By Kevin Gosztola, Editor
On October 29, ICE agents in military-style gear deployed to Elmwood Park and detained at least eight people.
All sources or witnesses, who spoke to the Elmwood Park Advocate, were granted anonymity for fear of retaliation from ICE.
Two landscapers working for Angel’s Landscaping were removed near 73rd Court and Dickens.
A witness said a black SUV and black Chevy Silverado stopped at the intersection. The agents in the SUV interrogated three landscapers before taking two of the workers.
The third person that ICE did not detain was Angel, the owner of the business. (He’s also apparently an Elmwood Park resident.)
Both workers had only been working with Angel for a couple of days. Angel’s regular crew has not “been working for fear of being abducted,” according to the witness who observed the incident.
Even though residents have a right to film ICE agents while they are engaged in operations, an ICE agent stepped out of the Silverado and attempted to intimidate the person who saw this incident by recording them with a phone.
A landscaper was detained by ICE agents around 76th Court and Bloomingdale Avenue nearby Elm Middle School. Agents questioned a second landscaper but did not take him because he was able to show that he was documented.
At 76th Court and Schubert Avenue, two more landscapers were detained.
ICE also targeted three construction workers near the 2100 block of 77th Avenue. A person, who the newsletter will refer to as “Sofia,” shared, “At 11:15, immigration officers raided the site and took three people, including my nephew. Thank God my brother managed to escape and was helped by an American citizen. May God bless these people who support immigrants.”
Vehicles driven by ICE agents were spotted on the streets of Elmwood Park throughout the day. At one point, a witness photographed a white Chevy Tahoe that belonged to ICE as it exited through the “public safety driveway” that is used by the Elmwood Park Police Department.
The presence of ICE in the neighborhood once again had teachers and school staff on edge. Elmwood Park Schools Superintendent Dr. Leah Gauthier was spotted outside John Mills Elementary School. School administrators locked the playground to prevent anyone from being detained on school property.
At St. Celestine School, a private Catholic school in Elmwood Park, the full teaching staff participated in dismissal on the entire block, and no students were allowed to remain on school grounds. The school was on soft lockdown for most of the day.
Previously, on October 20, ICE operations targeted landscapers, who were working on the 1700 block of 76th Avenue by Elm Middle School and nearby the Elmwood Park Cemetery and Mausoleum at Elmgrove and 80th Avenue.
Red’s Landscape and Construction Company, which was contracted by the Village of Elmwood Park, was completing a job when ICE agents questioned their workers and detained one of them.
A source informed the newsletter that the worker was taken to the ICE detention facility in Broadview. The worker had a problem with his sugar levels and asked for his diabetes medication.
ICE agents allegedly insisted that the worker sign an order for removal or else he would not receive the medicine he needed. The worker signed the document and was put on a bus to Mexico.
The article was updated to include details related to a seventh and eighth person, who were detained by ICE on October 20. It also was corrected to reflect that the ICE vehicle was on the public safety driveway, not the Public Works lot.
When people who work for the village have to have work done on their property and people are detained, maybe then they will actually start saying something instead of staying quiet like they always do on everything.
An insider source said Elmwood parks public works let ICE use their property. Can you look into this?