Ortiz Highlights Work to Protect Immigrant Families in Response to ICE’s New Deportation Chief

CHICAGO –  State Rep. Aaron Ortiz, D-Chicago, is pushing back against the bigoted rhetoric of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) new deportation chief for the Midwest by highlighting how recently enacted state-level protections will help keep Illinois families together and prevent discrimination or intimidation.

“It is no surprise that Donald Trump’s new deportation chief is using the same bigoted rhetoric to dehumanize immigrant families in our community,” Ortiz said. “I’m proud of the work we’ve done in Springfield to provide families much-needed peace of mind by making it harder for ICE to separate families and cracking down on any sort of discrimination or intimidation.”

This spring, Ortiz supported a series of measures to keep families together and ensure nobody is targeted or harassed because of their immigration status, including:

• House Bill 1637, which prohibits local law enforcement from entering into agreements with ICE that permit them to enforce family separation policies;
• Senate Bill 1290, which makes it unlawful for landlords to evict or harass a tenant based on their immigration status; and
• Senate Bill 1429, which prevents individuals from using someone’s immigration status to intimidate them or try to silence them in civil court proceedings.

At a recent press conference, ICE’s deportation chief falsely claimed that most of the arrests they make nationwide take place in local jails across the country. However, records show that roughly two-thirds of people locked up in ICE facilitates have no criminal records. 

“Trump officials must held accountable when they purposely mislead the public to advance their bigoted agenda,” Ortiz said. “It is my hope that other states look to the work we’ve done in Illinois and make it known to Donald Trump that our communities are stronger when we protect the most vulnerable and lift each other up.”