We live in a time when complex conflicts surround every one of us. From global pandemics, to crashing economies, to daily interpersonal battles and family challenges. Today, we face a challenge where we no longer follow the ideals buttressing our American identity: equality, civil rights, liberty, and opportunity.
And today our community has plenty of justifiable reasons to feel the constant anxiety and fear caused by masked men who have wreaked havoc invading our home. A home that no longer feels safe.
Earlier this month the Trump administration escalated its deportation campaign known as “Operation Midway Blitz,” located in the city of Broadview, specifically targeting suburbs and small cities that are homes to large immigrant communities. Since then, demonstrators have gathered at the location with hopes of terminating this mission.
However, the standoff between protestors and federal agents has not been very successful. One such protestor, Thomas Gendrous, whom I spoke to during my visit at the immigration detention center said, “I’m not going anywhere. This is kidnapping, and like my signs says, Trump likes kidnapping. These are people protected by the constitution of the United States. What they are doing is no different than when Adolf Hitler took power. The only difference is the face. But it’s the same tactic. It’s the same mindset. It’s the same thuggery.”
Gendrous also said that he wants them to know that the protestors aren’t going away, until those detained are safe again. “These are innocent prisoners,” he added.
Morton’s very own professor Kenton Gatyas compared the case to the Japanese encampments in America during World War II. This imprisonment led to devastating economic losses and profound emotional trauma for the affected, in a similar vein to what is happening now.
Meanwhile, back at the protest, not being able to communicate with their loved ones who are detained, desperate family members stood on the other side of the fence using a microphone to broadcast the time and date. They also added comforting words with hopes their imprisoned loved ones would receive the message.
The US Department of Homeland Security last reported through ICE on September 19th that approximately 550 immigrants have been detained and with numbers rapidly increasing, begging the question: How are ICE officials managing the living conditions of so many people in such a small facility? You stop and wonder, concluding that if immigrants are being publicly handled and arrested with vicious and aggressive force, the same can likely be said of their cruel and substandard treatment inside the detention center.
It has been a week since my visit to the facility and the tension between the oppressors and those who oppose the mistreatment of undocumented immigrants continues to rapidly escalate.
Nevertheless, if “every cloud has a silver lining,” I saw one as I stood at the Broadview ICE facility, feeling a chill go down my spine. I witnessed a complex army of people who are diverse in so many ways, not divided but united against oppression.
In a period of tyranny, I saw hope, a reminder that we are all human and no matter how much fear this administration wants to inflict, “We the People” will not stop until justice is restored.