Operation Midway Blitz already has
claimed one life and injury to an ICE officer.
By P.C. Staff
On the same day that an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed a man who attempted to flee the scene in his car after a traffic stop in Franklin Park, Ill., dragging and injuring the ICE agent, the National JACL and the Chicago JACL on Sept. 12 issued a joint statement vehemently opposing “the deployment of troops in American cities, especially the possibility of deployments in Chicago” in what the federal government has dubbed Operation Midway Blitz.
In what turned out to be prescient, an excerpt from the JACL statement said, “The use of military personnel and resources in US cities is not only a waste of taxpayer dollars and government resources, but it also puts American citizens, especially communities of color, at greater risk for violence or unjust targeting.”
According to published news reports, an ICE agent shot and killed 38-year-old Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez —a citizen of Mexico — when he tried to escape arrest by driving away in his car, dragging the ICE officer. The Department of Homeland Security said the ICE agent opened fire while in fear for his life. The ICE operative was reported to be hospitalized and in stable condition.
In the statement, which can be read here, the Chicago JACL urged “the Nikkei community, in Chicagoland and beyond, to show up in this moment to protect immigrant rights and immigrant communities,” noting that many of its members “have a family history of incarceration without due process during WWII.”
On a related note, the JACL Chicago is hosting an Oct. 5 workshop titled “Detention: Then and Now” with Nikkei Uprising. Details, including how to RSVP, are at tinyurl.com/3zr77jua.
The Chicago chapter will also participate in the Oct. 18 No Kings Rally, preceded by an Oct. 15 a poster-making preparation day on at the JACL Chicago office. For more information, visit chapter’s website at jaclchicago.org.
