A parking lot became a staging ground

Northwest Side residents learned federal immigration agents used Chicago police parking lots this month to stage operations and move detainees between vehicles.

The Sun-Times saw the video

Footage reviewed by the paper shows federal agents transferring detainees from one vehicle to another last week at a lot run by the police department's Albany Park District.

A neighbor watched it happen

Denise Poloyac, 66, a member of Indivisible Chicago, saw masked agents at the lot on Wednesday and described a man in all black stepping out of a car.

“I saw what was obviously a federal agent get out of a car. He had a black mask on, and he was all dressed in black.”

She knew what it was for

Poloyac read the gathering as a rendezvous point, not a coincidence. Illinois law bars state and local police from helping federal agents with immigration enforcement.

“to use this as a meeting spot to then go out and detain people”

The mayor already banned this

Last year Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order prohibiting city-owned property from being used as a staging ground for ICE raids.

And the ordinance goes further

A 2021 revision to Chicago's Welcoming City ordinance, signed under Lori Lightfoot, bars city police from cooperating with ICE under any circumstances.

Residents packed a council meeting

At Saturday's Albany Park District council meeting, residents told the police department to end its collaboration with federal immigration agents.

The commander went silent

District Councilor Elizabeth Rochford contacted Cmdr. Jesse Alvarez as soon as she heard about the lot. He has ignored her requests for a response since.

Elected, and still ignored

Rochford said she expected some back and forth with police leadership and never got it. Resident concerns, she said, are going nowhere.

“[Resident concerns] seem to be falling on deaf ears unfortunately.”

Neighbors call it a pattern

Albany Park resident Paddy Lindley said the commander has a history of stalling and misleading the community, and that the staging is only the newest example.

“What we have seen from this district commander is a pattern of stalling, of lying to us, and of not prioritizing the activities that keep us safe.”

Who bears the cost

Lindley pointed to immigrants, young people and unhoused neighbors in encampments as the groups facing harassment, and the ones most in need of protection.

“These are the populations that need the most protection.”

Police said nothing

The Chicago Police Department did not respond to a request for comment on the reported use of its 17th District lot.

City Hall says it is on it

Johnson's office said the mayor and CPD knew about the incident and were actively monitoring and responding to the violation of his executive order.

A meeting with commanders

Senior administration and CPD officials met with district commanders to confirm compliance and restate that officers must order federal agents off city property.

“CPD personnel must take action to direct federal immigration personnel to leave City property and comply with local law”

A promise has to mean something

State Sen. Graciela Guzman said Illinois committed to keeping local resources out of federal immigration enforcement, and residents are owed the facts.

“That commitment has to mean something, and it especially has to mean something when our communities are under attack.”