The immigration enforcement seen in Chicago over the past couple of months has migrated to downstate Illinois, according to Congresswoman Nikki Budzinski and nonprofits that work with immigrants.
That was especially obvious with the detention of Ismael Ayuzo Sandoval in Macoupin County, Budzinski, D-Springfield, said.
“It was a wake-up call to a lot of our smaller communities who have been seeing what's happening — the cruelty of what ICE is doing in the city of Chicago,” said Budzinski, who hosted a roundtable discussion on the topic in Fairview Heights on Friday. “That is coming home to downstate Illinois and is creating a lot of fear.”
The Department of Homeland Security said Sandoval, a Staunton man, has been removed four times from the country and has a 2008 conviction for driving under the influence. He now awaits deportation in Ste. Genevieve, and his lawyer has filed a stay in the case. His detention prompted hundreds to protest, with community members saying Sandoval was a prominent resident and restaurant owner.
Budzinski’s office has also heard reports of increased activity from Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Belleville and Granite City, she said.
While there’s not been a large ICE presence in Fairmont City, the fear of enforcement has made it difficult for immigrants to do everyday tasks, said Village Mayor Michael Suarez.
“It's kids not wanting to go to school. Parents not wanting to send their kids to school — simple things,” said Suarez, whose town is roughly 70% Hispanic. “It’s going to the grocery store, going to church. People just don't know.”
Sarah Ruiz, executive director of the St. Louis-based Ashrei Foundation, said her organization that’s part of the St. Louis Rapid Response Coalition has received 3,000 calls to its hotline. The biggest spikes were in June and August, Ruiz said.
“I think the hotline has really, unfortunately, given us an opportunity to see just how widespread it is and how the fear then manifests and turns into or is exacerbated by a lack of access to basic information,” Ruiz said.
Sandoval is not the only immigrant who’s been recently detained in the area.
ICE detained a Carlyle man on the way to the Clinton County Courthouse, Capitol News Illinois reported. At least 10 other immigrants have been charged recently with illegal reentry after deportation by the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of Illinois, according to the Belleville News-Democrat.
Fixing the immigration system and creating better ways to legal citizenship are needed, Budzinski, Ruiz and Sandoval agreed.
“I think we have a lot of catching up to do, both in terms of the legislation and in terms of community education, about what kinds of changes would actually make differences for the millions of people that are loved and beloved community members in the Midwest and beyond,” Ruiz said.
Earlier this week, the Department of Homeland Security accused a Belleville-based staffer in U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth’s office of misrepresenting himself as an attorney when he visited Sandoval at a St. Louis ICE facility last month.
Budzinski said on Friday that, while she will wait for information on Duckworth’s staffer and she doesn’t condone impersonation, she’d also like more transparency from ICE and DHS.
“Stop with the fear mongering,” she said. “Stop with creating all of this cruelty across this district, across the state, across the country.”
