SSW 04.24.25 by South Side Weekly

Curfew Compromise Floated

A new ordinance would allow police to call snap curfews on large gatherings of teenagers anywhere in the city.

BY LEIGH GIANGRECO

Mayor Brandon Johnson and City Council members are closer to a compromise on curfews after a downtown alderperson introduced a revised ordinance last week that would allow police to call snap curfews to address teen gatherings anywhere in the city.

Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd Ward) had planned to seek a vote on an 8 p.m. downtown curfew after recent large gatherings of young people, known as “trends” or “teen takeovers,” turned violent. Johnson had opposed the curfew, but expressed openness to finding a compromise earlier this week. The citywide curfew is currently set at 10 p.m.

At April’s City Council meeting, Hopkins introduced a new ordinance that would give the CPD superintendent the power to declare a localized curfew whenever an on-site police commander believes that a “mass gathering” might occur. By the afternoon, Hopkins had garnered thirty-one signatures for his proposal, with most of the progressive caucus refraining. It could be up for a vote at next month’s council meeting.

whether the ordinance could infringe on people’s First Amendment rights.

The ordinance defines “mass gathering” as twenty or more people congregating in a public place “for the purposes of engaging in criminal or reckless conduct.” A police commander at the scene would announce the curfew thirty minutes before ordering minors to clear the area. Though officers would not issue citations or arrest minors who defy such orders, they could take them into custody until a parent or guardian picked them up. They could face fines of $500, and those costs could triple if someone violated the curfew three times in one year.

The proposal raised questions for 40th Ward Ald. Andre Vasquez, who wondered

“How does one determine the difference between street takeovers, as we’re talking about it, and a protest?” Vasquez said. “I’m concerned, similarly with the last curfew legislation, that alders may be looking to pass something just to say they did a thing. There’s no enforcement, it may not address the issue, and could potentially lead to profiling, [and] lead to limitations of people just exercising their free freedom of speech.”

Still unclear is how the snap curfew would enhance dispersal orders that police can already call on large street gatherings with just the approval of a CPD supervisor in the same district. A request for clarification was not returned by a department spokesperson by press time.

Last June, Johnson told the Sun Times, “The data indicates that setting … arbitrary curfews does not yield results that are favorable.”

Asked to explain the shift in his thinking at a press conference after the Council meeting, the mayor pushed back.

“There’s a lot of presumption there, right?” Johnson said. “This is an ongoing conversation. I still have not seen any studies where placing a curfew in one section of a region or city yields the type of results that we want. We want all of our communities to be safe.”

Kofi Ademola, the adult mentor of youth activist group GoodKids MadCity, told the Weekly the City and partner organizations should curate events during the summer where young people can congregate safely. Community violence

interrupters could “be there to help develop a good vibe, keep people safe and make sure everybody’s having fun and staying positive,” he said.

“Seeing more austerity, seeing more draconian-style fascism towards Black and brown youth...in a so-called bastion city of democracy and working-class organizing is very heartbreaking,” Ademola added. “If the City can invest more money into policing and surveillance instead of giving these young people more resources and opportunities, then we’re no better than Trump and his fascist regime.”

The Council approved a $32 million settlement for a St. Louis man who lost both of his legs after a vehicle fleeing Chicago police officers struck him in 2022. The award to the victim, Bryce Summary, and his wife, Amy Summary, was expected following the Finance Committee’s approval last week.

In a bitter 12-15 vote the week before the Council meeting, the Finance Committee rejected a $1.25 million settlement for the family of Dexter Reed, with some alders arguing that the twentysix-year-old Reed was at fault in the fatal shootout with police in East Garfield Park. Meanwhile, city lawyers contended the case would cost taxpayers more if taken to court.

On March 21, 2024, CPD stopped Reed for an alleged seat belt violation. Reed refused to roll down his car’s tinted windows and shot an officer in the hand. The four officers then shot at Reed ninetysix times in the span of forty-one seconds.

After the Council meeting, Ald. Emma Mitts (37th Ward) delayed the full council’s consideration of the settlement through a parliamentary move.

“We’re at risk [of] losing even more

Photo by Jan Weber via Unsplash

money on this case,” Mitts told the Weekly “So hopefully…[we’ll have a little more conversation before voting no.” She added that the City could still face liability even though Reed shot at officers first.

Mitts’ motion to defer and publish would force a vote on the settlement and if that vote failed, it would return to committee where alders would vote again and the administration would have another chance to convince council members, Ald. Gil Villegas explained.

Villegas has flagged the City’s ballooning settlement costs, particularly the lawsuits filed by those wrongfully convicted. Villegas said the administration has agreed to hold briefings with alderpersons about the City’s wrongful conviction liability, rather than discuss them publicly, he added. In particular, Villegas would focus on settlements related to former CPD Commander Jon Burge, former Detective Reynaldo Guevara, and former Sergeant Ronald Watts. The City currently has four pending lawsuits against it related to alleged abuse by Burge (who died in 2018), forty for Guevara, and 183 for Watts, according to Law Department spokesperson Kristen Cabanban. The City currently has four pending lawsuits against it related to alleged abuse by Burge (who died in 2018), forty for Guevara, and 183 for Watts, according to Law Department spokesperson Kristen Cabanban.

Asked whether he was pushing the settlement for Reed’s family, Johnson told reporters that was not his proposal.

“My administration, we don’t put forth settlements,” he said. “These are recommendations that come from the corporate counsel based upon the evidence that’s there. And the City Council ultimately makes a decision on whether or not that settlement should be recommended.”

Council members expected a resolution banning January 6 rioters from City employment to cruise through a vote after it got the green light from the Workforce Development Committee. Though the ordinance passed, it got pushback from some of the Council’s conservative members, including Alds. Nick Sposato (38th Ward) and Ray Lopez (15th). The nonbinding resolution directs

the City’s Commissioner of Human Resources to reject applicants who participated in the January 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol that injured dozens of police officers and resulted in seven deaths.

“Those 500 that followed the police and attacked the police, I have no sympathy for them,” Sposato said. “But the thousands that were just trespassing, we’re going to ruin somebody’s life? Even though this is a nothing-burger.”

Sposato’s comments elicited laughs and eyerolls from fellow council members, who expressed near-unanimous support for the ordinance. Ald. Maria Hadden (49th Ward), co-chair of the Progressive Caucus, imbued her comments with the kind of patriotic rhetoric normally employed by her more conservative colleagues.

“Traitors to the country should not be allowed to work for the City of Chicago, because here in the city of Chicago, while the fifty of us represent diverse communities, we are pro-Chicago and pro-United States,” Hadden said. “We are one of the most American of our American cities, and we will fight for each other and for our country and for democracy until we have no fight left in us.”

Lopez declared that he was worried that the ordinance could create a slippery slope, but ultimately voted for it. It passed 44-3, with Sposato, James Gardiner (45th Ward), and Napolitano (41st) voting against it.

The Council also earmarked $66 million for two LaSalle Street corridor revitalization projects. Johnson picked up where former Mayor Lori Lightfoot left off with her “LaSalle Street Reimagined” project, which envisioned transforming vacant office space in the Loop business district into mixed-income residences. The affordable units in each project would be reserved for tenants earning an average of 60 percent of the area median income, or about $53,000 for a two-person household, according to the Mayor’s Office. ¬

Leigh Giangreco is a freelance reporter based in Chicago. You can follow her work on Twitter @LeighGiangreco and at leighgiangreco.com.

South Side Activist Sounds the Alarm About Quantum Computing Campus

Developer says groundbreaking is “imminent” but has yet to enroll in an environmental remediation program with the IEPA.

BY MAX BLAISDELL HYDE PARK HERALD

Anne Holcomb was canvassing near Steelworkers Park last July for her environmental justice group, Environment Transportation, Health and Open Space of South Shore (ETHOS), when she heard the rotors of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s helicopter passing overhead.

That balmy day, Pritzker, a selfdescribed “quantum geek,” was speeding to the lakefront to announce before press, public officials and university and corporate leaders the anchor tenant for what will be the 400-acre Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park (IQMP), a publicprivate sector collaboration situated on the grounds of a former U.S. Steel mill on the Southeast Side of Chicago.

Despite standing on a public sidewalk, as Holcomb recounted recently, she was approached by a security guard for that announcement event. Holcomb, who at the time was relying on a cane after a bout of long COVID-19, said she was threatened with arrest if she did not immediately vacate the area.

She left that day upset and indignant, as did several other people who hadn’t heard about the event or the planned quantum

campus and were hoping to access the park space.

To Holcomb, Pritzker’s announcement event was emblematic of a failure by public officials, who have championed the development as a windfall for the economically starved Southeast Side, to talk and listen to residents of the surrounding neighborhoods about what changes, both positive and negative, the project might bring.

“Pritzker has said that this quantum campus will be a gift to the world, but what gifts and what challenges will it give to those of us who live in South Shore and South Chicago?” Holcomb later asked in an August letter to the Herald.

At a forum held this past Sunday at First Unitarian Church of Chicago, 5650 S. Woodlawn Ave., that was meant to raise awareness about how the project could impact Hyde Park, Holcomb said the state has largely refused to respond to her public cri de coeur.

Instead, her concerns and those of other local groups, such as the Alliance of the Southeast, about environmental contamination, resident displacement, public access to neighboring parks and

potential strain on public utilities have mostly gone unaddressed by public and corporate officials backing the development.

degrees I have, or what my background is, because I live in that community, it’s fallen on deaf ears” Holcomb told a small audience of Hyde Parkers. “Nobody wants to hear from the working-class residents that live there.”

Quantum computing is a burgeoning technology that relies on the principles of quantum mechanics to perform certain calculations exponentially faster than traditional supercomputers. Proponents of the technology say it could drastically improve the speed of systems used for things like pharmaceutical drug discovery, weather forecasting and cybersecurity.

But to execute such complicated tasks, quantum computers’ superconducting electrical circuits must be kept at temperatures close to absolute zero, requiring the use of cryogenic cooling systems. And to date, the number of quantum bits, or qubits, used in quantum computers have not been large enough to be error proof or adequately correctable.

The anchor tenant of the proposed development is PsiQuantum, a Silicon-

million in state funding. (The company’s other large-scale quantum computer is being developed in Brisbane, Australia, with heavy investment from the Australian government.)

PsiQuantum expects to employ about 150 people at its 250,000-square-foot facility, most of whom are projected to be advanced degree holders. But with 70 percent of residents in the adjacent South Chicago neighborhood not possessing a college degree, they are unlikely to receive much, if any, consideration for the more highly-skilled and permanent positions.

The campus’ construction will be overseen by developer Related Midwest. Other tenants include IBM and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the military research arm of the Department of Defense known for its role in the early development of the internet, among other projects.

Related Midwest estimates that the campus will also create 20,000 construction jobs over the next six years and said

Anne Holcomb, an environmental activist on the South Side, talks to Hyde Park residents at First Unitarian Church of Chicago, 5650 S. Woodlawn Ave., about the proposed quantum computing campus in South Chicago on April 13, 2025.

Photo Max Blaisdell

The IEPA has stated publicly that it expects Related Midwest to enroll the property in a voluntary site remediation program but was unable to confirm that it had done so as of press time.

Related Midwest said in a statement that redevelopment of the site would “include surface caps (asphalt, concrete, or clean soil layers) to meet current IEPA standards and safeguard future occupants and surrounding neighborhoods.”

Related Midwest also pointed to “extensive experience working with the IEPA on complex environmental projects, including 400 Lake Shore, Lathrop and Roosevelt Square” and said it would “document environmental safety measures as each redevelopment phase is completed, and work with the IEPA on all necessary verification.”

Chicago Department of Environment commissioner Angela Tovar told Block Club Chicago in December that the city would review existing contamination of the site and present their findings to the IEPA

so neighboring residents’ environmental concerns “will be mitigated.”

Holcomb also raised concerns about the facility’s energy needs. Holcomb alleged that long-term plans call for the construction of two new substations, which could take up to four years to complete— and would be funded not by the companies, she said, but by ComED ratepayers.

“The Bush has brownouts in the summertime,” she said, referring to the informal neighborhood nearby. And yet, “we, the ratepayers, are going to be paying for this, not PsiQuantum and not Related Midwest.”

A spokesperson for IQMP told InsideClimate News last month that they had begun receiving state funds “to support new power infrastructure for the facility,” but they could not say that ComEd had a plan in place to do so. A ComEd spokesperson separately told InsideClimate News that the company doesn’t have information about how the project may impact ratepayers.

Holcomb also expressed fears of restricted access to public parks. Park 566 and Steelworkers Park border the development site, and while the city has pledged not to build on them, she said access isn’t currently guaranteed—especially with a Department of Defense-backed project on the campus.

“They rezoned the land around the parks,” she said. “That means we’d have to cross private property just to get there.”

Related Midwest said they plan to expand residents’ access to both parks, as well as to the lakefront.

In a statement, the developer shared plans to build a 1.65-mile trail along the Calumet River and South Slip and a North Slip promenade that would showcase the site’s industrial history while also linking DuSable Lake Shore Drive to Park 566 and Steelworkers Park.

And, perhaps most urgently, she and her group are pushing for a legally binding community benefits agreement to address environmental protections and long-term health risks before the groundbreaking takes place—something more than the assurances of public officials and company representatives.

“If it’s not in writing and it’s not signed, it’s nothing,” she said. “It’s just talk.”

Because Holcomb sees the environmental ramifications of the development going well beyond South Chicago, she asked Hyde Parkers to also raise their voices about this issue.

“We all breathe the same air,” she said. “We need Hyde Park power.” ¬

Max Blaisdell is a fellow with the Invisible Institute and a staff writer for the Hyde Park Herald

Beyond access, Holcomb and her organization want the developers to set up a community trust fund for park improvements, including bathrooms, playgrounds, and ballfields, amenities that she said are long overdue.

Public Meetings Report

A recap of select open meetings at the local, county, and state level.

BY SCOTT PEMBERTON AND DOCUMENTERS

April 2

“Chicago is not doing so well when it comes to air pollution,” the commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public health (CDPH), Olusimbo Ige, told the City Council Committee on Environmental Protection and Energy at its meeting. The city is outpacing national averages in pollutant concentration, which the city’s top health chief says is a result of residential segregation and Chicago’s role as a transportation and industrial hub. To ensure the city meets state and federal air pollution standards, the public health department is charged with regulating industry sites through the city’s Office of Environmental Permitting and Inspection (OEPI). Inspections are prioritized based on complaints and historical violations. In 2024, OEPI’s three inspectors conducted thirteen percent of routine inspections for the 1,972 permitted facilities across the city while completing ninety-eight percent of investigations into complaints. Despite knowing about repeat offenders, the health department can only issue citations, which are then reviewed by the city’s Department of Law through administrative hearings. Council members pressed Ige over the lack of enforcement for repeat offenders citing Sims Metal Management in Pilsen. “We want to make sure that your department and our city has more enforcement to shut down operations,” said Chair Alderwoman Maria Hadden (49th Ward). In 2023, a civil rights complaint over a planned Southeast Side scrap-metal plant sparked an investigation that found the city had been engaging in environmental racism, leading to a three-year federal agreement with the city. As part of that, CDPH plans to install 220 sensors by this summer and publish data by this fall.

April 3

At its meeting, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks approved the final landmark recommendation for Bronzeville’s Morning Star Baptist Church of Chicago at 3993 S. King Drive. “The heritage of Morning Star is really interwoven with the Great Migration which transformed Chicago’s political, cultural, and artistic landscape,” said architectural historian Matt Crawford of the Department of Planning and Development. Last year, the historic South Side neighborhood was one of ten districts designated by the state for its historical and cultural identity. The original building was constructed in 1912.

April 8

At its meeting, the Public Building Commission of Chicago Board approved the appointment of minority-owned Milhouse Engineering and Construction, Inc., as the engineering firm for the Chicago Department of Transportation Shoreline Restoration (67th Street to 75th Street) Feasibility Study Project. “Milhouse Engineering and

Construction has … extensive project experience with communities of the South and West Sides and understanding the public engagement process for outreach in the development of projects,” said the board’s Executive Director, Ray Giderof. The project is designed to maintain, expand, and diversify access to the city shoreline. Giderof also announced a new text messaging service that notifies contractors about bidding opportunities on construction projects, requests for proposals, and networking. Users can sign up online to receive these updates from the Public Building Commission, which oversees construction of police stations, firehouses, libraries, schools, parks, and other city facilities.

April 9

Meeting the need for affordable housing in Chicago without relying on federal funding—especially in light of the current uncertainty of such funding—is the goal of the Green Social Housing Ordinance, according to a presentation made to the City Council Joint Committee: Finance; Housing and Real Estate at its meeting. The ordinance would establish an independent nonprofit in charge of a $135 million lending fund to finance energy efficient mixed-income developments. The initiative is expected to produce 1,200 affordable apartments each year. “It is an innovative plan that provides permanent affordability, supports mixed-income communities, and promotes environmental sustainable housing without relying on overburdened federal programs,” said Chicago Department of Housing Commissioner, Lissette Castañeda. The nonprofit’s board is slated to have five members from the Mayor’s office and five to seven City Council-approved appointments. The Mayor’s deputy assistant director of policy, Jung Yoon, said the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, the city’s primary tool to address affordable housing, “is not enough to meet the demand.”

At its meeting, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) Board approved a $1.2 million contract to expand a pilot program using artificial intelligence (AI) to identify guns in surveillance video and to alert police. Twelve percent of eighty-two alerts since August, or just under ten, identified guns and led to six arrests. But the board is concerned about the program’s effectiveness. “They are not relying one hundred percent on AI,” said Kevin Ryan, vice president of CTA security. “AI makes the detection, but they send it to a control center where former military or law enforcement … make a determination.” A reduced-fare regional transit pass for unlimited CTA, Metra, and PACE access for twenty-four hours is set to cost $9.50 on weekends, $10 on weekdays.

April 14

Illinoisans ages forty-two to sixty-four in the country without legal status could lose health care coverage July 1, the Board of Directors of the Cook County Health and Hospitals System learned at its meeting. Due to a shortfall, Governor J.B. Pritzker’s FY26 budget proposal would end the Health Benefits for Immigrant Adults (HBIA) program, saving $330 million. Building upon the Health Benefits for Immigrant Seniors program, HBIA began in 2022. Together the programs cover older adults who could qualify for Medicaid but whose immigration status makes them ineligible. Cook County Health anticipates a loss of sixteen thousand to seventeen thousand members if the program ends. “The biggest immediate concern is the HBIA population and that transition in terms of the impact on that population. We’ve seen a lot of gains in the health status of those individuals, and I think we’re all very concerned about seeing that slide backward,” said Aaron Galeener, chief administrative officer of health plan services at Cook County Health. “A lot of us are still in this ‘wait and see mode’ until we understand some of the federal policy changes that are going to happen and also what happens with the HBIA program and the state legislative session.” Cook County Health is looking at ways to support current HBIA members during that transition to ensure they continue receiving treatment and care, Galeener said.

illustration by Holley Appold/South Side Weekly

No Warrant, No Warning: A Family’s Fight After an ICE Arrest

After ICE agents detained Abel Orozco without a warrant, his family and organizers across Chicago are fighting to bring him home.

BY JOSÉ ABONCE

Apetition is calling for Lyons, Illinois resident Abel Orozco’s right to due process after advocates say he was unlawfully arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in January near his home. Grassroots group Organized Communities Against Deportations (OCAD), alongside other immigrant rights organizations, are amplifying his case as part of a broader fight against unlawful ICE detentions, including the arrests of Orozco and twenty-one others now named in a federal class action lawsuit.

On the morning of January 26, fortyseven-year-old Abel Orozco headed out to pick up tamales before he and his wife went to Sunday mass. On his way back, ICE agents pulled him over and detained him without showing a judicial warrant, leaving his family to make sense of the chaos that followed.

It was later revealed, in a motion filed March 13, that federal agents were looking for another family member that morning. Yet three months later, Abel remains in a detention center in Indiana.

In an interview with South Side Weekly, his wife, Yolanda, reflected on the life she and Abel built together. With just a small truck, a trailer, and a chainsaw, Abel built a life from the ground up, literally. For more than twenty years, he climbed trees across Chicagoland, running his own tree service company and supporting his wife and four children.

In one of the photos from a family album Yolanda keeps on the dining room table, Abel is perched high up in the trees

and tied in by rope, boots braced against the bark, with his hands gripping a chainsaw, grinning.

Abel and Yolanda immigrated from Zacatecas, Mexico in the mid 1990’s and Abel immediately started working for a tree cutting company and quickly learned the skills required to be a climbing arborist— the same skills he would hone to start his own tree cutting business years later.

Over time, as he continued to grow his business, Abel was able to purchase bigger trucks, such as a cherry picker, so he no longer had to climb trees by rope. The old, used mulcher was also eventually replaced

with a new one better able to handle Abel’s expanding company, which serviced the South, West, and North Sides of Chicago, and even worked jobs in Indiana.

As Abel’s company grew, so did his family. They eventually welcomed a third and fourth child. The Orzoco family have lived in their single story brick home in Lyons for over twenty years after they became first time home buyers in 2004.

“I have that day ingrained in me because of the sadness I felt when trick-ortreaters knocked on my door and I did not have candy to give them because we had just moved in,” Yolanda shared.

Jobs continued to pick up for Abel as he successfully managed and grew his company. He’d eventually be in position to hire eight to ten employees. All in all he’s been running his company for over twenty years.

Abel worked nearly seven days a week, typically waking up at 6am every day to prepare for the day’s work ahead. To begin his day, Abel’s first stop was always what he called “la yarda”—the gravel lot where he parked his work trucks overnight.

According to Yolanda, Abel treated his employees with respect and dignity, buying lunch for them almost every day.

When the work day was over for his employees, Abel would rush home and shower before he would head out again and conduct estimates for potential clients. By the time Abel would get home, it would often be 9 or 10pm.

Despite Abel’s dedication to his work, he always made time for his family, his wife said. He would rest most Sundays, unless he had a call for service. Even then, he made sure to schedule work on Sundays either early in the morning so that he could make sure he goes to church with Yolanda, or later in the evening once church was over and after sharing something to eat.

Abel loved hosting a backyard carne asada, or cookout, with his children and three grandchildren on warmer Sundays in the summer. He would often invite extended family and his neighbors over as well.

If Abel was not firing up the grill on any given Sunday, he and Yolanda had their favorite go-to restaurants.

Illustration by Haley Tweedell

applying for a green card, ICE reinstated a decades-old removal order tied to a brief visit Abel made to see his ailing father in Mexico years ago.

In the motion filed, Abel is asking the court to cancel his deportation order and instead allow his case to go through the normal legal process—starting with a Notice to Appear before an immigration judge. Abel had been in the process of applying to obtain lawful permanent residency prior to his arrest.

Abel was the family’s main breadwinner. Money immediately became tight following Abel’s warrantless arrest and eventual transfer to an Indiana detention facility. Utility bills and mortgage payments began to pile up, forcing the Orozco family to seek assistance from their church, family, friends, and neighbors. Fortunately for

Abel and Yolanda pose for a photo.

Photo provided Abel, Yolanda, and their four kids.

Photo provided

no me contestó. Le mandé un mensaje a ver si lo miraba", dijo Yolanda.

Se encarreró a cerrar todas las puertas y cerrar las cortinas mientras Yolanda le instaba a su familia a vestirse y tomar cualquier documentación que pudiera evitar que fueran detenidos por ICE.

Según Eduardo "Eddie" Orozco, un hijo adulto de Yolanda, los agentes de ICE golpearon la puerta y rodearon la casa. Parecía que los hombres armados intentaban forzar la puerta, recordó Eddie. Llamó al departamento de policía de Lyons y les suplicó que vinieran rápido.

Eddie salió para confrontar a los agentes de ICE y comenzó a grabar la interacción.

"¿Qué hacen aquí? ¡Sálganse de mi casa!", dijo Eddie. “Abrieron mi puerta. ¿Están tocando o están intentando tumbarla?”

Uno de los agentes de ICE se acercó a Eddie mientras hablaba y puso la mano frente a su teléfono para impedir que grabara mientras le exigía a Eddie que se identificara.

Eddie se negó a cumplir las órdenes ilegales. “No te preocupes por mi nombre, tienen que largarte de aquí, vatos”, dijo. “Es hora de que se vayan”.

El video muestra a Eddie exigiendo nombres y números de placa a los agentes de ICE, momento en el que los agentes, sin responder, empiezan a salir de la propiedad.

Sin dejar de grabar, Eddie siguió a los agentes de ICE por su cuadra mientras se dirigían hacia unos autos no identificados.

El video muestra a los agentes subiéndose a uno de ellos. Eddie se acercó al auto y creyó oír a su padre gritar desde dentro. Mientras Eddie estaba de pie cerca de la ventana trasera izquierda, el auto le pasó por encima del pie izquierdo. Dijo que oyó crujir los huesos de su pie. Eddie cayó al suelo de espaldas mientras gritaba de dolor agonizante, según el video.

La policía de Lyons llegó a la escena unos diez minutos después de la llamada inicial de Eddie. No les dijo a la policía que los hombres armados eran agentes de ICE porque no se habían identificado

como tales, aunque el video muestra las letras de "ICE" en algunos de sus uniformes.

Un sargento y dos policías llegaron al lugar sin ninguna urgencia. La grabación muestra que Eddie captó a los agentes acercándose a él, sin las luces de patrulla encendidas, mientras se encontraba sobre la carretera tras sufrir el atropello de su pie.

El sargento le preguntó a Eddie si necesitaba atención médica. Eddie gritó: "¡Sí! ¡Me acaba de atropellar ese carro!". Le contestó a que se calmara, que no había razón para gritar, ya que estaba lo suficientemente cerca como para oírlo.

Aunque el video al que tuvo acceso el Weekly se corta en este punto, en una entrevista, Eddie declaró que cuando llegó la ambulancia para atenderle el pie, también vio a los paramédicos atendiendo a su padre, ya que los agentes de ICE no se habían ido del lugar de los hechos.

Eddie no lo sabía en ese momento, pero sería el video de ocho minutos que grabó durante esos valientes momentos en que intentó defender a su padre y a su familia lo que llevó al Centro Nacional de Justicia para Inmigrantes (NIJC por sus siglas en inglés) a contactar a la familia Orozco.

Una demanda colectiva presentada por NIJC en nombre de veintidós personas alegó que Abel y los demás fueron objeto de arrestos ilegales por parte de la administración de Trump. Una de las violaciones de ICE mencionadas en la demanda incluye el arresto ilegal de un ciudadano estadounidense que posteriormente fue liberado.

Los arrestos presuntamente violan un acuerdo de 2022 entre grupos comunitarios y el gobierno federal que establece límites sobre cómo ICE puede llevar a cabo "arrestos colaterales", —la detención de personas que no son el objetivo principal de los operativos. El acuerdo, derivado de una demanda por las redadas de inmigración de 2018, aplica a seis estados del Medio Oeste bajo la oficina de campo de ICE en Chicago: Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Misuri, Kentucky y Wisconsin.

Abel no tiene antecedentes penales. De los otros veintiún detenidos

ilegalmente, algunos tienen infracciones de tránsito y uno tiene un DUI (conducir bajo los efectos del alcohol), pero nadie tiene otras condenas.

"Cada vez que escuchan a esta administración [de Trump] hablar de cómo están deteniendo a pandilleros, terroristas, a los peores de lo peor, necesita uno ser realista y darse cuenta de que se necesita investigar a fondo para entender exactamente a quién están arrestando", dijo Mark Flemming, Director Asociado de Litigios del NIJC, quien trabaja en el caso de Abel.

ICE no respondió a las solicitudes de comentarios.

Según la demanda, los funcionarios de ICE buscaban a uno de los hijos de Abel, quien es décadas menor y comparte su nombre. A pesar de que Abel estaba en proceso de solicitar la residencia permanente, ICE reactivó una orden de deportación de hace décadas vinculada a una breve visita que Abel le hizo a su padre enfermo en México hace años.

En la moción presentada, Abel solicita a la corte que cancele su orden de deportación y, en su lugar, permita que su caso de inmigración siga el proceso legal normal, comenzando con una Notificación de Comparecencia ante un juez de inmigración. Abel estaba en proceso de solicitar la residencia permanente legal antes de su arresto.

Abel era el principal proveedor de la familia. Tras su arresto sin orden judicial y su posterior traslado a un centro de detención en Indiana, la situación económica se complicó de inmediato.

Las facturas y los pagos de la hipoteca comenzaron a acumularse, lo que obligó a la familia Orozco a buscar ayuda de su iglesia, familiares, amigos y vecinos.

Afortunadamente para la familia, sus seres queridos y grupos proinmigrantes se han dado la tarea de brindarles apoyo en estos momentos de crisis. Algunas rifas organizadas por Yolanda y la ayuda de la Asociación de Desarrollo Económico y Comunitario del Condado de Cook (CEDA) han ayudado a mantener la luz prendida, comida en la mesa y un techo sobre la familia Orozco por ahora.

El 17 de marzo, Yolanda y su hijo Eddie fueron a NIJC y asistieron a una conferencia de prensa en la

que anunciaron la demanda federal presentada en nombre de Abel y otras veintiuna personas arrestadas por ICE sin órdenes judiciales. A pesar de los nervios y dolor constante por el cáncer de mama, Yolanda habló públicamente por primera vez sobre el arresto de su esposo, describiéndolo como un hombre trabajador sin antecedentes penales, un padre y proveedor que nunca debieron haber sido arrestado. Cuando ya no pudo seguir de pie, Eddie intervino. "Es alguien a quien admirar", le dijo Eddie a los periodistas. "Es un hombre honesto y no debió haber sido arrestado". Allí, Xanat Sobrevilla, organizadora de OCAD, reflexionó sobre lo que representaba este momento: una comunidad que lucha. "Es hermoso ver que, en los momentos de mayor estrés y vulnerabilidad con esta administración, aún podemos ser un recurso y una red comunitaria que nos permite defendernos y proteger nuestros derechos constitucionales". ¬

José Abonce es el gerente principal de programas de la Iniciativa de Policía Vecinal de Chicago y reportero independiente especializado en seguridad pública, política, raza y planificación urbana. Es aprendiz del Proyecto de Investigación sobre Raza y Equidad y se graduó recientemente de la Escuela de Periodismo Arthur L. Carter de la Universidad de Nueva York.

SERVICE DIRECTORY

‘Failure and Misunderstanding’

The state requires jails to report when they use restraint chairs. For nearly 900 cases from 2019 to 2023, Cook County Jail never did.

BY GRACE HAUCK, ILLINOIS ANSWERS PROJECT

Cook County Jail used restraint chairs nearly 900 times from 2019 to 2023 and failed to report the incidents to the state unit that monitors jails, as required by state regulations, Illinois Answers found.

“They’ve admitted somewhat of a … failure and misunderstanding,” said Illinois Rep. La Shawn Ford, who represents part of Cook County.

State standards require jails to report use of a restraint chair as an “extraordinary or unusual occurrence” to the Jail and Detention Standards Unit (JDSU) within the Illinois Department of Corrections within three days of the incident. But Cook County Jail never did that.

Jails across Illinois say they strap people down to the chairs only as a last resort in emergency situations when someone in custody is a danger to themselves, others or property, or for transport. But an Illinois Answers investigation found jails frequently violated state standards, county policies and manufacturer guidelines and restrained people — many pre-trial detainees with mental illnesses — in chairs for hours to days at a time.

As part of the statewide investigation, Illinois Answers initially requested incident reports and logs pertaining to the use of restraint chairs at Cook County Jail, which the jail typically keeps for internal purposes. The sheriff’s office did not provide those records but did provide a list of incidents showing the incident date and time, location, a brief description and reason for use.

The list shows that Cook County Jail staff used restraint chairs 874 times in the five-year period. That’s more than at any other jail in Illinois. But it’s also a

lower rate than at other facilities, taking into account the approximate number of people booked each year at each jail.

According to the list, jail staff restrained people in custody when they self-harmed, threatened or assaulted staff, broke property, had a medical or mental health emergency, refused to lock down or transfer, and more. In most cases, staff

restrained people to protect them from harming themselves or staff, according to the list. In others, staff restrained people for transport, including when “a detainee refused to walk.”

Based on the initial information provided in the list, which lacked the details found in incident reports and logs, Illinois Answers could not determine

if people at Cook County Jail were strapped to chairs for prolonged periods or if the jail repeatedly restrained people with mental illnesses. Those issues were common at other jails across the state.

Illinois Answers did use the list, however, to determine if the jail reported restraint chair incidents to the state as required. Illinois Answers spent months requesting “extraordinary or unusual occurrences” reports from both the county and state pertaining to the dates and times of known incidents. Neither was able to provide any evidence that the reports were submitted.

That’s a problem statewide. In fact, of the more than 5,500 known restraint chair incidents at jails throughout the state from 2019 to 2023, approximately half were not reported to the state. Cook County, which used the device more than any other jail, accounts for the largest share of the missing reports.

Asked about the reporting failures, the Cook County Sheriff’s Office said “the standard for reporting restraint chair[s] was initially unclear.” The office said it has since received clarification from the JDSU and has been reporting the use of restraint chairs since last year, after Illinois Answers began inquiring about the issue.

The lack of reporting also raises questions about the quality of annual jail inspections. Over the five-year period analyzed by Illinois Answers, jail inspectors regularly checked a box on a form indicating Cook County was properly reporting “extraordinary or unusual occurrences,” even when it was not.

The Illinois Department of Corrections did not directly respond to questions about the annual inspections

of course, and covered the basics too, like the difference between indica and sativa.

I think I had to intellectualize it—to learn about weed in a classroom setting— before I could even start to believe it might not be all that bad.

I started trying it in different forms like edibles and wax. My experiences were positive. I was using it for what I thought of at the time as simple relaxation. I became a regular consumer around the time I started my first full-time job. After work and before the gym were the moments I allowed myself to indulge.

I didn’t realize it then, but cannabis was helping me manage my work stress and even helping me focus during physical movement. I was self-medicating; I just didn’t know it yet.

My mental health journey began two years ago, when I finally had medical insurance and could see a therapist. I had started experiencing anxiety and panic attacks, symptoms that only intensified under the pressure of my relationship with my parents.

I’m the eldest of four, living a bicultural experience where some of my choices feel too Western in my family’s eyes. As I teeter between my identity as a first-generation Mexican American, I’ve hid parts of myself from them, including the fact that I smoke weed.

Latinas in the U.S. experience disproportionately high rates of depression and anxiety. I am one of them. For years, I didn’t even realize that what I was dealing with was anxiety. It wasn’t until therapy that I began to understand and when my mental health began to feel unmanageable, my therapist referred me to a psychiatrist. I was prescribed hydroxyzine, a medication commonly used to treat anxiety. But it made me incredibly sleepy. What actually helped me feel grounded (without the grogginess) was a small hit from my joint.

I brought it up with both my therapist and psychiatrist. I told them cannabis wasn’t just recreational for me, it was a tool I used when I felt anxiety creeping in. They both agreed: as long as it was helping and not harming, there was no reason it couldn’t be part of my wellness journey.

Wcall from my cousin. Her brother, my older cousin, had been acting strangely: paranoid, agitated, not himself. My family made the drive from Chicago to Indiana, where they lived. As the oldest cousin who spoke fluent English, I became the translator as he was evaluated and eventually admitted to a psychiatric hospital. He gave me the fedora he was wearing before disappearing into another room.

He had just turned thirty. The diagnosis was schizophrenia.

In the beginning, his sisters whispered about witchcraft. It felt like the only way to explain how suddenly his personality had shifted. Looking back, it was a learning experience for all of us about mental illness, about stigma, and about how little we understood what was happening.

That experience and the fear it left behind has followed my family ever since.

Especially my mom.

So when she hears that I smoke weed, she doesn’t think of it as stress relief or harm reduction. She thinks of that hospital room. She thinks I’m next.

And she’s not alone. For years, there’s been ongoing debate in the medical field about the relationship between cannabis use and schizophrenia. While research doesn’t suggest a direct cause, some studies have explored whether cannabis

in people who are already genetically predisposed—like me.

A recent Danish study looked at the connection between cannabis use disorder (the name for when people use cannabis more than they want or it has adverse impacts on their lives) and schizophrenia, focusing on people with a genetic predisposition like my family. It found the risk of developing schizophrenia significantly higher in men that consume cannabis than in women. The study found that if a causal relationship was assumed, about four percent of schizophrenia cases in women could have been prevented by eliminating cannabis use as compared to thirty percent in men.

But the research doesn’t offer a simple answer. It could not establish whether cannabis use disorder causes schizophrenia or simply correlates with it. It also couldn’t account for genetic risk, and it studied only disordered use of cannabis, and not healthy, moderate use.

Ibelieve that cannabis can be used as medicine and there are many people using it in that way subconsciously. The plant has been used for thousands of years for its curative and medicinal components. Using it as a form of medicine is not a new concept.

Marijuana was federally legalized in Mexico in 2021. There are outdoor points

of sale set up across Mexico City where you can consume and buy cannabis.

We parked up next to a new brutalist coffee shop and walked toward Estela de Luz, a monument that was erected to memorialize Mexican independence. There’s a row filled with vendors selling rolling papers, grinders, pipes and sunglasses. Next to them are different smoke circles, people passing joints to one another. In the middle there is a makeshift stand with a tarp over a long white table filled with pre rolls and weed sorted in dime bags (what a throwback.) One person explains the strains, another the prices and quantities, and there is a third collecting money.

I stood there at the base of a monument for independence watching people pass joints between them like communion. I thought about my mom and how horrified she would be at the sight, but for me it dissipated my shame.

I used to think healing had to be private. Now, I understand it can also look like this, out in the open and shared. I’m not trying to run from my inheritance. I’m just trying to survive it. ¬

Jocelyn Martinez-Rosales is a Mexican American independent journalist from Belmont Cragin who is passionate about covering communities of color through a social justice lens. She is a senior editor at the Weekly.

Illustration by Shane Tolentino