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| Rey Estrada and Liz Soto |
“It was a little bit hard, the words they were saying...” began Rey Estrada, in Spanish, when asked about being seized by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Oct. 21 as he did landscaping work in Rogers Park, ticking off terms that hardly need translation: “Illegal. Gordo. Negro.” Illegal. Fat. Black.
“That’s why they stopped me. My skin. “
Estrada was one of about 4,000 Chicagoans swept off the street beginning in September under Operation Midway Blitz, the federal government deportation campaign targeting immigrants in the Chicago area. While labeling the people they were seizing as “the worst of the worst,” most of the immigrants arrested — more than 60% — had no criminal record whatsoever. Estrada never had so much as a parking ticket.
He spent three hours in the back of an SUV, and was taken to ICE’s detention facility in west suburban Broadview. He spent the next 48 hours in a large room with 150 other men — in a room he was told was intended for 80 people. There were three metal toilets. The lights were always on.
“They never turned it off,” he said. Estrada had no bed, no mattress, no blankets. He folded his jacket as a pillow. Sleep was impossible anyway — every half hour the door was opened and various names were screamed.
It was also hot — the detainees begged the guards to keep a slot open for ventilation. They were fed Subway sandwiches that had spoiled — Estrada picked the black moldy meat off and ate the bun.
He said the Spanish-speaking guards were harsher than the English speakers.
“The guards yelled at us and called us pigs,” he said. “The guards who spoke English, I have nothing bad to say about them.”
He was allowed to call home the afternoon he was detained.
“We were worrying about him,” his wife, Liz Soto, said. “I was driving to go pick up the kids from school. He asked me, ‘How are you?’ and I asked him, ‘How do you want me to be?’”
He told her they were offering him self-deportation money to go to Mexico.
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All this sounds like a horror story from another country...or another century.
ReplyDeleteNot the America I grew up in--or want to live in. No longer love it.
If I were young and single and well-off, I would most likely leave it.
England...Ireland...Australia....if...if...if...
Those countries aren't so great either. Not sure about Ireland but if you protest against Israel in England or Australia you could go to prison
DeleteCanada, Brit. Columbia/ Vancouver, not such a bad winter
DeleteMaybe they're not so great. No place is perfect. Not even Norway. Nirvana and Paradise no longer exist, assuming they ever did. As for protests and marches, they only serve to make the protesters and marchers feel better about themselves and the validity of their causes, and to feel less alone and isolated, by being in a crowd.
DeleteAnd even if those places have their flaws, they are looking better and better compared to the festering orange swamp we are ass-deep in at the moment.
Isreal, shmisrael...would still leave if I could. Ain't gonna happen. Gonna die right here in the good old Untied Snakes and become hiss-tory. It's as good a place as any for that.
Thank you Neil for sharing this. It helps to be reminded that we must flip the house, take back the White House and return to the values most Americans believe in. Keep reminding us. Wishing you and yours a healthy and Happy New Year, one in which all people can find and use their voice.
ReplyDeleteExactly who would have thought this country is now Nazi Germany in 1936?
ReplyDeleteAll because of the appallingly stupid people who voted for a demented, deranged, narcissistic sociopath, child raping, fascist traitor, who wants to be either king or Hitler!
Stephen Miller. Stephen Miller. Stephen Miller. The monster who is the architect of this sadistic, un-American outrage. While brown people were being rounded up like animals, he was at Mar a Lago clumsily dancing to Ice Ice Baby, laughing, eating and drinking in luxury with his co-conspirators. Once the Trump era inevitably ends, he will have a judicial reckoning for his betrayal of America and his people.
ReplyDeleteIf you do not agree with the laws , work to change the laws.
ReplyDeleteIf you do not agree with the law you still must follow the law.
Its unfortunate for ray that he was detained .
Luckily his employer who seems to have been exploiting him for years has stepped up and is willing to spend some of that ill gotten gains on protecting their asset. A lot of owners that use primarily undocumented people to staff their work force are terrified of losing money because of a lack of fresh meat as well as experienced workers to not adequately compensate for the back breaking work , often dangerous that they do.
I work with a number of people here without documentation. One is a deacon in the Catholic Church. A few have spider web tattoos and tear drops. but lets not go there. fine human beings.
The law says they can't stay. their options are limited. Self deporting will give them a better chance to return and reunite with their family. Getting deported ? Not so much
Crying to a reporter about their poor choices in life will not
In my mind, the short and sweet of it is that those who enforce the law have to follow the law also.
Deletetate
In my mind, the short and sweet of it is that those who enforce the law have to follow the law as well.
Deletetate
Certainly an important component of a balanced judicial system.
DeleteOur courts clearly work to accomplish this. A difficult task politicians seem less concerned with. Vote them out
We have become the Criminal States of America.
ReplyDeleteMy oldest son is watching Ken Burns documentary about the revolution.
ReplyDeleteSo many things I didn't know or understand about American history.
This country was founded through insurrection and bloodshed.
I've read some American history and this is far from the worst time we've faced.
It just seems bad because it's happening to us or at least all around us and we're weak and frightened.
We got our country and our democracy from brave Patriots.
It's going to take bravery to hold on to it do we have that in us or do we think it's somebody else's responsibility?
To me the saddest, most heartbreaking part of this story is the last paragraph.
ReplyDeleteAfter this country did him dirty like that, he still thinks of us that way. We used to be like that, but right before my eyes, we're turning into a country of meatheads and racists who are empowered to swan around American cities and terrorize people based on the color of their skin.
2 things. This column received far less comments than yesterday's Good thing there wasn't a Trump type back in the early days of this country. He would have deported them. Of course they were all white or probably close to 100 percent wh ite at the time so maybe not. For quite some time the country was an open border. Probably a reason why much of the south west had an influx of Latin Americans coming here. I would guess most came from Mexico. There were not federal fees to become a citizen. while not a set "citizenship fee," the process involved paying local court fees and related expenses for the paperwork and court appearance to gain naturalization.
ReplyDeleteImmigration laws have evolved over time. It's hard to compare eras.
DeleteHispanic people lived in the southwestern US before it was the US. It was Mexico before we seized or bought it.
He's been a contributing member of society, not remotely the "worst of the worst," and among the millions relied upon by certain employers, who so seldom seem to be targeted for their part in the "illegality" of his employment, such as it is. Most of us have great-grandparents or earlier ancestors whose entry, minus any credentials, into the country was welcomed, not vilified, even while many of them were still discriminated against.
ReplyDelete"Estrada came to this country 20 years ago..." If so, he arrived during the supposed halcyon days of the Bush administration, before the horrible decline brought about by the lefty Kenyan and then the "open borders," communist Biden.
Why, you'd think that immigration has been an issue for quite a while. It might have been significantly addressed by bipartisan legislation in 2013 and 2024, but we know why Republicans refused to pass either of those bills. Those "Christians" much prefer enabling the current reign of terror wrought by the orange felon and his minions.
Good column, Mr. S.
ReplyDeleteGood to see Bitter Scribe and Jakash commenting.
ReplyDeleteI assume you've been visiting EGD for quite a while then, viewer, and perhaps have had other pseudonyms. Thanks, at any rate. In addition to offering a friendly shout-out, you're among the minority of folks who have spelled my name correctly! 😉
ReplyDelete