‘Are we going to lose what we have built?’: Residents blow whistle on ICE in NWI

When children began coming to his shop by themselves holding their family’s grocery lists, bakery owner Francisco Cuadra knew “things are getting bad.”

As Operation Midway Blitz’s trail bled from Illinois into Northwest Indiana neighborhoods, Cuadra, owner of Santa Maria’s Bakery in Hammond, said some of his customers became too afraid to go out and get bread and basic necessities, regardless of their citizenship status.

“Once it started showing up on Facebook on the Hammond pages, people taking photos of ICE out on Columbia Avenue, I noticed business drop down a lot,” Cuadra said. “Just like how once the rumors began in Chicago, they saw their business drop. Our customers have had to send their kids to pick up products, because the parents are afraid to come out. It’s really sad to hear that. When kids are picking up the groceries and bread, because their families are afraid to come out — that’s horrible.”

Cuadra has owned the bakery since 2010 but rising costs and dwindling customers have made him feel like the business is a “ticking time bomb.” Despite this, he keeps grocery and bread prices affordable and donates what he can.

When news of an ICE arrest at East Chicago’s La Rancherita bakery reached him, Cuadra knew his customers would feel even less safe patronizing his shop.

“(ICE agents) are not respecting people,” Cuadra said. “If you’re Mexican, they treat you like someone here illegally, it doesn’t matter if you’re here legally. They’re even snatching American citizens if they don’t have a ‘REAL ID.’ Which a lot of people don’t have yet because they’re waiting for their license to expire to get a new one. But the government is saying if it’s not a REAL ID, and they’ll detain you, because there’s no star in the corner. They say you have to have the star in the corner of it, or they’ll basically claim it’s not real, it’s a fake.”

Cuadra came to America from Mexico as a 14-year-old to do migrant work with his brothers at farms and fishing in Alaska. As an adult, he went back to Mexico and got married, then came back to the U.S. to become a legal citizen and work.

“I am a very patriotic person,” Cuadra said of his U.S. citizenship. For years, he painted portraits of fallen military members and sent them anonymously as gifts to their families; now, his paintings are on display at Calumet College of St. Joseph in Whiting.

“I feel sorry for everybody for what’s happening,” Cuadra said. “What can I do? It’s bad for business, it’s bad for our people. Like me, these people are coming to be a part of the American dream, but unfortunately, the dream is escaping. And for those people who have come over and were able to make their dream happen, we are afraid. Are we going to lose what we have built? I am a baker, who is to say there will be no customers, and that’s where it ends.”

Spiritual leaders advocate for compassion

Churches are also seeing the ramifications, including empty pews. There’s been a noticeable decline in attendance at churches with predominantly Hispanic members, with a corresponding increase in the need for assistance from food pantries, according to the Diocese of Gary Bishop, the Most Rev. Robert J. McClory.

About one-third of the churches in Diocese’s four counties — Lake, Porter, LaPorte and Starke — have active Hispanic community ministries.

“The first comment that I would make is that, because largely these recent enforcement actions seem to be targeted at our Hispanic and Latino brothers and sisters, is that they are valued members of our communities, of our churches, of our schools, of our workplaces, of our neighborhoods and their contributions are a gift to us,” McClory said. “There is certainly an immigration enforcement aspect to this, but even for those who do have documents and who are here legally, we are experiencing a palpable fear among our brothers and sisters. And it has to be said that that fear is based, not just on their immigrant status, but on their ethnic identity.

“We need to let our Hispanic brothers and sisters know how much we value them, how much we love them, and how important they are to the fabric of Northwest Indiana. We would not be the same community without them.”

The Diocese of Gary has a longstanding Migrant Ministry, where congregation members donate food and supplies and host religious services for those working on farms throughout Northwest Indiana. Currently, several parishes are working to collect food for immigrant families in need, and partners such as The Catholic Legal Immigration Network provide legal assistance and representation to immigrants.

In February, McClory published a statement in solidarity with Pope Francis and Pope Leo, calling people to treat one another with respect, dignity and kindness “as if we are encountering Christ” regardless of immigration status.

Weeks ago, Pope Leo openly condemned the mistreatment of immigrants and roughly 1,000 Roman Catholics traveled to the ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois last month to send clergy into the facility to distribute Holy Communion. They were denied entry by Homeland Security but still sang worship songs in hopes their voices would reach those inside.

“That encouragement to live that love is rooted in the welcoming of the stranger, which the gospel calls us to,” McClory said. “And we need to live that out here in Northwest Indiana. So both Pope Francis and Pope Leo have given us a very clear, a very clear vision: That we’re called to love without regard to immigration status. And so that remains our opportunity, our call, our challenge here today. We’re not going to solve the immigration problem overnight, but the behaviors that we’re seeing don’t seem to be providing a long-term solution, which is really what we need.”

“…I’m not a policy expert, but the fact of the matter is that we all acknowledge that our immigration system is broken. But just because the system is broken doesn’t mean that we need to break the lives of the people that are here already,” McClory concluded.

Spreading awareness

Kevin Mejia founded East Chicago Indiana News, an online community news initiative, in September 2020 to cover local politics, spotlight businesses and encourage community service.

His days now are filled with an endless stream of photos, videos and rumors of masked agents on interstates and streets. The majority of videos and photos are from residents filming through windows or from cars to warn others.

“You hear that someone has been taken, and then you go out to the location to check it out — and boom, a car would be abandoned,” Mejia said.

Mejia said people recording video and taking photos of ICE activity has been an effective way to help those targeted in their communities.

“The biggest message is to stay calm and when you see something like that happening, record,” he said. “Make sure to capture what’s happening, what’s being done, and what’s happening that’s wrong — Somebody is going to be held accountable in some way. Recording is an answer without promoting violence. When people don’t talk about it, then it gets swept under the rug. ”

After watching ICE agents take an elderly Hispanic man on Calumet Avenue in Hammond, an East Chicago resident recorded a video of the abandoned vehicle with personal belongings inside in an attempt to seek out the man’s family. In the comments, a tow truck business owner offered to tow it to the man’s family for free, and hours later, another commenter posted that the vehicle was eventually taken to the man’s children.

Among the comments were also sentiments celebrating the arrest, with statements such as “What I voted for,” “Deport, deport, deport,” and the phone number for an ICE tip line to report individuals to the Department of Homeland Security.

“I would say the experience has been very unsettling, seeing all these posts come into my approval list of ICE being spotted, people having fear. I’m at the forefront of everything. I see the comments of people for it, people against it. I do have mixed feelings about everything. I feel it’s really been hectic last month because with the whole ICE situation, I want to be spreading awareness rather than spreading fear. If I see a photo, it could spread very fast. Do I post it? Do I put it through to everyone?” Mejia said. “I can honestly say, psychologically, the community is impacted, not only the immigrants, but the whole community.”

Whistle blowers unite

Several groups are distributing kits that include cards in English and Spanish that outline one’s Constitutional 5th Amendment and 4th Amendment rights if approached by ICE. Each kit also contains a resource list, such as a 24-Hour emergency hotline for immigrants and families at 1-855-435-7693 and how immigrants in Illinois and Indiana can obtain free or low-cost legal consultations and representation from the National Immigration Justice Center.

In addition, the kits include what has become a new symbol of resistance: a whistle.

Whistles began being used in Chicago suburbs as a community-powered warning system. Each whistle typically comes with a universal code to communicate to anyone in ear shot. For example, if ICE is detaining someone, the whistle code calls for a continuous, steady rhythm.

“Form a Crowd. Stay Loud. Stay Nonviolent. Don’t Stay Silent,” the instructions state.

“It really resonates with the community,” said Tracie Martin, founder of group NWI Takes Action. “It gives people a voice when they feel like they don’t have one. And it’s a stand in solidarity, first in Chicago and now here. I think part of it is that there’s resonance to it, because it is so old school. And again, it’s analog … It’s small but yet it’s mighty.”

East Chicago Councilman Robert Garcia, D-5th District, is working with groups in East Chicago and beyond to create more whistle kits and distribute them across the area, as well as collect food and provisions for families in need.

Garcia, a lifelong East Chicago resident and a council member since 2003, said when Operation Midway Blitz was announced in September, he knew it was only a matter of time that ICE would spread into city limits. Since then, he has seen his community transform within the span of a month.

“It reminds me of the Civil Rights movement when I was a kid, you know, seeing the marches, people coming together — it reminds me of this right now,” Garcia said. “But it’s a time where you have to take a stand. There’s no due process for the people that’s getting taken in. It’s like getting kidnapped off the street and getting slammed to the floor. Which to me, is unconstitutional. I served in the U.S. military and it really pisses me off at how these people are getting treated. The United States was built on the backs of immigrants, and this is how they treat them.”

At an East Chicago Council meeting on Oct. 22, Garcia introduced a resolution that would have called for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to be blocked from city property. It only had two votes in favor, from Garcia and the resolution’s sponsor, East Chicago Councilman Kenny Monroe, so it didn’t make it on the council agenda.

Garcia said the resolution closely mirrors the one passed unanimously in Hammond on Oct. 14 barring ICE’s use of city property.

“We all need to watch out for each other,” Garcia said. “We’re roughly 60% Hispanic in East Chicago. We’re probably the most Hispanic city in the state of Indiana and we should be letting our neighbors know that we are there to protect them, to help them as much as we can.”

Mayors in most of northern Lake County communities have taken to public statements, social media and resolutions to decry ICE’s presence in their cities.

East Chicago Mayor Anthony Copeland said his resolve was tested when ICE made an arrest at La Rancherita bakery without any prior notification from the agency. The agents were staged in the publicly accessible portion of the city police station’s parking lot.

“We want to be clear: The East Chicago Police Department is not involved in any operations with ICE,” Copeland said. “We have not coordinated, supported, or participated in any immigration enforcement actions, and no information has been shared with ICE regarding such matters. Our department’s parking facility is open to the public and may occasionally be used by other law enforcement entities. However, their presence does not indicate cooperation or endorsement.”

Gary Mayor Eddie Melton also issued a public statement, informing residents: “Unless agents show you a warrant signed by a judge with your name and address, you are not required to open your door to federal agents.”

“The presence of federal ICE agents in our region is unsettling and causes significant concern within our community,” Melton said. “I want to be unequivocally clear: my administration does not support the efforts or condone the actions of ICE raids that target our friends, family, and neighbors because of their race and ethnicity.”

Officials have repeatedly stated that local police departments are limited on the ways they can interact with ICE. In October, Hammond city officials stopped ICE agents from using the parking lot of the Hammond Police Department.

“Let me be clear: Hammond does not have any agreements or partnerships with ICE that authorize them to use our city’s facilities or property for their operations,” Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. said in a statement. “It is deeply concerning that federal agents would enter and use Hammond’s property without permission — especially when the Federal Courthouse is located just one block west of our police headquarters.”

Activism creates community

Motivated by the fear that’s spread in his community, Fortuno Cruz stood with his wife and children in the Crown Point Square during the October 18 “No Kings” protest holding a sign that said, “Fight ignorance, not immigrants.”

The Hammond resident said he has seen the ripple effect in his neighborhood, from people being afraid to go to medical appointments to shuttered businesses.

“We have people in Hammond and in East Chicago and Crown Point being taken,” Cruz said. “We talk to people in our neighborhoods, they have empty restaurants. When ICE comes into these communities, you see places shut down. People are afraid. They don’t feel safe to go outside.”

Cruz was two years old when he was brought to America from Mexico with his family. His family was made up of migrant workers who eventually began working at the steel mills in East Chicago.  As an adult, Cruz sought citizenship and he was sworn in with 300 other people in Hammond’s federal court building. But that doesn’t exempt him from fear, he said.

“Everyone’s afraid to be honest, people are trying to stay inside,” Cruz said. “I don’t really go anywhere, either. It doesn’t matter if you’re a legal citizen anymore to them. If you’re going to the bank or the store or the doctor, your head is on a swivel. You go to restaurants and you see less and less people. On top of that, people can’t afford to go out like they used to… I just want to have a good life and own a business,” Cruz said. “I don’t want my kids to go through this.”

Anna Ortiz is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune