seeing a litany of things coming out right now, both executive charters and rules published in the federal register and guidance to the agencies on carrying out these directives. I think that creates so much confusion and fear for people. Communities around the country are already really experiencing a chilling effect because of these.
An executive order is a messaging tactic as much as it is a policy tactic. So, I always remind myself that executive orders are really important to pay attention to but are not necessarily something that will have immediate impacts because of all of the hurdles for those things to be put in place.
This is just a reminder that fear, shock and awe are part of the tactic as much as changing policy on the ground is. ¬
Katrina Pham is Borderless Magazine’s audience engagement reporter. Email Katrina at katrina@borderlessmag.org.
Aydali Campa is a Report for America corps member and covers environmental justice and immigrant communities for Borderless Magazine. Send her an email at aydali@ borderlessmag.org
Demonstrators rallied near the Chicago Water Tower on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025, in protest of President Donald Trump and his policies. Photo courtesy Max Herman for Borderless Magazine
Cómo las órdenes ejecutivas pueden afectar la política de inmigración de EE.UU.
El uso de órdenes ejecutivas para cambiar la política de inmigración de Estados Unidos no es algo nuevo. Tampoco es tan fácil de implementar como podría pensarse.
POR KATRINA PHAM, AYDALI CAMPA, BORDERLESS MAGAZINE
En su primer día en el cargo, el presidente Donald Trump firmó 26 órdenes ejecutivas, más que ningún otro presidente moderno. Varias de ellas estaban relacionadas con la política de inmigración, incluidas órdenes para suspender el programa estadounidense de admisión de refugiados, designar a ciertas bandas de cárteles como grupos terroristas extranjeros y recortar los fondos federales de las jurisdicciones santuario que se niegan a cooperar con las operaciones de control de inmigración.
Algunas de esas órdenes entraron en vigor instantáneamente y tuvieron repercusiones inmediatas en la vida de los solicitantes de asilo y los refugiados, como la suspensión de la aplicación CBP One para solicitantes de asilo en la frontera y la cancelación de vuelos de refugiados afganos que habían sido previamente autorizados por los funcionarios de inmigración.
Otras órdenes ejecutivas, incluyendo su intento de negar la ciudadanía por derecho de nacimiento a los hijos de
padres sin estatus legal, se han enfrentado a varios desafíos legales que han impedido su entrada en vigor.
En medio de la oleada de órdenes ejecutivas, Borderless habló con Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh, del Migration Policy Institute (MPI por sus siglas en inglés), para que explicara las órdenes ejecutivas, sus limitaciones y las implicaciones de utilizarlas para manejar la política de inmigración.
Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh es analista política asociada del Programa de Política de Inmigración de EE.UU. del MPI. MPI es un grupo de expertos independiente y no partidista que investiga y analiza la política de inmigración.
Esta entrevista ha sido editada por razones de longitud y claridad.
Borderless: ¿Qué es una orden ejecutiva?
Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh: Una
orden ejecutiva es una orden dada por el presidente para aplicar algún tipo de política; es una directiva política. Funcionan de forma similar a una ley, en el sentido de que deben cumplirse, pero no pasan por el Congreso, lo que las deja muy expuestas a litigios. Por eso hemos visto tantas idas y venidas con la política de inmigración a través de órdenes ejecutivas. Podrían estar en vigor, ser objeto de litigio y luego no existir más.
¿Cuándo entra en vigor una orden ejecutiva? ¿Y sucede inmediatamente después de su emisión?
Depende de la orden. A veces, una orden ejecutiva da una directiva que entrará en vigor en un determinado número de días. A veces, entra en vigor inmediatamente. A veces, una orden ejecutiva establece otra cosa.
¿Es habitual que un presidente utilice órdenes ejecutivas para cambiar la política de inmigración y por qué?
Las órdenes ejecutivas han desempeñado un papel muy importante en la política de inmigración, sobre todo en los últimos 30 años. Hasta hace poco, cuando el Congreso aprobó la Ley Laken Riley, el Congreso no había aprobado un proyecto de ley de inmigración en unos 30 años. Los proyectos de ley de inmigración solían morir en el Congreso o no eran firmados por el presidente. Eso significaba que nada cambiaba realmente en la política de inmigración, a menos que se hiciera mediante una orden ejecutiva.
A la luz de la reciente aprobación de la Ley Laken Riley, es realmente difícil saber si esa tendencia continuará.
¿Estará este Congreso más abierto a aprobar legislación de inmigración?
¿Hasta qué punto pueden las órdenes ejecutivas cambiar la política de inmigración? ¿Cuáles son otras limitaciones a la promulgación de órdenes ejecutivas?
Hemos oído hablar de que la administración de Trump quiere poner en marcha una campaña de deportación masiva. Las órdenes ejecutivas que se han
firmado sientan algunas bases para tal esfuerzo, pero muchas de las directivas incluyen cosas como "ICE necesita ampliar su capacidad de detención," o "es necesario contratar a X número de agentes."
Aunque se trata de directivas, no siempre son fáciles de aplicar debido a las realidades operacionales. Parte de la limitación de las órdenes ejecutivas son los recursos disponibles, ya que no van acompañadas de financiación adicional para que estos organismos lleven a cabo sus directivas.
No sólo hay problemas operacionales, sino que las órdenes ejecutivas pueden hacer que las agencias de inmigración estén muy dispersas. Puede dificultar todas estas operaciones diferentes que deben llevarse a cabo al mismo tiempo.
Sin embargo, vemos que cada vez se emiten más directrices para las diferentes agencias tras la firma de las órdenes ejecutivas. Esto es importante porque las órdenes ejecutivas contienen ideas muy, muy grandes, pero los detalles de cómo ponerlas en práctica suelen venir en las directrices que se dan a las agencias posteriormente.
¿Ha habido algún impacto a largo plazo en la política de inmigración derivada de una orden ejecutiva? ¿Hay algunos ejemplos que puedas compartir?
Muchas medidas fronterizas podrían reducir las llegadas irregulares durante un par de meses y luego volver a aumentar. Sin embargo, la norma Secure the Border que ocurrió en junio [bajo la presidencia de Joe Biden], junto con diferentes opciones para que la gente emigrara con más regularidad, así como el aumento de la aplicación de la ley por parte de países como México o Panamá, se unieron para que se produjera esta reducción de las llegadas a la frontera.
La orden ejecutiva de Biden para limitar el asilo en la frontera perduró más allá del final de su mandato. ¿Es eso habitual? ¿O es más común que los presidentes, como hizo Trump en su primera semana en el cargo, reescriban y rescindan órdenes ejecutivas emitidas en una administración anterior? Es decir,
¿suelen cambiar las órdenes ejecutivas entre mandatos presidenciales?
Hemos visto muchos cambios de opinión. Un ejemplo es la guía interna de ICE sobre quiénes deberían ser las principales prioridades de ICE para la deportación.
Bajo Trump, esencialmente todos y funcionalmente cualquiera que tuviera una orden de expulsión o que estuviera en el país sin autorización era priorizado. Bajo la administración de Biden, vimos que esas prioridades se redujeron, pero ahora esas políticas han sido rescindidas, y estamos de vuelta funcionalmente apuntando a todos los que podrían estar sujetos a la expulsión.
Pero luego hemos visto que otras normas tienen durabilidad, como el programa "Permanecer en México."
En su primer mandato,Trump solo firmó una orden ejecutiva en su primer día en el cargo. Esta vez, Trump ha firmado 26 órdenes ejecutivas en su primer día, más que ningún otro presidente moderno. ¿Cómo compararías el enfoque de Trump en materia de inmigración en la primera semana de este mandato con el de su mandato anterior?
La administración de Trump llega a su segundo mandato con la ventaja tanto del tiempo como de la retrospectiva, ya que ha tenido cuatro años para prepararse y saber qué funcionó y qué no funcionó anteriormente según su agenda.
Muchas de sus órdenes ejecutivas ya se enfrentan a desafíos, como lo hicieron en su primer mandato, y pueden seguir enfrentándose a desafíos, pero también vemos esta combinación que no vimos antes: No es sólo un montón de órdenes; es un paquete de órdenes que se unen para cambiar potencialmente muchas piezas del sistema de inmigración tal como lo conocemos actualmente.
En el primer mandato, ordenaron inmediatamente la prohibición de viajar desde determinados países, lo que fue inmediatamente litigado. Esta vez, la orden ejecutiva pide que se informe para ver si es necesaria una prohibición de viajar para ciertos países, por lo que ha mejorado un poco.
Algunas de sus órdenes ejecutivas recién firmadas, como la ciudadanía por derecho de nacimiento, se enfrentan a desafíos legales. ¿Qué sigue?
Realmente depende de cada caso. Lo que también es complicado es que a menudo hay múltiples demandas contra una de las órdenes ejecutivas. La orden de ciudadanía por derecho de nacimiento, por ejemplo, tiene varios casos legales diferentes, por lo que la duración de cada uno de esos casos puede ser diferente. Los siguientes pasos serían determinar si esto prohíbe que entre en vigor o si entrará en vigor de alguna manera.
¿Hay algo más que los lectores deban entender a medida que oigan más sobre las órdenes ejecutivas?
Estamos viendo una letanía de cosas que están surgiendo ahora mismo, tanto cartas ejecutivas como normas publicadas en el registro federal y orientaciones a las agencias para llevar a cabo estas directivas. Creo que esto crea mucha confusión y miedo en la gente. Las comunidades de todo el país ya están experimentando un efecto paralizador debido a esto.
Una orden ejecutiva es tanto una táctica de mensajería como una táctica política. Así que siempre me recuerdo a mí misma que es muy importante prestar atención a las órdenes ejecutivas, pero que no son necesariamente algo que vaya a tener un impacto inmediato debido a todos los obstáculos que hay que superar para implementarlas.
Esto es solo un recordatorio de que el miedo, la conmoción y el asombro forman parte de la táctica, no solo el cambio de las políticas. ¬
Katrina Pham es la reportera de participación del público de Borderless Magazine. Envíale un correo electrónico a Katrina a katrina@ borderlessmag.org.
Aydalí Campa es miembro de Corps en "Report for America" y cubre temas de justicia medioambiental y comunidades migratorias para Borderless Magazine. Envíale un correo electrónico a aydali@borderlessmag. org
What to Know About Trump’s Effort to End Birthright Citizenship
Trump’s controversial executive order looks to deny citizenship to children born to noncitizens. The order has been temporarily blocked by a judge who called the move “blatantly unconstitutional.”
BY TARA MOBASHER, SAMANTHA NICOLE MONJE, BORDERLESS MAGAZINE
This story was originally published by Borderless Magazine. Visit their website and sign up for their newsletter at Borderlessmag. org
After being sworn into office, Donald Trump signed a flurry of executive orders, including an effort to end birthright citizenship— challenging a right granted by the U.S. Constitution.
The executive order seeks to deny children United States citizenship if their parents are noncitizens. The order has prompted lawsuits from more than twenty states and civil rights organizations that argue the move is unconstitutional and an abuse of power.
“We need to discuss bipartisan commonsense immigration reforms, but denying birthright citizenship, which dates back centuries and has been upheld twice by the U.S. Supreme Court, is not the solution,” said Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul.
Borderless put together a guide to help you understand Trump’s executive order, its ramifications and the challenges it faces.
What is birthright citizenship?
Birthright citizenship is a guaranteed right under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. The constitution states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
The amendment, ratified in 1868, sought to extend citizenship to formerly enslaved persons after the end of the Civil War.
Under the constitution, citizenship is granted through birthplace-based citizenship, regardless of the parent’s legal status, or restricted ancestry-based
citizenship as long as statutory requirements are met for that state.
The right was later reaffirmed in 1898 by the Supreme Court in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, which recognized that birthright citizenship is the process of citizenship automatically given to individuals upon birth in the United States, regardless of their parent’s status.
What does Trump’s executive order say?
The executive order argues that the 14th Amendment has “never been interpreted to extend citizenship universally to everyone born within the United States.” The administration hopes to reinterpret the phrasing “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” in the Amendment to mean that those who are in the country on temporary visas or without documentation are not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.
Trump and his administration argue that the Amendment does not extend to people born in the United States if their parents do not have at least legal permanent status. If the father isn’t a citizen or lawful permanent resident and the mother is either not legally in the U.S. or is temporarily in the country with a Visa, the administration argues.
The executive order instructs federal agencies to deny birthright citizenship to children born to undocumented parents and would apply to people born in the United States after February 19.
Can Trump overturn birthright citizenship?
Legal experts have said that Trump cannot end birthright citizenship with an executive order, and that this is something they expect to be decided in court.
“They are skipping any sort of due
process,” said Michael Lukens, executive director of the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights. “It is a complete reversal of American jurisprudence.”
A direct amendment to the U.S. Constitution would require a two-thirds vote in both chambers of Congress and approval from at least three-quarters of American states. However, advocates and legal scholars say that it is likely the decision will be made in court because it’s something he can’t decide on his own and can trigger legal challenges.
Who would this impact?
Each year, around 150,000 children are born in the U.S. to parents who do not have legal status, as stated in a lawsuit challenging the executive order.
The Pew Research Center estimated that 1.3 million adults are children of unauthorized immigrants, according to the latest data available in 2022.
The executive order would also impact H1-B visa holders, which grant temporary work to noncitizens. Under the executive order, children of H1-B visa holders born in the U.S. would also not be able to claim birthright citizenship. Around 600,000 immigrants who work in the U.S. are H1-B visa holders, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Who is challenging this executive order?
Illinois Attorney General Raoul joined at least 21 other states in filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration arguing the executive order was unconstitutional.
“That one of Donald Trump’s first days in office as president should be so diametrically opposed to our values as Americans is incredibly disappointing, though not surprising,” Raoul said. “The
children born in the U.S. to immigrants are entitled to the rights and privileges that go along with U.S. citizenship.”
Governor JB Pritzker called the effort to strip birthright citizenship from people born in this country was unconstitutional. “Here in Illinois, we follow the law,” Pritzker said, “and the people of Illinois can count on me to stand against unconstitutional actions.”
Advocacy groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and the Lawyers for Civil Rights have also filed lawsuits against Trump’s executive order.
The ACLU case cites that under this amendment, some children would also be denied required identification and, later on, the right to vote, serve on juries, hold some jobs, and be productive members of American society despite being born and having lived only in the United States.
What’s next?
Trump’s order was temporarily blocked by U.S. District Court Judge John Coughenour, who called it “blatantly unconstitutional.”
The order will prohibit Trump and federal employees from implementing the order until at least February 6. Each side will submit additional briefings on the legal merits of the executive order over the next two weeks.
Meanwhile, other legal challenges will be heard by other jurisdictions in the coming weeks.
Editor’s note: As of print time, three federal judges had issued injunctions blocking Trump’s birthright executive order. ¬
Tara Mobasher is a Northwestern Medill Reporting fellow at Borderless Magazine. Email Tara at Tara@borderlessmag.org.
Lo que debes saber sobre el intento de Trump de ponerle fin a la ciudadanía
por nacimiento
La polémica orden ejecutiva de Trump busca negarles la ciudadanía a los hijos de padres indocumentados en el país. La orden ha sido bloqueada por ser inconstitucional.
Esta nota fue publicada originalmente por Borderless Magazine. Visite su sitio web y suscríbase a su boletín informativo en Borderlessmag.org
Después de tomar posesión de su cargo, Donald Trump firmó una serie de órdenes ejecutivas, incluyendo una iniciativa que busca ponerle fin a la ciudadanía por nacimiento, desafiando un derecho otorgado por la Constitución de los Estados Unidos.
La orden ejecutiva pretende negar la ciudadanía a los niños estadounidenses, si sus padres no tienen estatus legal. La orden ha provocado demandas de más de 20 estados y organizaciones de derechos civiles que argumentan que la medida es inconstitucional y un abuso de poder.
"Tenemos que debatir reformas migratorias con sensatez, pero negar la ciudadanía por derecho de nacimiento, que data siglos atrás y ha sido ratificada dos veces por la Corte Suprema de EE.UU., no es la solución", dijo Kwame Raoul, fiscal general de Illinois.
Borderless preparó una guía para ayudarle a entender la orden ejecutiva de Trump, su impacto y los desafíos que enfrenta.
¿Qué es la ciudadanía por nacimiento?
La ciudadanía por nacimiento es un derecho otorgado por la 14ª Enmienda de la Constitución. La Constitución establece: "Todas las personas nacidas o naturalizadas en los Estados Unidos, y sujetas a su jurisdicción, son ciudadanos de los Estados Unidos y del Estado en el que residen".
La enmienda, adoptada en 1868, buscó extender la ciudadanía a las personas anteriormente esclavizadas tras el final de la Guerra Civil.
Según la Constitución, la ciudadanía se otorga a través de la ciudadanía basada en el lugar de nacimiento, independientemente del estatus legal de los padres, o la ciudadanía restringida por ascendencia, siempre que requisitos legales se cumplan por ese estado.
El derecho fue reiterado más adelante en 1898 por la Corte Suprema en el caso Estados Unidos contra Wong Kim Ark, que reconoció que la ciudadanía por derecho de nacimiento es el proceso de ciudadanía que se otorga automáticamente a las personas nacidas en los Estados Unidos, independientemente del estatus de sus padres.
¿Qué dice la orden ejecutiva de Trump?
La orden ejecutiva argumenta que la 14ª Enmienda "nunca pretendió extender la ciudadanía universalmente a todos los que hayan nacido en Estados Unidos". La administración espera revaluar el contexto "sujetos a la jurisdicción" de la Enmienda para expresar que quienes se encuentran en el país con visas temporales o sin documentos no están sujetos a la jurisdicción de Estados Unidos. Trump y su administración alega que la Enmienda no se extiende a las personas nacidas en Estados Unidos si sus padres no tienen al menos una residencia legal permanente —si el padre no es ciudadano o residente legal y la madre no está legalmente en Estados Unidos o se encuentra temporalmente en el país con una visa.
La orden ejecutiva declara que las agencias federales ya no deberían reconocer a los niños nacidos de padres indocumentados como ciudadanos después del 19 de febrero y que solamente se aplicaría a personas nacidas en los Estados Unidos.
¿Puede Trump revocar la ciudadanía por nacimiento?
Expertos legales han dicho que Trump no puede poner fin a la ciudadanía por derecho de nacimiento con una orden ejecutiva, y que es algo que esperan que se decida en los tribunales.
"Se están pasando por encima de cualquier tipo de proceso requerido", dijo Michael Lukens, director ejecutivo del Centro Amica para los Derechos de los
Inmigrantes. "Es una completa renovación de la jurisprudencia estadounidense".
Un cambio directo a la Constitución de Estados Unidos necesitaría dos tercios de los votos en ambas cámaras del Congreso y la aprobación de al menos tres cuartos de los estados norteamericanos. Sin embargo, defensores y expertos legales dicen que es probable que la decisión se tome en los tribunales porque es algo que no se puede decidir por sí solo y puede desencadenar obstáculos legales.
¿A quién afectaría?
Cada año nacen en EE.UU. unos 150,000 niños de padres que no tienen estatus legal, según afirma una demanda contra la orden ejecutiva.
El Centro de Investigación Pew calcula que 1.3 millones de adultos son hijos de inmigrantes indocumentados, según los últimos datos disponibles de 2022.
La orden ejecutiva también afectaría a quienes tienen la visa H1-B, que otorga trabajo temporal a quienes no son ciudadanos. Según la orden ejecutiva, los hijos de personas que tienen visa H1-B nacidos en Estados Unidos tampoco podrán declarar su derecho a la ciudadanía por nacimiento. Alrededor de 600,000 inmigrantes que trabajan en EE.UU. tienen visas H1-B, según el Instituto de Póliza Económica.
¿Quién está en contra de esta orden ejecutiva?
Raoul, el fiscal general de Illinois, junto con al menos otros 21 estados presentaron una demanda contra la administración de Trump argumentando que la orden ejecutiva era inconstitucional.
"Que uno de los primeros días de Donald Trump como presidente sea tan directamente opuesto a nuestros valores como estadounidenses es increíblemente decepcionante, aunque no sorprendente", dijo Raoul. "Los hijos de inmigrantes nacidos en Estados Unidos tienen derecho a los derechos y privilegios que conlleva la ciudadanía estadounidense".
El gobernador JB Pritzker calificó el intento de negar la ciudadanía por derecho de nacimiento a las personas nacidas en este país como inconstitucional. "Aquí, en Illinois, cumplimos la ley", Pritzker dijo, "y el pueblo de Illinois puede contar conmigo para oponerse a acciones inconstitucionales".
Grupos de defensa como el American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) y Abogados por Los Derechos Civiles también han presentado demandas contra la orden ejecutiva de Trump.
El caso ACLU cita que bajo esta enmienda, a algunos niños se les negaría los documentos de identificación requeridos y, más adelante, el derecho a votar, formar parte de jurados, ocupar algunos puestos de trabajo y ser miembros productivos de la sociedad estadounidense a pesar de haber nacido y vivido únicamente en Estados Unidos.
¿Qué viene después?
La orden de Trump fue bloqueada temporalmente por el juez del Tribunal de Distrito de EE.UU. John Coughenour, que la calificó "absolutamente inconstitucional".
La orden prohibirá a Trump y a empleados federales implementar la orden hasta por lo menos el 6 de febrero. Cada parte presentará informes adicionales sobre los fundamentos de la orden ejecutiva en las próximas dos semanas.
Mientras tanto, otras jurisdicciones conocerán de otros obstáculos legales las próximas semanas.
Nota de la editora: Al cierre de edición, tres jueces federales habían emitido órdenes judiciales que bloqueaban la orden ejecutiva de Trump sobre el derecho de ciudadanía por nacimiento. ¬
Tara Mobasher es becaria de Northwestern Medill Reporting en Borderless Magazine. Puedes enviarle un correo electrónico a Tara a Tara@borderlessmag.org. Samantha Nicole Monje es pasante de Northwestern Medill Reporting en Borderless Magazine.
Father of the Black Age
South Side artist Turtel Onli, a longtime Weekly contributor, passed away in January.
BY LEX HARRELL
Editor’s note: Longtime Weekly contributor and Hyde Parker, comic artist, author, and educator Turtel Onli passed away on January 15. To begin to shine a light on Onli and his contributions to the Weekly, we’re reprinting this as-told-to interview with Onli from 2015, as well as a couple of his pieces from our 2016 Comics Issue.
Do Black people read?” It’s 1981 and Turtel Onli is biting his tongue in a New York City office. “When Black people read science fiction, do they understand it?” Onli is pitching a revolutionary idea for the industry, but the vice president of a big-name comic book company is confused: What purpose do African Americans have in comic books? No one could possibly want to read about a black Superman. So Onli leaves, empty-handed and determined. But he didn’t want just a job. He wanted an entire genre. So he didn’t get mad. He got busy.
As Peter Tosh once sang, “We’re sick and tired of your -ism and schism game.” Onli has dedicated his life to preventing “-ism schisms” from defining who he is. His projects have included coining the term “Rhythmism” to define his stylizations; founding the Black Arts Guild; teaching art classes in Chicago Public Schools; establishing art therapy programs at mental health centers; working as a major-market illustrator for magazines such as Playboy and Ebony; and teaching at Harold Washington College. It’s hard to imagine a New York executive disputing the passion pouring out of this man’s mind because of the color of his skin.
With the publication of his first comic, NOG: The Protector of the Pyramides, which focused on his character Nubian of Greatness, Onli pioneered the innovative Black Age of Comic Books. He describes
the genre as exploring “material that comes from a Black African independent or urban experience.” In 1993, Onli also created the first Black Age of Comics convention, which took place at the South Side Community Art Center. The back page of his comic Malcom-10
reads, “In this time of drift, where lack of integrity, rudeness, discourtesy, education ‘is a white thang,’ and ‘kicking back with a 40,’ are the definitions of Blackness, in this time where Super rude is cool, we are in dire need of Black super heroes, to inspire and guide our youth.”
Weekly sat down with Onli in his Bridgeport studio to discuss how he became a self-identified Black-hippie, what’s wrong with the comic book industry, and how he launched the Black Age. An edited and condensed version of this conversation follows.
The
PHOTO COURTESY OF TURTEL ONLI, FROM 2015
Igrew up in Hyde Park before the Civil Rights Act. My grandfather, who is Black, owned seven buildings, including a huge building in Hyde Park. There was an orphanage nearby that had white students in it. And Donny and Tommy were my friends. When we were about nine, they explained to me they had potato soup for Thanksgiving. I sneak them food. There was a wall around the orphanage, we used to jump up and down to play and talk to each other. That’s how we played! A lot of my playmates as a little boy were Black, white, African, Japanese, Polish immigrants, Jewish immigrants. Because of what I grew up with as a kid, let’s just say my peers, I was a little different than them. I got a job working downtown in the Prudential building. In 1968, when Martin Luther King got murdered, the city’s on lockdown because there’s riots. We couldn’t go home because the city was under martial law. I’m up there seeing what they’re not televising. People getting murdered. People getting their ass whooped. Police beating the hell out of people. I’m sixteen. So I had a little bit of a convergence. I decide America’s falling apart and it’s all going to dissipate into a chaotic revolution. I think in some
kind of way being an artist can help that not happen. Magical thinking. Art to the rescue. So I want to start an artist’s guild.
I formed an artist’s guild coming out of high school. The idea of the guild was to, one, help talented visual artists to make the transition from art student to creative professional. And internally, we were going to change the pickaninny into a positive icon, like the leprechaun. If the leprechaun could be drunk and claim he has a pot of gold and everybody think it’s cute and wonderful, why can’t the pickaninny chill out and smoke a joint and eat some watermelon and that be cool too, right?
My way of responding to a problem or an opposition is not to get mad but to get busy. I was at the Louvre, and I saw this exhibit. They had engravings from Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign and they had a garrison set up, and the sand of the Sphinx was up to its neck. So the guns were up, and they were blasting the face. Napoleon was offended that anyone could admit that Black Africans had a civilization of that level at any time in history. So he, art historians, archaeologists, they don’t show you the Black folks. We don’t want to tell THE
story. And I’m sitting there in the Louvre and I’m like, mkay. So that’s when Nubian of Greatness was created.
The power of comic books is that it forces you to digest words and pictures. It is the process of pictures and words that has made us human. That has given us neurologically a big brain. The more art you did, the bigger your brain got. And the more your audience checked out your art, the bigger their brain got. So I looked at the comic book industry and I ran into things. Remember I said I don’t just get mad, I get busy? So I got real busy. I’m like, I’m gonna launch a genre.
I launched a movement. I gave it its name, and they had me come out to Temple University and gave me a lifetime achievement award. On the award, it said Father of the Black Age of Comics, which I’m still getting used to saying in a sentence. It’s one of those humbling honors that is taking a while to digest.
So a lot of things happen and I publish my first book, NOG: The Protector of the Pyramides. I wanted my copyright; I want to negotiate this sucker. What you’re missing is that back then, I was hard-core vegan. I used to wear sandals in the winter. I used to not use hot water unless I had
an injury. I didn’t date meat-eaters—even if they were cute. I used to coat myself with olive oil mixed with special coconut oil resin. That ain’t really what they were expecting on the other side of the desk, least of all packaged as this.
We’ve come a long way. When we can’t say that, we miss everything. But there it goes. It’s so funny because when I conceived Black Age, one part of it was simple language: if you come from a Black background that puts you in the Black Age. I couldn’t believe the pushback. In Black circles. In Black panAfrican circles. In white circles. In Jewish circles. I was like, mkay, this is going to be a long-ass whooping, but I’m in it to take it.
It was new, and they could not conceive of it. No one had put those two words together. I had people from all those points of view tell me those words don’t go together. Because there is something empowering when you call it a Black Age. And how dare you, who gives you the right to call it that? I’m not going to trademark it. You can’t trademark a movement. So I’m just going to throw it out there. I’m just gonna throw it out there, because it’s not a movement
Comic 1, 2 & 3: Untitled, Turtel Onli. Printed in the Weekly’s 2016 Comics Issue.
if I own it. It’s a movement if you can participate and say, well, I want to do this with it. Well, honey, go for it, and let’s see what you do. That’s a movement.
I could tell the success of the Black Age of Comics, because the industry has responded with hiring more Black people, more women, more Asians, with diversifying this product line. [But they’re far behind.] They’re very archaic, very unenlightened. And people haven’t challenged it, so I’ve been taking a hit. We’ve been growing. It’s been slow. It’s been hard. It’s not like food. Say you go down the street and you see a sign that says “Chinese food,” you don’t turn to your friend and say, “Oh we’re not from China, they must not want our business.” You don’t say, “Maybe they only want Chinese people there.” You say to each other, “Let’s check it out.” But when we call something Black, because your mind is messed up, the first thing you say, you think it must only be for Black people and they don’t want us there. Who did that to you? Because we didn’t. When we say Black, we giving you an idea of what it is. So you can check it out. And not in intolerance, but in appreciation. So we don’t get this “do Black people read?”
If I’m gonna take on a fight, let me take on a fight to grow fresh instead of rehabbing stale. I know what you’re doing. But more importantly, I know what I’m doing. And it’s changes like this that I let flow through me, and I keep pushing that ball uphill. Because people don’t like a pioneer. If we have any tradition in this country, it’s called growth and change. We’ve come a long way. When we can’t say that, we miss everything. We miss everything. But there it goes. ¬
Turtel Onli’s studio in 2015.
Turtel Onli’s studio in 2015.
Photo by Alex Harrell
Representing Redemption
A violence interrupter who grew up in Chicago’s gang culture tells his story in a new book he co-authors.
BY EVAN F. MOORE
To join a gang or not to join? People who grew up in Chicago often remember having to make a decision predicated on their geography and their survival.
Cobe Williams, who co-authored the book Interrupting Violence: One Man's Journey to Heal the Streets and Redeem Himself with Josh Gryniewicz, saw 1990s gang culture as normalized because his father was a Black Disciples gang member.
Williams is best known for his appearance in the critically acclaimed 2011 documentary The Interrupters which tells the story of CeaseFire, a group of Chicago street outreach workers who leveraged their life experiences to stop violent confrontations in city neighborhoods.
In the book, Williams discusses the trips his family would take to visit his father in prison. Later, he’d follow in his footsteps:
“Dad went down on his knee and took my hands in his own. One of his mitts swallowed my own tiny kid-sized hands in a single gesture. He contorted my fingers into flashing a three, then bent both hands to form a star with digits. The guys thought it was hilarious. In response, they roared with laughter and a round of applause, throwing signs back and patting me on the head.
an organization that treats violence as a health issue by implementing prevention programs in collaboration with impacted communities.
We took some Polaroids with Dad, posing like doing a family portrait at Sears studio. It was some side hustle for one of the guards to sell the instant images. Then it was all over. It seemed we were in the parking lot before the images even developed. The whole thing was a whirlwind. I was still floating on the high of that attention, though. I could feel my father’s palm print, still warm on the back of my head and a sense of confidence rushing through me.”
These days, Williams is the Director of U.S. Programs for Cure Violence Global,
Williams knows from personal experience how violence—specifically, learned behaviors—can destroy families, which often bottoms out the community as a whole.
Williams, born and bred in Englewood, sat down with the Weekly to discuss how gang culture was normal for him at a young age, what media and other institutions often miss when studying violence, and how Chicago stacks up when it comes to violence in other urban centers.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
In the book, you discuss how people who were originally friends—once they became gang-affiliated, those friendships were severed. In some cases, you know, they became rivals. It seems like that phenomenon was pretty common in 1990s Chicago. Why do you feel that needed to be noted in the book?
When you start off as kids playing football… As you get older, that friendship stuff still remains right there, but everybody ends up going their separate ways. And by them going their separate ways, they become a part of different street organizations. And once you become a part of the street organization, now I’m looking at this person as my opposition or something … But remaining friends
[with some], though, it helped us mediate a lot of conflicts, and stopped a lot of that stuff when a lot of shooting and killing was going on, because you had that relationship with a person. I think one thing I always try to remind people is we can’t forget about our history, our roots and different things like that… It was more violence then, in the late 80s and early 90s, than it is now. So I want to say it's ways that you could look at the old and now look at the new, and see what are some of the things that you could put in place to help stop it before [the violence] will get that high.
What do you think people are unaware of when it comes to violence in communities?
It was really normal to see somebody get shot or somebody get killed, or somebody get jumped on, or whatever. It was a normal thing. And you are seeing so much of that… But people don’t understand, you know, the cards we was dealt. It’s like, from the beginning, we already was dealt a bad hand. So it’s really now trying to play survival, and how to maneuver out these situations and all that. These situations have always been right there. We know, growing up and seeing it, being exposed to so much violence and all that… And sometimes people felt like it wasn’t important because they weren’t experiencing some of that violence until it hit home. I always tell people it’s important to try to get involved. Everybody ain't got to be like I was, like a mediator...a guy who mediates conflict, deescalate, everybody ain't got to be that, but to resolve a lot of these conflicts and all that a lot of times people, what they end up doing is just seeing this from afar and don’t want to get involved with it until it hit home. Somehow, everybody
Author Cobe Williams.
Photo provided
got to be like a mediator.
In the book, you explained how the press, and then the police, kind of had a certain view on how to do things, and that also interfered with how CeaseFire saw things. So what do you know that the media and police don't understand about violence?
I think it’s important for people to try to understand people and meet people where they are. That’s so important. And you’ll never understand what people have been going through. But a lot of times I say—with the organization I’m a part of, Cure Violence Global, we focus on behavior-changing mindsets; changing behavior. We meet people where they are. We’re not being judgmental. So a lot of people come from different walks of life, and they’re going through so many things. A lot of them are so traumatized. They’ve been through so much trauma in their life, it’s so much trauma built up inside of them…. Somebody makes a choice in their life, and they might end up in a penitentiary; some people end up getting killed or dead, and sometimes people are put in situations…. And sometimes people don’t understand that.
Since you’ve traveled a lot talking about violence and how that can manifest in communities. How is Chicago different from other places?
We definitely have these problems everywhere. I know people are turning on the news, and I know I’m based in Chicago, but these same problems are tearing down this country. I’m gonna tell you three communities that stuck out. I’m like, man, I thought Chicago was something. And these places ain’t big, the population ain’t bigger than Chicago, but it's something else. I remember when I was going to Camden, New Jersey; North Philly, and Albany, New York—and that's the capital of New York. Man, these places ain’t no joke. You see a lot of the same violence everywhere...violence definitely just spreads like a disease. Even me going out of the country to places like Trinidad and all that. I look at some spots man— not trying to compare— but people think Chicago tough... When going to these places, getting out the car, you know these
are dangerous spots. When you’ve been in the trenches, been in the streets all your life, you know where you’re at when you hit these places. We’re working with people all over the world, and we’re working with people like myself, who are credible, who are from these communities, who have relationships and all that, but you still keep you on your P's and Q's. Where you are watching yourself, watching your surroundings and everything. Because you know, Chicago is a place that really teaches you a lesson.
In the book, you discussed how “normal” it felt when you used to go see your father in prison. Considering your own prison experience, knowing that you would go see your dad and then end up there yourself… What would you tell young Cobe—or somebody like a young Cobe—or even your own children?
So back then when I was going to see my father, it was kind of crazy because I remember we’d be in the visiting room, and his friends was teaching me how to
represent [a gang], how to throw up signs and different things like that. You know what I’m saying? Well, he was cool with everybody and everybody knew him and all that. So it’s all about the respect he had while he was in there. So me, following his footsteps, you don’t really want to be like him because he is my role model, and that’s who I looked up to, and me wanting to be like him and start living that same lifestyle with him. … But I look back at all that like, damn man, I spent time in these places… So now I wouldn’t want to see my son go through that. I think it’s important to be able to show him something different and all that. And, you know, I must say, all my life, I knew right from wrong. But I still chose to go down that road because, I guess I thought I was slick and it was cool until I got older.
What would you tell someone who’s new to town and wants to see how the city really moves, or they want to get involved somehow?
So when I think about anybody who wants to get involved somehow, I respect Joakim [Noah, former Bulls center] and Matt [Forte, former Bears running back] because they went through the community and saw what’s going on… So I think it’s important for brothers or sisters to go through the community and listen to the people in the community and hear what they got going on in these communities and all that.
How do you reckon with your past?
You’re doing the work of violence interruption, knowing that no matter what you’ve unlearned, some folks will always see you as a gang member or a felon.
Yeah, I mean, I still get that all the time. … I’ve been doing this violence prevention work for over twenty years. I think it’s important for people to let the past be the past and let people continue doing what they’re doing. You know, I took so much from the community, but now I’m giving so much back to the community, and I want people to understand that. And I want people to recognize it’s going to be a lot of brothers and sisters coming home from prison and different things like that, but man, give them that second chance that they deserve. I look at a person like me and a lot of people all over the world who are doing violence prevention. We started one way and we finished it in another way. So man, let us be. And a lot of times, people don’t give us that opportunity to let us be and grow and come back and be a part of society.
Can you tell me about a conversation you’ve had regarding forgiveness and coexistence when it comes to violence? Because, locally, we’re aware of Ben Wilson and years later, his brothers forgave his killer.
I think people have to remember a lot of times when we’re young, we want to [act like we’re] mature all the way, right? And I’m saying that our brains wasn’t adapted and fully developed. A lot of times we made a lot of choices in our life that affected families, our family and our life. So you know, things happened in the past, but now…. I understand some people ain’t going to be forgiving as everybody, because some situations are different, right? So the people who do forgive people, I applaud them, but the people who won’t forgive people, I ain’t gonna try to put nothing negative on them. Because sometimes you never know what somebody put somebody through.
Interrupting Violence: One Man's Journey to Heal the Streets and Redeem Himself by Cobe Williams and Josh Gryniewicz. 328 pages. Rowman & Littlefield Publishing, 2024. $29.95 Hardback. ¬
Evan F. Moore is an award-winning writer, author, and DePaul University journalism adjunct instructor. Evan is a third-generation South Shore homeowner.
Can We Drive 25?
The
way we build our streets matters and has a big impact on traffic safety. In my neighborhood of Archer Heights, we’ve built Pulaski to be seven lanes wide.
BY DIXON GALVEZ-SEARLE
I’m out for a walk in my neighborhood and a 4,000–pound vehicle speeds by me at 40, 50, 60 miles per hour just feet from where I stand. A few thoughts come to mind:
“Somebody’s in a hurry,” “That was close,” and several others that are probably best kept to myself.
But the main thing that comes to mind is a question: What’s it going to take to slow these reckless drivers down?
It’s a question many of my neighbors have been asking over the past year after two people were killed in separate hitand-run crashes while crossing south Pulaski Road: Jiekun Xu in the middle of the afternoon last February and Charlie Mills a few months later, on Easter night.
Last month, the City Council weighed in on the question of traffic safety by debating a trio of “Vision Zero” measures, the most eye-catching of which would have lowered the citywide speed limit to 25 miles per hour.
Although the speed limit vote has been held off, there are reasons to be optimistic about such a change. Other cities that have lowered their speed limits in recent years, such as New York, Boston, and Seattle, have seen significant declines in dangerous speeding, crashes, and fatalities.
But lowering the speed limit is an incomplete answer to this thorny question.
For one thing, the law would not apply to roads managed by the Illinois Department of Transportation that are magnets for speeding, congestion, and vehicle crashes.
Wide streets like Pulaski Road, Cicero Avenue, and Archer Avenue would continue to post speed limits of 30 miles per hour and to facilitate speeds
much higher than that.
State legislation would be required to lower the speed limit on Chicago’s many state routes, but simply changing our signs from 30 to 25 won’t make these streets much safer.
Here on the Southwest Side, some neighbors believe stricter enforcement of traffic laws and heightened surveillance are the only way to curb dangerous driving. But while law enforcement may be well-suited to breaking up an active street takeover or investigating a devastating crash, the police can’t be everywhere—and wherever squad cars (or speed cameras) aren’t, that’s where drivers will start to speed right back up.
What we need is a different approach
to street design.
The way we build our streets matters and has a big impact on traffic safety. In my neighborhood of Archer Heights, we’ve built Pulaski to be seven lanes wide, with four traffic lanes, a free-and-clear median, and two often unused parking lanes.
It feels like we have a highway cutting through the middle of our residential neighborhood, complete with the debris of car crashes regularly swept to the curb and nary a pedestrian in sight.
Thankfully, the city is piloting a series of temporary, plastic safety infrastructure on Pulaski with an eye towards permanent concrete infrastructure in the near future. The goal is simple: to make it physically
impossible for drivers to engage in some of the most dangerous behavior.
Eager to speed through the median, either as part of an overnight drag race or to bypass rush hour traffic? Good luck doing that after the city installs concrete tree planters.
Itching to zip through an unused parking lane for a few blocks, mere feet from pedestrians on the sidewalk? A concrete bumpout at the intersection could make you think twice.
These types of design changes may not seem up to the task of stemming frequent vehicle crashes (more than 1,000 on my thirty-block stretch of Pulaski in 2023). But they can be part of a suite of approaches, along with a lower citywide speed limit, smarter enforcement, and reliable bus service, that can reduce crashes and improve quality of life.
On the days that I walk to the CTA Orange Line from my house, a roughly one-mile trek down Pulaski, it’s not uncommon for me to be the only person on foot. Imagine walking a mile in Chicago through a densely populated neighborhood at 8:00 in the morning, and not seeing a single soul. This is a sure sign we’re doing something wrong.
Safer streets would draw my neighbors out of their homes, out of their cars, and into the community, in addition to reducing crashes and saving lives.
It’s a goal our communities should pursue with all deliberate speed. ¬
Dixon Galvez-Searle is the transit advocacy steward for the local community group The Southwest Collective. A lifelong Chicagoan, he lives in Archer Heights and regularly walks, bikes, and drives throughout the Southwest Side.
Residents are advocating for adding safety infrastructure to Pulaski Rd., like the median seen here on 79th Street and Hamlin Ave. Photo by Dixon Galvez-Searle
How Are Chicago Schools Responding to Increased Immigration Enforcement?
Here are five examples.
BY REEMA AMIN, SAMANTHA SMYLIE, CHALKBEAT CHICAGO
This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters
On Chicago’s North Side, a Spanish-speaking teacher persuaded a nervous migrant mother, who had stopped sending her son to school because of fear of the Trump administration’s immigration raids, to let him come back.
In Brighton Park, a majority Latino neighborhood on the city’s Southwest Side, an elementary school principal has been sharing his experience as an immigrant, so that families feel more comfortable.
In Pilsen, a predominantly Latino neighborhood and historically a neighborhood where Mexican families have immigrated to, a high school launched an emergency immigration chat and told parents that it’s OK for students with immigration concerns to stay home.
As part of a vow to crack down on illegal immigration, President Donald Trump in his first week in office canceled a previous policy to keep ICE agents away from “sensitive locations,” such as schools and churches. Federal agents have stepped up “targeted immigration enforcement” in Chicago, arresting at least 100 people in the city and surrounding suburbs, Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling told reporters Tuesday.
During a Chicago Board of Education meeting Thursday, Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez urged parents to send their children to school “so they can receive the education they deserve.”
the school told families that it’s safe. She also stayed home from her job at a nail salon.
Chalkbeat is only using Nathy’s first name to protect her privacy.
Nathy and her family have Temporary Protected Status, which allows her to live and work in the U.S. This type of status was extended to October 2026 by former President Joe Biden’s administration shortly before he left office. However, on Tuesday, the Trump administration revoked the extension, making it unclear how long people like Nathy can remain legally in the U.S., the New York Times reported. Nathy had applied for asylum, which provides a path to citizenship, but her request was denied during an immigration court hearing in December, she said.
CPS schools, which have received thousands of migrant students in recent years, are training staff and families on their rights and grappling with how to convince their communities that schools are safe. The Chicago Teachers Union has called on the district, which has trained principals, to train more staff; CPS said it is “exploring additional options for providing teacher training.”
Those efforts were put to the test on Friday, when staff at Hamline Elementary School in the Back of the Yards neighborhood falsely reported turning away Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, sparking fear among already anxious staff and students. The district later confirmed that the agents
“School is where every child in our city belongs regardless of their immigration status, and we will do everything in our power to protect them while they’re in our care,” Martinez said.
were U.S. Secret Service investigating a threat, but advocates said the school’s response was proof that staff was trained well.
“This is the first time that I had heard of the protocol working after the sensitive locations memo was pulled, and that’s really important evidence for us advocates—[and] even parents—to see this could work,” said Alejandra Vázquez Baur, who leads the National Newcomer Network, a group of educators, advocates, and researchers who focus on equity for newcomer immigrant students.
Teacher allays fears of migrant mom
Nathy, who came to the United States in 2023 from Venezuela to flee political persecution, kept her son out of his elementary school last week, even though
Now, Nathy is fearful of being sent back to Venezuela, which the Biden administration labeled as experiencing a “severe humanitarian crisis.” She, her two sons—one of whom is no longer in school—and her brother stayed inside their apartment last week, she said.
Her younger son, however, wanted to go back to school and “was very stressed locked up at home,” she said in Spanish via text message.
After her son was absent for a few days, one of the school’s Spanishspeaking teachers reached out to Nathy to persuade her to send him to school.
“He sent me an email with the rights we have and how they protect children at school,” she said.
On Tuesday, Nathy took her son back to class and also returned to work. She couldn’t afford to miss out on more pay, she said.
Her son is happy to be back, but
Photo Taylor Flowe via Unsplash
Nathy is still nervous, she said.
“Before I felt calm,” she said by text. “Now it’s a nightmare to live here. ”
Elementary principal relates to immigrant families
At Gunsaulus Scholastic Academy in Brighton Park, where nearly half of the students were English language learners last year, the principal has unique credibility with families: He struggled for decades with his own immigration status.
Principal Marlon Henriquez said he and his mother were undocumented when they left El Salvador in 1996 to join Henriquez’s father in the United States. In 2001, they and other Salvadorian nationals were granted Temporary Protected Status and authorization to work in the U.S. after devastating earthquakes in El Salvador, he said. Awaiting his work authorization renewal over the years always made Henriquez anxious, he said.
“Once that date was up, it was possible I would not be able to work,” Henriquez said.
Last May, Henriquez was granted a green card—legal permanent residency— after decades in the United States. He’s been sharing his story in recent weeks with school families to let them know: “I’m with them, I support them, and I understand how difficult this can be.”
Gunsaulus has shared information, just like other schools, about what the school will do in the event ICE shows up, including turning immigration agents away unless they have a criminal judicial warrant signed by a federal judge. He’s also asked families to create an emergency plan for their children in case their parents or guardians are detained by ICE.
“That helped our families understand: We do not have to go into panic mode, but we have to be proactive,” he said.
Pilsen high school principal says it’s OK to stay home
On the eve of Trump’s inauguration, the principal of Benito Juarez High School, where 46 percent of students were English learners last year, alerted families
about potential deportation plans in Chicago. It’s OK, he said, to stay home.
“Please know that while our school is safe and that our students will be protected while they are in school, I also understand that there is a lot of fear and anxiety among our families,” Juan Carlos Ocon, the principal, wrote in a message on January 19 obtained by Chalkbeat. “I will support your decision to send your students to school and I will support your decision to not send your children to school if you believe they are safer if they remain home.”
In a follow-up email the next day, Ocon told parents that all homework and projects would be available via Google Classroom. He attached a PowerPoint informing families of their rights and urged them to provide emergency contact information and create a phone tree “in case you have an encounter with ICE.”
Aimee Galban, a parent of a freshman at Juarez, said the emergency chat created by the school includes an alderman and allows families to discuss and verify things such as sightings of federal immigration enforcement.
“I think open conversations and communication is all that we have, because we can’t constantly live in fear,” Galban said.
CEO Martinez, who is an alumnus of Juarez, previously told Chalkbeat that the district won’t be implementing remote learning. CPS has sent multiple emails to families about the district’s policies on immigration, including reiterating that it doesn’t collect immigration information and will turn ICE away from schools in most instances.
A CPS spokesperson said Juarez is not providing remote instruction, and it’s normal to use Google Classroom to post assignments. Schools “collaborate with students individually” to address the reasons for their absences.
Juarez staff received a “Know Your Rights” training last Tuesday—a professional development day for teachers—about protections for immigrants and what to do if approached by immigration enforcement. Later that week, all Juarez students got a similar training, said Jonah Bondurant, a Juarez teacher who works with students with
disabilities.
But there were signs of fear at the school when students were first back after a long weekend and Trump’s inauguration, he said. Attendance was just under 60 percent that Wednesday, and rose to just under 75 percent later in the week, Bondurant said. Other factors for low attendance could have been last week’s frigid temperatures and that it was a short week.
Kids who did show up displayed mixed emotions and different levels of understanding of immigration rights and fears, Bondurant said. Seniors, who might recall increased immigration fears during Trump’s first term in office, seemed more aware of the issue, he said.
“Some people are afraid. Some people are using humor, I would say, to kind of, you know, cope,” Bondurant said. “But they were very attentive to, you know, taking in the information about their rights.”
Charter network tries to alleviate stress for students
At the Noble charter school network, which operates a handful of schools with larger immigrant populations, principals and staff were provided with information on what to do if ICE shows up at their school doors.
Aidé Acosta, chief college officer for Noble, said some schools heard fears from students last week, which coincided with finals. As part of her role, Acosta works on scholarships for undocumented students and is helping lead the network’s response to immigration concerns.
School leaders decided they would provide accommodations for the exams for students dealing with immigration concerns “on a case by case basis,” Acosta said, who didn’t elaborate on what those accommodations were.
Acosta said she is also trying to combat misinformation, including false reports of immigration enforcement. The incident at Hamline—which Acosta believes was handled well by the Hamline staff—inadvertently caused people to spread more misinformation and fear, she said.
School leaders’ work “includes
ensuring we’re sharing reliable information because our families and communities are in a lot of pain at this moment,” Acosta said.
Community group supports families, students
False or unverified reports of ICE showing up and misinformation online can make each day feel like a game of “Whack-A-Mole,” said Andrea Ortiz, director of organizing at Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, which provides wraparound services at Gunsaulus.
Ortiz said her organization has been providing Know Your Rights training for students at high schools they partner with on the Southwest Side. Students often ask questions only attorneys can answer, she said, such as what risks do people with Temporary Protected Status face. She shares websites and phone numbers for free or low-cost attorneys.
She said she wants students to “feel prepared and confident in exercising those rights.”
Ortiz said the organization’s clinicians, who work with schools directly, are also holding support groups for families. She recounted a story from a parent at one of their partner elementary schools who shared that one morning, while getting her children ready for school, they heard a knock at the door and feared it was immigration enforcement. It ended up being the sheriff’s office knocking on a door on the floor below, but the moment “was really triggering for them” and scared the kids, Ortiz said.
Brighton Park’s clinicians jumped in, offering extra support to the mother, and the organization shared information on what to do if ICE did come to their door, Ortiz said.¬
Chalkbeat.org is a nonprofit news organization covering public education.
Borderless Magazine is reimagining immigration journalism for a more just and equitable future.
Public Meetings Report
A recap of select open meetings at the local, county, and state level.
BY SCOTT PEMBERTON AND DOCUMENTERS
January 16
In a thirty-five-minute meeting, the Chicago Police Board heard from five public commenters; the Civilian Office of Police Accountability’s (COPA) first deputy chief administrator, Ephraim Eaddy; and chief of CPD’s Bureau of Internal Affairs (BIA), Yolanda Talley. Public commenters offered their thoughts on the need to reduce police violence, a plea from an individual for the Board to intervene in a police matter on his behalf, and a statement honoring officers killed in the line of duty. Chief Eaddy reported that of 301 cases reviewed by COPA, seventy-six were determined to fall under COPA’s responsibility and 225 under BIA’s. He also reported that in connection with a shooting by police on January 3, COPA responded within an hour to meet with concerned community members. COPA plans to announce its goals for 2025 shortly. Chief Talley updated the Board on progress in reducing homicides and plans to expand victim support by adding more family liaison officers.
January 22
The Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners opened its meeting by approving a resolution honoring district retirees “for their years of dedication and commitment to the [district] and to the citizens of the City of Chicago” and wishing them “good health and happiness as they enter the next chapter of their lives.” The Board learned details of the district’s Healthy Heart Campaign, which is being conducted on Thursdays in February in partnership with the Department of Public Health. The campaign offers free heart and blood pressure screenings at five parks on the South and West Sides. Locations were determined based on the low life expectancy of community residents. Items on the Board’s consent agenda included approving the appointment of Robert Castaneda to the Public Building Commission of Chicago and approval of the 2024 and 2025 certificates of filing and of publication of the district’s supplemental appropriation ordinance with Cook and DuPage counties. Designed to streamline meetings, consent agendas typically consist of routine items approved under a single motion and vote. Castaneda founded and is executive director of Beyond the Ball, a youth community development organization located in Little Village.
January 24
During a meeting and listening session hosted by the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, a public commenter described being handcuffed and beaten by Chicago police during a traffic stop. The commission began organizing a series of community listening sessions across the city in December 2023 so Chicagoans could relate personal interactions with police, provide feedback on policies, and discuss potential reforms for the CPD traffic-stop procedures. Groups such as the Free2Move Coalition and Impact for Equity have called on CPD to end pretextual traffic stops. Police might make such stops for minor infractions as a way to search a vehicle for evidence of a crime. “Investigatory stops that target Black and Latino young people disproportionately are on the rise as CPD hunts for guns,” said Ali Longbottom, a
member of the Free2Move Coalition and the Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts. “Pretextual vehicle stops don't serve the people CPD claims to protect.” Although CPD is required by law to document all stops, an investigation by Injustice Watch and Bolts found that in 2023 nearly 200,000 traffic stops were not documented or reported to the state.
January 28
Amid concerns about the City’s Ineligible for Rehire (IFR) policy, members of the City Council Committee on Ethics and Government Oversight at their meeting heard a presentation by the commissioner of the Department Human Resources (DHR), Sandra Blakemore. She explained clarifications to the policy that were made last year and how DHR, the Office of Inspector General, and Law Department are developing improvements they hope to complete during the first three months of this year. Created in 2011, the IFR policy identifies previous city employees who may not be rehired, usually for violating city personnel or department-specific rules of conduct. Although DHR oversees the system housing these records and manages appeals, department heads determine whether former employees are placed on the list. Council members have critiqued the policy for being subjective. Ald. Gil Villegas (36th Ward) said that more specific outlines should be developed to clarify which actions warrant IFR designation. After winning an appeal, two city staffers were removed from the list in December. They had been put on the list in 2023 by the former director of the Mayor’s communications office, Ronnie Reese.
January 30
“Our students should not be living in fear. They should not be choosing between getting an education [and] being safe,” said Board Member Yesenia Lopez at a meeting of the Board of Education. Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez assured the Board that schools are following established procedures and policies that prohibit sharing information about students or parents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and prevent ICE agents from entering schools without an appropriate warrant. A recent incident of misidentification at Hamline Elementary School in Back of the Yards sparked community reaction. Two U.S. Secret Service agents, misidentified as ICE agents, were turned away at the school. They were looking for a child who had allegedly posted an anti-Trump video, according to news reports. In light of rising fears of ICE activity in Chicago, Martinez reported that student attendance had declined on January 22 after a four-day weekend. “School is where every child in our city belongs regardless of their immigration status,” said Martinez, who urged parents to bring their children to school.
February 1
Controversy around a police district council member, David Orlikoff, continued at a meeting of 14th Police District Council, which includes parts of Logan Square, Humboldt Park, and Wicker Park. Calls for Orlikoff to resign “are intensifying,” according to City Bureau Newswire. At that meeting, Orlikoff seemed to offer to resign, saying, “In terms of the movement versus me, I would love to step down if any of you are interested in taking my position.” The “movement” apparently refers to efforts to pursue police accountability, which was a key reason for establishing the district councils. “My view of the movement is that unity is key,” Frank Chapman, a leader in the effort to establish the councils, told South Side Weekly. “When you’re doing things that are creating disunity…I don’t consider you to be respectful of the movement that you say you’re in.” There are twenty-two elected three-member councils, one for each CPD district. In December, nineteen members of thirteen councils signed a letter asking Orlikoff to leave his position, stating that “your role on the district council places you at the forefront of accountability and safety efforts. It is therefore critical that you reflect the values of restorative justice and community trust.” Council Chair Christopher M. Laurent has said, “I think you [Orlikoff] do great work, but we can’t get the confidence of the community behind us.”
This information was collected and curated by the Weekly in large part using reporting from City Bureau’s Documenters at documenters.org.
