Durbin Meets With Priests For Justice For Immigrants Amid The Trump Administration’s Cruel Immigration Tactics

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, met with Priests for Justice for Immigrants from the Chicago-area and members of the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership (CSPL). During the meeting, they discussed the importance of supporting immigrants in the face of the Trump Administration’s cruel mass deportation scheme, including the so-called “Operation Midway Blitz,” which has been used as a mechanism by the President to sow fear in Illinois communities as Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) increased their aggressive immigration enforcement operations in the state. Durbin was joined by Father Gary Graf, Father Larry Dowling, and Father Brendan Curran.
“For more than three months, Chicago has endured President Trump’s ‘Operation Midway Blitz’ – a cruel campaign that has swept up innocent citizens, legal residents, and immigrants who pose absolutely no threat to public safety,”said Durbin.“These faith leaders have extended spiritual support to our communities, including by walking 800 miles to spread a message of humanity for immigrants and showing up to the ICE Broadview Processing Facility every day to offer their prayers. Today’s discussion with the Fathers reminded me that during these horrific times, we must come together and stand up for our immigrant communities.”
Photos of the meeting can be foundhere.
In response to the Trump Administration’s surge in federal law enforcement in Chicago and continuous threats to deploy the military in the area, Durbin has taken a number of steps to push back on these unlawful actions carried out by DHS and Secretary Noem under the direction of President Trump.
Durbin has taken the following actions to push back on the Trump Administration’s so-called “Operation Midway Blitz”:
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