Marchers Trek from Chicago to Crete in Opposition to Detention Center

By Alyse Shields
JCUA Intern, School of Social Service Administration, University of Chicago

As we walked down the roads through the south suburban Crete last Sunday I was reminded of a movement that began in a similar fashion, just over 50 years ago.

Representing JCUA, Alyse Sheilds (center, carrying sign), marches with Crete residents in opposition to construction of a federal detention center.

The village of Crete does not see many demonstrations like this, and not everyone we came across that chilly afternoon welcomed our presence. However, when the Civil Rights Movement began in 1964, not all of those marchers were welcomed onto the streets of various towns across our nation either. Laws and policies that had been considered “natural” were being challenged. Like those that came together that Sunday, groups marched peaceably with one another not just to show solidarity, but also to challenge inhumane treatment of people in this nation.

Responding to requests from local leaders, the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs has been working since last fall to help them organize in opposition to construction of a federal immigrant detention center in Crete. This 750-bed facility would be built by Corrections Corporation of America.

On Sunday, April 1, those Crete residents welcomed a Chicago-based organization that undertook a three-day walk from Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood more than 30 miles to Crete.

Angry Crete Residents Say: Education Not Incarceration

Residents of Crete attend a February meeting to protest a proposed immigrant detention center.

By Alyse Shields
JCUA Intern, School of Social Service Administration, University of Chicago

Echoes of “CCA go away” and “Education not Incarceration” were heard throughout the night as the organizers of the event spoke in depth about the impact of a private prison on property values, the identity of Crete, and the questionable history of CCA’s treatment of its detainees and employees.

Alyse Shields

It was Tuesday, February 28, and residents of Crete (a village south of Chicago) were meeting once again to discuss the impact of the proposed immigrant detention center on the small community in the south suburbs of Chicago, where Correction Corporation of America, Immigration Customs and Enforcement, and Crete officials still plan on constructing the center.

The crowd that gathered filled the gym at Crete Elementary, a space large enough to fit 300 people.  Those who attended listened intently and towards the end of the night many shared their own disbelief at the nature of such a project being brought to Crete, while others asked questions that only Crete officials have the inside knowledge to answer.

The Chicago Tribune has reported that plans for the center are moving ahead.

Clearly Crete officials and their large business partners are not as concerned with the voices of the residents of Crete. However, it is also clear that this crowd of determined citizens is not going anywhere, and that this meeting is not the last attempt to have their voices heard by those who are their elected leaders and representatives.

JCUA’s Immigration Justice Workshop at Congregation Etz Chaim

On Sunday, Feb. 26, 2012, members of JCUA’s Immigration Justice Action Team and JCUA staff lead an immigration justice workshop for youth and their parents at Congregation Etz Chaim in the Chicago suburb of Lombard. Joanna Zuckerman Bernstein, Development Coordinator at Universidad Popular and JCUA lay leader, writes about her experience planning and leading an interactive, engaging workshop that established the Jewish imperative to take action for immigration justice.

Joanna Zuckerman Bernstein

Youth Explore Intersection of Judaism and Immigration

By Joanna Zuckerman Bernstein
JCUA Volunteer

“Whom did you miss when you came to the United States?” asked a teenage girl to her friends. Approximately 60 teenagers, ages 14-16, and 40 parents from the Etz Chaim Sunday School program sat watching expectantly. “Mi abuelita (my grandmother),” responded one friend. “My best friend,” said another, wistfully.

This was the opening act of our immigration justice workshop for Etz Chaim. The teenagers were performers from Teatro Americano, a Latino youth theater group founded by the non-profit organization Latinos Progresando, based in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago.

The skits and monologues, all based on true stories, addressed a variety of topics related to the immigrant experience today: homesickness, border-crossing, language-learning, discrimination, fear, and many more.

When Etz Chaim, located in Lombard, Ill., first contacted JCUA to do a workshop about immigration and social justice, we (the Immigration Justice Action Team and staff) mulled over the best way to approach the topic. We wanted to convey the Jewish responsibility to advocate for immigrants, given our history and modern experience of immigration to the United States, and the Torah’s command to “welcome the stranger.”

Jews and Muslims Share Stories of Immigration

Reflections on our Jewish-Muslim Text Study on Immigration 

“So many talk about it. JCUA and JMCBI DO it. Bringing the people together and learning about each other’s experiences and traditions is very moving and shows how much we have in common.” 

–Ray Grossman, Text Study Participant, February, 2012 

Being a stranger in a strange land is an experience that is familiar to Jews and Muslims in the United States. In the text study on Feb. 23, Jews and Muslims gathered at the beautiful Dollop Café to explore what our traditions tell us about immigration. The discussion was facilitated by Imam Abdul-Malik Ryan (the Muslim Chaplain at De Paul University) and Asaf Bar-Tura (Associate Director of Programs at the JCUA and Ph.D. Candidate at Loyola University Chicago).

We began by reflecting on our own connection to immigration in our personal lives and histories. One participant said that though her family had been in the U.S. for three generations, she still caught herself speaking in patterns similar to her grandmother from Europe. Another woman shared that she had grown up in the U.S. with her family’s memories of their homeland, and stepping into her parents’ home is like a trip to Pakistan. We learned that migration is tied to memories, to what was left behind, and passed on from generation to generation.

JCUA Speaks Out for Continued County Ban on “Detainers”

The Cook County Board recently made history by adopting an ordinance that keeps taxpayers from picking up the tab for federal immigration enforcement. Now, however, the board’s action is under attack.

Though it’s already officially law, the ordinance was discussed at a public hearing this morning, attended by numerous supporters of the existing language.

JCUA believes the existing county ordinance is a good policy that protects public safety and reserves limited law enforcement resources.

For years, the federal government has issued “detainers” that instruct local police to hold individuals after their authority has expired and until immigration agents can take custody, costing Cook County residents millions of dollars each year. The county board found that the vast majority of individuals held on detainers had only minor criminal charges, and that the federal detainer policy dissuaded immigrant victims and witnesses from stepping forward to report crimes.

Jane Ramsey, president of JCUA, delivered the following testimony at today’s hearing:

“We applaud the County’s wise decision to not act upon ICE detainer requests. These requests have deleterious effects upon families and communities, separating children from parents, and spouses from one another. In addition to the emotional loss and loss of parental support and guidance, the economic impact is devastating as families lose their source of income.

Crete Detention Center Update: Local Residents Remain Strong in their Opposition

By Emily Zucker Burns
JCUA Director of Organizing 

There’s a lot of activity to report about the proposal to build a large immigrant detention center in the village of Crete, about a one-hour drive south of  Chicago’s Loop.

On Monday, Jan. 23 more than 100 Crete residents  attended the village board meeting to get answers from the mayor and village trustees on the status of the proposed immigration detention center and to voice their opposition.

• Kadner: A display of democracy on detention camp plan

News later emerged that a portion of the proposed site for the detention center is located in a TIF district, which further challenges the claims that the facility will generate tax revenue that will benefit the town:

• TIF district could cut boost from Crete detention center

Congressmen Jesse Jackson, Jr. and Luis Gutierrez met last with with ICE officials in Washington to express their opposition for the construction of the detention center. As a result ICE has committed to holding a hearing on the issue after the Primary Elections:

• Federal officials to hold hearings in Crete on proposed immigration detention center

Residents of Crete and the surrounding communities remain strong in their efforts to oppose the detention center. The group will be holding a second public meeting prior to the Primary Elections.

Teen Activist Reflects on Or Tzedek Retreat

Emily Isaacson wrote this reflection based on her experience at Or Tzedek’s first annual Winter Leadership Retreat.

Providing the Tools for Change: Or Tzedek’s Winter Leadership Retreat

By Emily Isaacson
Or Tzedek participant, Winter 2011

Leadership Retreat participants Meirav (from left), Emily and Rachel hanging out in the city.

Many people observe problems that plague today’s world.  But it takes a special kind of commitment to not only take a stand, but also choose to search deeper under the surface-to discover the depth of an issue and advocate for changing  root of a problem.

Or Tzedek has provided Jewish teens like me a unique opportunity to observe and begin to truly understand the corruption in our world. With this understanding, the program provides the tools to begin to make the changes we wish to see in the world today.

Or Tzedek, traditionally a week-long summer program, just hosted its first-ever winter retreat. As a participant in the three-day winter Or Tzedek program were extremely eye opening.

Crete Detention Center: Many Questions, Few Answers

Alyse Shields

By Alyse Shields
JCUA Intern, School of Social Service Administration, University of Chicago

Emotions remain high in the south suburban village of Crete, the site of a proposed federal detention center.

Another 100 people attended at the latest Crete Village Board meeting held Jan. 23. The small room overflowed with residents, most standing against every available wall, eager to have their questions answered.

I attended the meeting as a representative of JCUA and the Interfaith Committee for Detained Immigrants.

Village Administrator Thomas Durkin opened the meeting by offering responses to questions that residents have been asking about the project. His mundane and perfunctory answers added little insight. Meanwhile, as Durkin spoke, a crowd of impassioned citizens outside the chamber chanted “No Crete Detention Center!”

Crete Residents Protest Proposed Detention Center

Events have been heating up in Crete, Ill., a south suburb of Chicago, where local Crete officials, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, and the private prison company Corrections Corporation of America, have been making plans to build a 750-bed immigrant detention center.

(Top photo: Attendees at the Crete Village Board meeting. Bottom photo: A protest sign appears at a site in Crete rumored to be the location of the proposed detention center.)

At an impassioned meeting held this past Monday night at the Crete Township hall, organized by concerned residents of Crete and the surrounding communities, and the Interfaith Committee for Detained Immigrants, a coalition in which JCUA is an active member, nearly 160 local residents listened intently to comments about the impact this private prison would have on their town and on undocumented immigrants.

Faith Leaders Call for Reform of Immigrant Detention System and Protect Human Rights

Priests, pastors, rabbis, lawyers, advocates and community members gathered on Monday, Dec. 12 to call for an end to unjust conditions and the expansion of the inhumane system of immigration detention in a press conference at the Chicago Temple.

A new report on the state of immigration detention in the Midwest was released by the National Immigrant Justice Center and the Midwest Coalition for Human Rights.  JCUA, as part of the Interfaith Committee on Detained Immigrants, called for an end to the human rights abuses that occur in Illinois and beyond.

JCUA leaders Rabbi Maralee Gordon, Sidney Hollander, and Rabbi Larry Edwards were among the  speakers at the press conference.

Click here for the report Not Too Late for Reform.

Media Coverage:

• Chicago Tribune Dec 12, 2011
• Chicago Sun-Times Dec 12, 2011
• Fox News Latino Dec 12, 2011
• Huffington Post Dec 12, 2011

Rabbi Maralee Gordon who visits with detained immigrants to administer pastoral care recounted the travesties they have witnessed behind the bars of the Illinois jails.

Here’s her statement:

Rabbi Maralee Gordon

Leviticus chapter 19:

When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not wrong him.  The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I the Lord am your God.

Last Friday was International Human Rights Day, and in the Jewish community we observed Human Rights Shabbat over the weekend.

The Hebrew term K’vod Habriot means the dignityof human beings, all human beings, as we are taught in the first chapter of the Bible that human beings are created in God’s image. Thus every time we look into another person’s eyes we owe them honor and respect. The teaching “Love the stranger as yourself” reminds us that we owe that honor and respect to those who are not like us to the same degree as those we recognize as family or members of our tribe.

In Jewish liturgy, ritual and teachings we continually bring forward the experience of our oppressed ancestors, slaves in Egypt, as motivation for gratitude for being free and the obligation first to treat immigrants in the same manner as citizens, and second to combat oppression whenever and wherever we encounter it.