by Christina E. Rodríguez
Luis Guitiérrez
CHICAGO — More than 400 people answered the call from U.S. Rep. Luís Gutiérrez (D) to give testimony for someone they know a neighbor, friend, family member or other intimate who is on the verge of deportation.
Their stories gain a voice, but from the lips of others who know them. The intent is to spotlight their suffering, create public awareness, and ultimately to bring reform.
The witnesses came to St. Pius V Church in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood on Nov. 15 and testified for more than three hours. About 60 volunteers took down names and ages of individuals who depend upon those being deported. Gutiérrez said he is compiling a fact sheet from the information to hand to President-elect Barack Obama and speed up a comprehensive immigration reform effort that leads to the introduction of new legislation in Congress.
“Our government should work to keep our families together, not destroy them,” Gutiérrez said.
Among the testimonies came stories from families with deported members. Ana, speaking for her deported husband, said, “We marched, we voted, we got the president we wanted. Now they have to work for us and he has to keep his promises.”
Julie Savitt, who watched as eight Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents surrounded her house to arrest her husband, Adam, talked about losing her companion and family breadwinner.
“Deportation of a loved one is like death without resolution,” said Savitt, who was surrounded by her three children as she spoke.
Volunteers like Myrna García, a doctoral student at the University of California San Diego, now living in Cicero, Ill., identified Gutiérrez’s effort as only one among many that are essential to address the issues.
“I hope something happens but it’s really complicated,” she said. “This has to be one strategy among many.”
Alderman Manny Flores of the First Ward, who has worked with Congressman Gutiérrez, observed, “We’ve been very proactive in providing the type of local policies and legislative initiatives that ensure we protect all members of our community.”
He stressed he wanted to join in the effort to engage Barack Obama in the need for immigration reform and family reunification.
“We hope president-elect Barack Obama is very strong in addressing these issues right off the bat. Then in the long term we must come up with some type of comprehensive immigration reform.”
Alderman Billy Ocasio, of the 26th Ward, pushes for an immediate end to the ICE raids and sweeps rounding up undocumented immigrants for deportation.
“This is just the beginning.
We’re just touching the tip of the iceberg,” he said. “There are so many families in the same position where one person is undocumented in a family of citizens and the government is dividing them up.”
Ocasio, who chairs the city council’s human relations committee, said he’s hoping Obama’s words to the immigrant community are genuine.
The city of Chicago, he promised, “will not cooperate with anything that has to do with deportations or raids.”
