Lucy Baptiste/Borderless MagazineGladis Yolanda Chavez Pineda is among the latest immigrants detained as Trump ramps up detentions across the country.
Outside a suburban immigration detention facility, friends and advocates gathered Friday in Broadview, Illinois, demanding the immediate release of Gladis Yolanda Chavez Pineda, a mother, grandmother and longtime Chicago resident detained by ICE during a check-in earlier this week.
Organized Communities Against Deportations (OCAD), Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) and friends denounced her detention. They called for an end to “the cruel practice of surprise detentions during scheduled check-ins.”
“No mother, no grandmother, no human being should be subjected to such treatment,” the groups said in a statement.
Want to receive stories like this in your inbox every week?
Sign up for our free newsletter.
Pineda’s arrest on Wednesday spurred public outcry and protests from community members, activists, and elected officials who gathered outside the 2245 S. Michigan Ave. monitoring site. Those detained received text messages to come in and review their cases, but ICE agents arrested them shortly after arriving, according to advocates.
As ICE agents, wearing face coverings and holding guns, loaded detainees in vans, tensions escalated outside the building. Block Club Chicago and videos shared on social media by a Chicago Tribune reporter show agents pushing some of the alderpeople and residents.
Pineda’s arrest comes as Donald Trump has escalated deportation efforts in Chicago and across the nation. In the last week, ICE agents have arrested people without legal status at immigration court immediately after cases are dismissed and in neighborhood raids.
ICE has detained more than 51,300 people in its facilities as of June 1, according to data released Friday by Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.
Since Wednesday, more than 9,000 people have signed a petition calling for Pineda’s immediate release.
Pineda has lived in the United States for over 10 years and has been actively seeking asylum. Her attorneys said an immigration judge found that she wasn’t a threat to public safety and had no criminal records.
“Our office has represented Gladis since 2017, during which time she has complied with all requests from ICE to appear for several appointments,” said AJ Johnson-Reyes, Pineda’s attorney.
“The purpose of coming here today was to provide a courtesy copy of documents that we had already filed with ICE late last night,” Johnson-Reyes said. “Those two documents were, one, a petition with ICE for a stay of removal.”
Outside the detention facility, family friend Xanat Sobrevilla pleaded for Pineda’s release, saying she should be able to “wait her case.”
“A lot of [people] have been coming from very unsafe circumstances in their home countries, just like Gladis, and this is what they’re being met with — just for 3,000 [deportations] a day,” she said.
Lucy Bapiste is a Borderless reporting intern. She can be reached at [email protected].
Bring power to immigrant voices!
Our work is made possible thanks to donations from people like you. Support high-quality reporting by making a tax-deductible donation today.
