Advocates say immigrant community ‘afraid’ amid uptick in ICE activity in Lake County

Increased federal immigration enforcement activity in Lake County this summer is not near the levels it reached during Operation Midway Blitz last fall, but fear of apprehension and possible deportation remains for many in the county.

Dulce Ortiz, executive director of Mano a Mano Family Resource Center and a Waukegan Township trustee, said she continues to receive reports of what she called “kidnappings of community members” by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

There were five in the past 30 days, she said. As a result, she said, some community members remain afraid to go shopping or participate in public events.

Ortiz said members of the Mano a Mano rapid response team responded to a report of three people being apprehended by federal immigration enforcement agents during a traffic stop on June 20 in Mundelein. When team members arrived, they only found an abandoned vehicle.

“Three community members were kidnapped on the side of the road,” Ortiz said. “They got them and left the vehicle. Our team members reached out to the family to let them know and see if there was a spare key so they could return the vehicle.”

An ICE spokesperson said in an email Friday that one of the three people apprehended in that “targeted vehicle stop” was Esteban Salinas-Reyes. He entered the country illegally in 2015 and was deported, the email said. Reentering the country improperly after removal is a felony under U.S. law.

The other two in the vehicle were also in the country without permanent status, and they were also deported, the ICE spokesperson said.

Two women were having lunch outside of their place of employment — Thermoflex, a custom car mat manufacturer in Waukegan — on July 8. Ortiz said they were sitting in the vehicle when immigrant enforcement agents broke the driver’s side window and forced them out

“As far as we know, they are still in detention,” she said.

Attempts to get ICE to comment on that report were unsuccessful.

Though fewer people are being apprehended now locally than during Midway Blitz, Ortiz said a significant number of people in Lake County, particularly in Waukegan, North Chicago, Zion and the Round Lake communities, remain afraid of immigration enforcement agents even if they are in the country legally.

“There is a lot of fear still,” she said. “Our community members are afraid of being in a place where ICE goes. They make a choice of going to work knowing they may not come home. We’re still doing deliveries of groceries.”

Individuals in the country legally with a green card, or who arrived as young children and can work under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) act, are also worried they may be stopped because of the color of their skin, Ortiz said.

“The overall immigrant community … (is) terrified,” she said. “Even if you are a green card holder, your loved ones may not have legal status.”

Lesley Tenorio, the strategic engagement coordinator at Waukegan-based HACES, said Friday people in the Hispanic community are careful about where they venture in public because ICE agents are looking for people who look like them.

“People are afraid because of racial profiling,” Tenorio said. “They are apprehending you based on what you look like. It’s very tense. People are afraid when they go to work, or take their children to school.”

Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said fear in the community is impacting his office’s ability to successfully prosecute domestic violence, other violent crimes and sex offenses, which are “much higher priorities than civil immigration enforcement.”

“Victims and witnesses in local cases have directly told our victim support professionals that they are worried about ICE,” Rinehart said. “When ICE civil enforcement actions deter victim and witness participation in criminal cases, all communities are less safe.”