Rogers Park

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0:37Whatever challenges you're facing, Grow Therapy is here to help. Grow accepts over 125 insurance plans. Sessions average$21 with insurance, and some pay as little as zero, depending on their plan. Visit growtherapy.com slash criminal today to get started. That's growtherapy.com slash criminal. Availability and coverage vary by state and insurance plan. This episode contains language that may not be suitable for everyone. Please use discretion. What was yesterday like in the neighborhood? It was terrible. You know, we lost quite a few people from our neighborhood. We saw them literally take people, like, off of the ladder that they were working on.

1:28I think there were landscapers that were taken, people who were working on roofs. Someone mentioned in the chat, say, hey, they are targeting vans, working vans, and stopping people. They already stop landscapers. On Tuesday, October 21st, people on the north side of Chicago noticed men in cars who they thought might be federal immigration agents. I have people that work with me, and they are also non-documented. And I have a van that I work with, a white utility van. We have three cars in our family. My wife has one car, I have a second car where I carry my child around the city, and I have my working car.

2:17And I was like, you know, a little bit apprehensive of things that might happen. I said, I thought, hey, you know what, I'm just going to take you home and let's take off today and tomorrow. One of the first people we met when we got to Chicago was a man named Gabe Gonzalez. We met him at an intersection around noon and got in his car. We asked him what he was doing. We're chasing ice. And what part of the city are we? We are in Rogers Park on the northern side of the city. It's right up against the lake. It's a very diverse community. It's probably 25, 30 percent Latino, 20 percent African-American, lots of refugees from all over the world, maybe 35 percent Anglo.

3:10And ICE is circling the neighborhood. They are in other neighborhoods around us. Gabe helps run an organization called Protect Rogers Park. He uses an encrypted app called Signal to communicate with people who volunteered to go out looking for ICE agents. There are a lot of volunteers. So what are you looking at right now? I'm looking at my Signal thread, which has, we've got this thing called verifiers. So people will put information on there about where they believe ICE has been seen. and then there's moderators who will sort of collect it all and let us know where we need to focus on any given moment.

3:53When you're saying verifiers, what does that word mean? Well, as you can imagine, many, many, many of the reports we get are actually not accurate, right? They're just people who are scared. They see something that looks scary to them, and so they report it. and the verifiers have been trained on how to identify ICE vehicles and how to identify ICE agents, and they will go out to where the report has come from, and they will verify if it's real or not. And if it's real, we then sort of move into gear to get other people on the scene to slow ICE down, if not stop them. I mean, your phone is just constantly going off with alerts and things.

4:40Yeah, yes, it is. How is it? Gabe pulled over to talk to someone standing on a street corner. How are you doing? How is it? Bad. Yeah, have you seen them specifically? Yeah, so they've been up and down Clark for the past couple hours. They were down, running down Devon for a while. We circled them on Wayne. They were just going in circles. And what car was that? Mostly all white SUVs. I'm sorry, who are you guys with? I'm Gabe Gonzalez. Oh, hey. How are you? Nice, how are you? Mostly the white SUV, Ford with a Michigan plate, with no front plate, the Florida plate, and then there's a California plate.

5:17All of those are white. The Florida plate's a Denali, right? Yes. The volunteers keep track of certain license plates on unmarked cars they believe belong to immigration agents. What do you do with the whistle? So whenever there is ice sighted or someone is being detained by ice, for a sighting, we give the three long whistles, and then for being detained, it's the three short, though a lot of times people also just do it constantly. And that's to kind of warn others in the area to get out of here. So while we were following people on our bikes, where we were following an actual ice vehicle, we blowed three times without anyone in the area.

5:56So landscapers, anyone who is possibly at risk outside knows to get inside and protect themselves and their families. So you'll be out here for as long as you can? Yes, that's the goal. Okay. Bye-bye. Thanks for Ellie. Yeah, of course. There's a hotline that people all over the state call to report when ICE shows up. Lately they say they've been getting hundreds of calls a day. One day they got over 1 ,500. Protect Rogers Park first started monitoring ICE in the neighborhood eight years ago, during the first Trump administration. They tend to grab up people who are alone. They'll get people working in their yard, or on someone's yard, if not their own.

6:42They get people walking down the street, like that post office we just passed. We stopped them from trying to arrest this guy who was riding by on a scooter. They pulled him over, and they were hassling him. But luckily, we were already on the street, and there were a lot of us there. and when they saw that there was a big crowd there, they left. And are they asking anything about citizenship or papers or anything? Or are they just taking them? Sometimes. It varies. When they tend to ask is when people tend to say that they have them. And then they'll stop and ask. People who look a certain way.

7:13Yeah, like me. Well, darker people, generally. Like somebody I know saw them hassling three South Asians. You know, I don't really see them hanging around outside a Cubs game asking people for their papers. The mayor of Chicago declared Chicago a sanctuary city in 1985. It still is one. But on September 8th, a press release from the Department of Homeland Security announced that ICE would be launching an operation in Chicago. It called the city a, quote, magnet for criminals. About a month later, the Chicago mayor signed a, quote, ice-free zone executive order, banning federal immigration agents from using buildings and parking lots owned by the city.

8:01The Chicago police have nothing to do with this. I mean, they're not working. Legally, they are not allowed to coordinate with ICE because we are a sanctuary city. But so our understanding of their operation at this moment? is that they will not hinder, nor will they help ICE, and they will not hinder, nor will they help us. Gabe told us the volunteers start patrolling very early in the morning. We've had a number of volunteers who've had guns pulled on them and one that was arrested. I mean, these guys are like classic bullies. Like, they will not stand up to a group, but they're more than happy to gang up three or four on somebody who's alone.

8:43And so we do what we call nonviolent direct action training. So it's like we teach them how to move in groups. We teach them how to communicate. We teach them how to be disciplined in their actions and to use their bodies to slow down ice, right? How would you use your body to slow ice down? Well, you know, you could walk in front of them. You could walk slowly in front of them. You could put your car in front of them. You could, you know, there's any number of things that you could do. I just will tell you that a number of them are illegal for impeding the enforcement of a federal official. We have talked to many lawyers and would have a difference of opinion about that.

9:28We also train people in understanding their risk level and who can take more risk than others.

9:38Yep.

9:44You got to be fucking kidding me. They were just there before. Gabe was on his phone constantly. When there were reports of immigration agents at one Home Depot, we drove to a different one in case they showed up there too. So earlier today, they hit two Home Depots. So I am headed to the place where I was this morning where they had apprehended someone. Mostly to warn others that we think they might be there. yeah what did happen at the Home Depot earlier today? so yeah like we got the call that they were chasing people at the Home Depot which from where I live is about 10 minutes so it took me a moment to get there there were already like five or six people there they're no longer chasing anybody but they did find somebody in a van and there's like five or six border patrol agents and a bunch of us sort of filming it and trying to explain to him his rights and that they didn't have to take him he didn't have to go with him But he was in shock.

10:40He was kind of like sort of staring around. That's the van he was in. Gabe filmed agents in Border Patrol uniforms and face coverings, opening the driver's side door of the van and speaking to the man sitting inside. We're at the Home Depot at Devon in California. There appear to be three, four, five members of the Border Patrol. They are trying to take this man out of the car. There are a number of respondents here.

11:17He doesn't look like he wants to leave the car, and it doesn't look like they have a warrant. Otherwise, they'd probably just take him. In the video, one of the men in uniform walks toward Gabe. It sounds like he tells him, you'll be arrested. You're here illegally. I'm not talking to you, motherfucker. I'm not letting you know what's going on. Okay, yeah, so anyway. No hay de que ir con ellos si no tienen un orden de la juez. No ocupo el orden de arresto. Lo ocupamos. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The man in the van looks at Gabe as he stands up from his seat. Then one of the officers walks between them, and another pulls the man out of the van.

11:59There are at least four other people filming from different angles. The camera turns toward a white SUV, which seems to belong to the agents. A man with a motorcycle has positioned himself right in the path of the SUV. The agents tell the man to move the motorcycle. Move your bike out of the way. Move your bike out of the way. Gabe walks up to him and starts talking to him, trying to help him stall. We're a little rusty-cruid-peer. Move your bike out of the way. I'm just popping into the thing. Yeah, actually, they just started selling royal eggs in the United States. Is that right? Only in 2022.

12:36No shit. Move your bike right now. Honestly? And they're like$4 ,000 brand new. Move your bike right now. You will be arrested. Okay. This is the place of the truck that they took him from. You ready? Yeah. The man moves his motorcycle out of the way. The agents get into the white SUV. Another black SUV follows behind it. Okay. Did anybody get his name? I'm Phoebe Judge. This is Criminal.

13:31This becomes the map of the city, right? Like, I tried to take somebody in that apartment building down there, but we got there in time and they ran away. He wouldn't open the door. They were banging on the door, open the door, open the door. They were kicking it and pounding on it, and then we showed up and they split. About half an hour later, Gabe got a message about a volunteer who was arrested while patrolling. Do you know anything more about what happened? No. They found their car in an alley. It was abandoned. The driver's side door was open, so, I mean, we can do the math.

14:10That's all we know. We contacted the National Lawyers Guild, and they're hunting for them now, and probably we'll be able to find them relatively soon. But they just leave the car there, you know? They pull the person out? Yep. That's what they do with folks who are undocumented, too. But with the undocumented folks, because they have less rights, they'll just break the window and grab them. You find these cars a lot on the southwest side, but you find them all over. Where it's like, window's broken, person isn't there, car's undisturbed other than that. Have you ever seen anything like this? Like the ice escalation?

14:53Yeah. No. No, like there's not, there's never been anything like this. I mean, I've never, as an adult, you know, living in the city of Chicago, I've never seen anything like this. We'll be right back.

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17:33On October 13th, the Department of Homeland Security announced that federal agents had arrested more than 1 ,500 people in Illinois. Across Chicago, teachers are reporting fewer students showing up to school. Someone at the teachers' union said, I'm hearing from educators whose classrooms are half empty because families are scared. I was talking to a bunch of businesses yesterday, and it depended on the business, but anywhere from 30 to 50 percent of the business that they used to have, they don't have anymore. So there's people who are directly affected, who are scared and trying to lay low and just trying to go about their daily lives.

18:15And it's not only them, but it's their American citizen relatives. It's usually what they call mixed status households, which means that some of the people have papers and some don't. And then you've got, like, you know, plenty of good old-fashioned U.S. citizens who are angry and want to see something change because this is not what we were, you know, this is not what we told America was. Gabe Gonzalez says more than 950 people have started volunteering as verifiers with Protect Rogers Park. And their network on Signal includes more than 2 ,000 people. We look at Signal 24-7. You know, you wake up in the morning, it's the first thing you look at.

18:59You go to bed, it's the last thing you look at. There's a couple more of ours right here. So there really are people on almost every corner, you know, monitoring. Yeah, the numbers I give you, they're real, they're not bullshit. plus we have 16 school patrols. We have a whole other channel with elected officials, a whole other channel with school principals. Yeah, it's quite the operation. Gabe has a hands-off Chicago sign in the front window of his house in Rogers Park, and there are whistles by the front door. He sat at the kitchen table to talk. Where did you grow up? Michigan City, Indiana, just across the lake.

19:44Growing up so close to Chicago, did you think to yourself, I'm going to move there when I'm older? Always. Yeah, always. Yeah. Not a lot of people get out of Michigan City. And not a lot of people want to. Good on them. But I did. The promise of Chicago to me was always the promise of America, allegedly, which is like, you know, you work hard. You, like, don't get into too much trouble. you'll do okay. That's what I think a lot of people still feel about this place. I love it. And it is so diverse, right? For Midwest, it's like you can meet anybody in Chicago. Like the assumption is that even a couple generations back, somebody just came here, right?

20:29Somewhere. Where are your people from is like a pretty standard question. Unless you hear their last name and you already know where their people are from. Because there's a lot of that too. I think they've done some statistics on it, but Rogers Park looks racially, actually mirrors the rest of Chicago. This is Marisa Graciosa. She and Gabe got married 11 years ago, a year after they moved to Rogers Park. She grew up in Wisconsin. My dad is a pediatrician. My mom is an OBGYN. And so they immigrated here from the Philippines in the late 70s. I was born in New York, and then they tried to find a place to get a job and raise a family, and there were a few options.

21:15Georgia was an option. I think Tennessee was an option, and they landed in Wisconsin. Marisa and Gabe started Protect Rogers Park together with some neighbors in 2017. I remember, actually, my son, I was pregnant, and almost every single onesie that either a friend made or bought for us were, like, all political. So, like, we had little onesies for him that said bad hombre. And at the time I was, anyway, everyone was just, everything was political, right? I knew that I was about to raise my son in this very political divisive moment. But, like, when he won, it just became clear that our folks were going to be a target.

21:56And when I say our folks, it's like, yes, undocumented people. But, like, more specifically, like, people that I love and that I know. Like, I know because I live in this community, because my parents are immigrants, I know a lot of people who may not have papers or who were documented at the time and who were incredibly scared. And so I just, I remember thinking, like, I can't affect what's going on on the national level. I don't see any legislation coming forward or anything like that. but what I can control is what happens here in this community. She and Gabe and their neighbors organized a meeting in the neighborhood.

22:38Hundreds of people showed up. They started training people to identify ICE agents and let people in Rogers Park know when they saw them. Gabe says back then there were a few big raids, but nothing like it's been lately. Was yesterday unusual for Rogers Park with the amount of activity going on? Yeah. We just haven't seen this much activity. But now we've had, like, just in the last week and a half, three pretty intense days where we've seen several cars that we've identified as ICE. We've had several neighbors witness, record abductions, and that's pretty intense. As we were talking with Marisa, Gabe rushed in.

23:28Hi. Did you see the signal? No. They're up there. Where? The Northeastern.

23:37Northeastern is Albany Park-ish. Yeah, it's like if you came to Albany Park and Westridge. I already told our folks on the very first. Okay. So it sounds like they're on the Northside-ish. Multiple cars at Kimball and Hollywood. It seems like they're not confirmed kidnappings at this point. but it looks like there may be activity in Albany Park, which is like 15, 20 minutes from here. It's interesting. Both you and Gabe use the word kidnapping. That's what it is. It's just taking people. And then they ask questions later. There's an FAQ section on ICE's website. One of the questions is, is ICE snatching or kidnapping people off the streets?

24:26The answer reads,

24:44But there have been reports of delays and errors in that system. And this year, immigration agents have also detained many people who are in the country legally. In a recent Supreme Court case about ICE arrests in Los Angeles, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that, quote, Immigration agents are not conducting brief stops for questioning. They are seizing people using firearms, physical violence, and warehouse detentions. Nor are undocumented immigrants the only ones harmed by the government's conduct. United States citizens are also being seized, taken from their jobs, and prevented from working to support themselves and their families.

25:30End quote. On October 9th, several people were arrested near the corner of Clark and Lund in Rogers Park. A man selling tamales was questioned, but he had his green card and was released. Two people he was with were put in the back of an unmarked car. And then word got out, right, like this had happened. And, you know, Rogers Park like blew up. The next thing you know, we had like probably 200 people on the street. All along Clark Street, all along Morris, which is another business avenue, like on bikes riding around the neighborhood, just really like, nah, this will not stand. A few days later, border patrol agents were seen outside a church in Rogers Park during a Spanish-language mass.