Andres Marquina is a Waukegan father and grandfather who came to the United States more than 30 years ago from Mexico, obtained a green card, became a warehouse worker and raised a family.
Charged with driving under the influence of alcohol more than 20 years ago, he was working with an attorney to get his record expunged, according to his daughter, Yenitza.
Agents from the US. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) came to his Waukegan home Sunday and took him into custody as part of President Donald Trump’s promised deportation crackdown.
Marquina and a man from Round Lake were detained by ICE officers over the weekend as the president’s program — threatened since his inauguration a week ago — began in earnest, creating panic in the immigrant community.
“He’s done everything right,” Yenitza Marquina said of her father, holding back tears. “He got a job. He worked hard for years. There was a knock on the door. He opened it, and ICE took him. We’ve called his lawyer.”
Dulce Ortiz, the executive director of Mano a Mano Family Resource Center and a Waukegan Township trustee, said Monday she received confirmation that the two men were taken into custody. She also confirmed there was ICE activity in both towns.
“The family of the Round Lake man hired a lawyer for him,” she said. “He was released yesterday. We knew this was coming, but now it’s a blitz and people are unnerved.”
Lake County Sheriff Office Deputy Chief Chris Covelli said in a text Monday he has no knowledge of ICE being in the county over the weekend. His office has received calls over the last few weeks with questions, but no emergency calls Saturday or Sunday.
Ortiz and Mundelein Police Chief Jason Seeley both said they read on social media there was ICE activity in Mundelein Sunday. But, Seeley was unable to confirm it despite trying to investigate whether federal
officers were in the village.
“We sent officers to the streets where we read about the report, but they saw no signs of it when they got there,” he said.
ICE issued a statement Saturday saying it had begun conducting, “enhanced targeted operations in Chicago to enforce U.S, immigration law and preserve public safety and national security by keeping potentially dangerous criminal aliens out of our communities.”
Joining ICE in the effort were other federal agencies, including the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Agency. U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Marshals Service, according to the statement.
Intended for individuals with a criminal record, “border czar” Tom Homan said in a television interview Sunday collateral arrests were possible. If an undocumented person is found in a home when ICE officers are arresting someone with a criminal background, the other person will be taken, too.
U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Highland Park, who represents Waukegan and Round Lake, said in an email deporting drug dealers, gang members and dangerous criminals in the U.S. illegally should be deported. What happened to people like Marquina is another matter, he said.
“What’s disturbing about this weekend’s ICE raids is it appears that rather than focusing on dangerous criminals — irrespective of their immigration status — the Administration is making a show of force to
sow fear by seemingly going after people who are law abiding, who have been here for decades, who
are valued members of our community,” Schneider said.
Julie Contreras, who is a pastor and part of United Giving Hope, a longtime immigration rights advocacy organization, said her time in church Sunday was spent comforting parishioners who were frightened by the ICE activity.
“I had to sit down, and hug, and love, and tell a 4-year-old little girl that no one was going to come and harm her, and deport her and destroy her family.” Contreras said Sunday. “There is a draconian plot being undertaken by the current administration, causing terror and fear in our community.”
“There is creating a human rights crisis around the world, and it is happening in the United States of America,” she added Monday.
Schneider is also concerned about the impact the current raids are having on families across the country. ICE’s sole focus should be on individuals here illegally who want to harm Americans, and not trying to hurt families properly here,” he said.
“They are tearing families apart that call Illinois and this nation home, just like you and me, and seeking to divide tight-knit communities,” Schneider said Sunday. “ICE should (not) be focused on those who have worked hard in our community for decades to build a better life.”
Ortiz said Mano a Mano, as well as HACES and the North Shore Legal Aid Clinic, are conducting “Know Your Rights” programs in the area to prepare members of the immigrant community for any potential interaction with ICE.
Whether an individual is undocumented, a U.S., citizen, a holder of a green card, a member of a mixed family or a DACA participant, Ortiz said it is important to be prepared.
“Everyone needs to be educated to be better able to help family, friends and loved ones,” Ortiz said. “Do not open the door for ICE unless you see a warrant signed by a judge. Unless you see that, you don’t have to let them in.”
