Two people detained on Father's Day at Broadview immigration center
The Cardenas family arrived in Chicago from Colombia three years ago and believed Jose Manuel, 49, was reporting for a routine appointment as part of the asylum process — a form of protection for people fleeing danger in their home countries. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained Cardenas' father. After that, their calls to him stopped going through.
'We don't know where he is … whether he's OK,' Cardenas said in tears, in front of an immigration processing center in Broadview after watching her dad go inside.
Manuel was detained with a woman, also from Colombia, according to an immigration attorney who was with them during their appointment. On Friday, dozens of families in immigration proceedings received a text message from the federal government instructing them to report on Sunday to the Broadview center for a check-in appointment.
Most left their appointment wearing ankle monitors and were given instructions to report to an office downtown that houses the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, an alternative to detention through check-ins or other forms of supervision, such as ankle monitors.
ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment confirming the number of detainees or the reason for their detention.
The processing center in Broadview is usually the first stop for individuals arrested by ICE in Illinois. At the processing center in the western suburbs, ICE determines whether to initiate removal proceedings, the formal process by which the United States determines whether an immigrant must leave the country. Because Illinois is prohibited from operating immigration detention centers, if someone is detained, they will be sent to a detention center in a neighboring state while they wait for trial.
Cardenas didn't know where her father would go or how to get in contact with him.
'We don't have a lawyer,' she said Sunday. 'We don't have a way to pay for a lawyer.'
The messages from ICE, along with an increased number of arrests at immigration courts and other offices in the area, represent an escalation from previous immigration procedures, according to Tenoch Rodriguez, deportation defense organizer with Resurrection Project. On June 4, advocates estimated 20 people were detained after they reported for appointments to an ISAP office in the 2200 block of South Michigan Avenue.
'(It is) not normal for this many people to show up on Saturday and Sunday,' Rodriguez said. 'It's not even normal for this many people to be showing up on a weekday.'
Immigration attorneys and local officials gathered outside the Broadview processing center on Sunday to offer legal assistance and translation help. The children of those inside waited for hours, playing in the grass. Some family members held onto one another for comfort. A 7-year-old girl named Diana brought her pet green parakeet with her. She played with the small bird and fed it tangerines as she waited for her mother to come out of the facility.
ICE officials tried to detain the mother, according to Diana's grandfather, Francisco, but she begged for more time because her child was waiting. She was instructed to report the next day to the same ISAP office where the 20 arrests occurred a little over a week ago.
Francisco requested that his last name and the name of her mother not be used, citing concerns about potential retribution from the government.
'We were planning to celebrate all together today, and instead we're here,' Francisco said. 'We're glad she wasn't detained today, but it's hard. We don't know how much time we have.'
Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff and chief architect of President Donald Trump's immigration policies, said late last month that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement should make at least 3,000 arrests a day, which marks a dramatic increase for the federal agency since Trump took office.
Many of the arrests nationwide appear to be taking place in immigration court, which has sparked fear among asylum-seekers and immigrants accustomed to remaining free while judges grind through a backlog of 3.6 million cases, typically taking years to reach a decision. Now they must consider whether to attend their hearings and possibly face detention and deportation, or skip them and forfeit their bids to remain in the country.
When immigration attorney Kalman Resnick was informed Friday afternoon that two of his clients had a check-in appointment at the Broadview center, he immediately reached out to the federal government for answers but was met with silence.
'We called starting at 1 o'clock on Friday, 'Please tell us why our clients are being called.' None of the calls and none of the emails were returned,' Resnick said. 'We went to political leaders like Sen. (Dick) Durbin's office and Sen. (Tammy) Duckworth's office and (Rep. Jesús) 'Chuy' Garcia's office and (Rep.) Delia Ramirez's office, and we tried to get them information, and they tried and didn't get any.'
Attorneys and advocates were unsure as to why people were suddenly being called in over Father's Day weekend but broadly saw it as part of the White House's plan of arresting 3,000 immigrants a day. Immigration lawyers said it's easier to detain people at the transfer center.
There is no rationale to who gets detained, said state Rep. Norma Hernandez, a Democrat from the western suburbs.
'People are being detained because of minor violations from over a decade ago,' Hernandez said. 'So we're helping them plan, figure out what they want to do with their assets.'
One attorney who entered the facility with her client Sunday reported that more ankle monitors were being issued as part of a policy change with the SmartLINK app, a program used by ICE to track immigrants as a low-cost alternative to detention. ICE did not specify to whom the policy applied, she said.
Marta Arango, 52, from Colombia, was given an ankle monitor and told to report back every two weeks. She left with her 9-year-old daughter and husband after their appointment.
'It feels horrible. We're not criminals,' she said. 'And the one who's going to suffer the most is our daughter.'
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