During lunch on Oct. 7, Latinos Unidos and the Multicultural Students Association organized an event to raise awareness about the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Chicago and the impact on members of the Lab community.
During the event in GPAH 316, students and faculty folded instructional pamphlets in both Spanish and English into a packet with a whistle. These packages will be given out by the Pilsen Arts & Community House. This activity is a part of a larger whistle movement, an initiative in Chicago in other areas to use whistles to alert others of ICE’s presence.
Senior Maya Livni, a co-president of Latinos Unidos, explained that the goals of this event were to turn frustration into action and make a positive impact.
“Seeing the way that the ICE raids have been impacting the Chicago community, particularly the Latin American community and Hispanic community around the country, and the way that Latin Americans are being spoken about in politics and the media, it’s incredibly upsetting,” Maya said. “In times like these, it’s really easy to feel hopeless, and this kind of gives us something very tangible to do.”
Along with outreach, the affinity groups wanted to prioritize educating the school community about an aggressive increase in immigration enforcement in the Chicago area over the last month. National Guard troops arrived to the area on Oct. 7, sent by President Donald Trump to support the efforts.
“While these are going out into another community, what we’re really trying to do with this event is also educate people within the Lab community about what’s going on with these ICE raids,” Maya said.
Senior Frankie Bishop, a co-president of the Multicultural Students Association, noted that spreading awareness is essential.
“It’s really important for other people in our community to know what to do when ICE is around them, and how to protect other people,” Frankie said. “Our community is so diverse with all different types of races that it’s really good that we have this.”
Dr. Gabriel Baker, a U-High history teacher, attended the event.
“Because I care about vulnerable people in my community and I feel helpless all of the time, so I wanted to do something to help,” he said.
The event united students from different associations and teachers from various departments to work together with a central goal of supporting the community.
“This is incredibly impressive; it’s more than we could have ever hoped for,” Maya said. “It’s really great to see so many people so passionate about a cause like this.”
