Chicago Democratic Congressman Jesus ‘Chuy’ Garcia assured EFE that the large-scale anti-immigrant operation with which the administration of US President Donald Trump threatens the city is “a trap” to “justify the mobilization of the National Guard” in one of the oldest sanctuary cities in the US.
García insisted that the intensification of raids and deportations of migrants as part of the so-called ‘Operation Midway Blitz’, is the “declaration of a war with which the president wants to provoke to justify the mobilization of the (National) Guard, if there are clashes”.
“What’s the catch? To create confrontations, to create situations where the people are expressing their opposition to the raids, to the massive violation of the constitutional and legal rights of the immigrant community,” said the member of the Lower House of the US Congress.
He recalled that this is a strategy that has already been tried in Los Angeles, a city also with a Democratic majority to which the Republican sent – against the will of local and state authorities – the National Guard in June to respond to the massive, mostly peaceful demonstrations protesting the increase in immigration raids.
Alert to provocations
The representative of the fourth district of the state of Illinois, the area with the largest Latino majority in Chicago, assured that he has asked the community “not to fall into provocations, to be very careful”, especially during the celebrations linked this September to the national independence day of Mexico, a long-standing tradition in that city.
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Trump hinted on Tuesday that he had no choice but to send troops to Democratic cities. “We’re going to make our cities safe, one way or another, and at some point we’re just going to say, ‘Sorry, but we’re going in'”.
According to the Administration, ‘Operation Midway Blitz’ is already underway in several areas of Chicago, although for the moment local organizations and groups confirm that there have been no mass raids in that territory.
Trump’s “dishonest” efforts against crime
García also dismissed as “illegitimate” the narrative promoted by the president about an increase in violent crimes in that Democratic stronghold of the American Midwest.
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“Crime has been going down, as it has in Washington D.C or in Los Angeles” he indicated.
After activating the National Guard in Los Angeles, Trump declared a “security emergency” in the nation’s capital in August, where he deployed more than 2,000 troops from various states to combat what he called a “wave of crime” in the District of Columbia, despite authorities pointing out that violent crime figures were declining.
For the former candidate for Mayor of Chicago, “if this were really an honest effort, there would be collaboration, there would be communication (with local authorities). The areas of highest crime in the city would be discussed” and “funds for violence prevention programs” in the city “would not have been cut.”
Negative impacts on the economy and communities
According to Garcia, the White House’s anti-immigrant rhetoric leaves “a very negative impact on the community”, especially the migrant community, paralyzed by reports of arbitrary detentions and summary deportations.
“People are not patronizing small businesses (…) It is impacting our economy. So damage has already been done. At the same time there is great fear and this will have an impact on children who are very afraid that their parents may be captured and deported by immigration services,” he specified.
Democrats, a minority in both houses of Congress, have demanded an accounting of the cost of National Guard mobilizations and immigration operations. “We also introduced laws that seek to curb this abuse of authority,” added Garcia, although these efforts are almost always blocked by Republicans.
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García assures that they want to convey to the American public “that this is very dangerous.”
“The rights of any American are at stake, because the question would be who’s next after the immigrant community,” he warned.
