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ST. CHARLES, Ill. — On Saturday morning, President Donald Trump addressed his attempts to deploy the National Guard in various cities across the nation, including Chicago.
Earlier in the week, the president announced a temporary halt to his initiative to station troops in the city. Although troops were initially sent in October, legal obstacles arose, prompting a change in plans.
Shortly before Christmas, the U.S. Supreme Court intervened, preventing the deployment of the National Guard on Chicago’s streets. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker welcomed the court’s decision, emphasizing that the state successfully challenged the president’s actions.
While the National Guard has been withdrawn, federal immigration agents continue their operations in the Chicago vicinity. On Saturday, residents of west suburban St. Charles held a rally urging local authorities to enact legislation that would prohibit these agencies from operating in the area.
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Once again, a group of peaceful demonstrators gathered in the streets of suburban St. Charles, voicing their opposition to federal immigration enforcement. Their demand is clear: they want Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) out of their city.
“We don’t want ICE in our area,” Fox Valley resident Sheri Miranda said. “We don’t wanna have what’s going on with the Trump administration.”
Concerned residents from the Fox Valley resident gathered to show support for immigrants in the community being targeted.
“It’s wrong. It’s totally wrong,” St. Charles resident Bernie Kehoe said. “I mean, it’s against the Constitution. This country’s for everybody, not just for a certain amount of people.”
Saturday’s protest was organized by the grassroots group We Can Lead Change, and it came just days before large crowds are expected to attend the St. Charles City Council meeting on Monday, where the community will once again denounce what they call violent tactics by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents and demand a ban on the federal agencies.
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“We do have immigrants in our community, and they serve us well, and they are our neighbors, and we feel like we need them to know we do support them in this community,” We Can Lead Change organizer Miki Powell said. “Some of them are scared.”
They include naturalized citizen and Fox Valley resident Marcelo Miranda, who immigrated to the United States from Mexico years ago.
“I’m pretty concerned, but at the same time I put my face up and keep going,” Miranda said.
The protesters want the council to pass an ordinance prohibiting federal immigration agents from using public property for their operations. That’s in addition to existing regulations like the Trust Act, which already limit local law enforcement’s cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
“I just hate what’s going on in our country,” Elgin resident Sharon Sutton said. “I hate to see what’s happening to people that I know and care about.”
Similar actions have been taken in other communities to curb federal immigration activities.
Rally organizers are encouraging people to frequent businesses either staffed by immigrants or owned by them.
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