OLD IRVING PARK — As Old Irving Park prepares for Halloween festivities, neighbors are on edge after masked federal immigration agents unleashed tear gas in the community Saturday, leading to the cancellation of a children’s costume parade.
On Halloween, many of of the North Side neighborhood’s residential streets are shut down to car traffic to allow thousands of children and parents from across the city to come trick or treat, said longtime neighbor Anna Zolkowski Sobor.
“People decorate; they really get into the holiday,” she said. “They enjoy seeing kids and families in costumes. And it’s just a very family-friendly event. Every year we get multiple, multi-generational costumes. People are just out for a night of fun.”
But federal agents tear-gassed neighbors who responded to the scene of an arrest Saturday morning near Kildare Avenue and Grace Street — and neighbors told Block Club they’re afraid agents could return to terrorize the neighborhood.
“What we witnessed on Saturday was an unprovoked and deeply troubling attack in our communities. The Halloween parade, what should had been a joyful day turned into chaos. Tear gas filled the streets,” Ald. Ruth Cruz (30th) said. “We need to hold those who are causing this chaos accountable.”
Neighbors like Zolkowski Sobor plan to leave their porch lights off Friday and patrol Old Irving Park with a whistle and cellphone to keep watch for agents. They hope to protect families as they trick or treat, she said. The close-knit neighborhood, which stretches west from Pulaski Road to Cicero Avenue and north from Addison Street to Montrose Avenue, is typically quiet and peaceful.
Cruz’s office is still seeking volunteers to bag up and distribute candy at public schools and help with whistle bag assemblies, rapid response training, school watches at dropoff and dismissal and restaurant crawls to support local businesses hurt by fears of immigration raids.
Neighbors interested in volunteering can email cruz30ward@gmail.com to be added to a volunteer list. Volunteers do not need to live in the ward in order to help.
“We do have a lot of block parties coming up on Friday. We’re working on a safety plan for those blocks, including working with a rapid response team to make sure we have volunteers throughout making sure that things are flowing correctly,” Cruz said. “Making sure, again, that we protect one another. We keep us safe.”
Feds Use Tear-Gas Again Despite Judge’s Order Limiting Its Use
About 10 a.m. Saturday, federal agents detained 35-year-old father and construction worker Luis Villegas, who was working on a personal project when agents chased him down and arrested him, his family told ABC7. A woman on a bike and a 70-year-old man preparing for a marathon were also arrested Saturday.
As federal agents arrested people, neighbors blew whistles, filmed what was happening and heckled the masked agents. During the arrests, federal agents used tear gas on neighbors.
U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis issued a temporary restraining order Oct. 9 barring federal agents from using riot control weapons — including pepper-spray bullets and tear gas — against journalists and protesters who don’t pose a serious threat to law enforcement officers or others.
Since then, federal agents have been documented using tear gas at least five times: Oct. 12 in Albany Park, Oct. 14 in East Side, Oct. 23 in Little Village and twice over the weekend in Old Irving Park and Avondale.
At a court hearing this month, Ellis grilled two top federal immigration enforcement officials and expressed deep concerns that their agencies violated her order.
Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin previously told Block Club, without providing evidence, that Villegas had a criminal background and that “two U.S. citizens were arrested for assaulting and impeding a federal officer.”
A federal judge cast doubt on federal accounts of how Chicagoans are resisting immigration agents earlier this month.
“Kids dressed in Halloween costumes walking to a parade do not pose an immediate threat to the safety of a law enforcement officer,” Ellis told Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino during a Tuesday court hearing. “They just don’t. And you can’t use riot control weapons against them.”
Irving Park neighbor Jamie Murray’s 4-year-old son was in her backyard playing baseball with her husband when federal agents tear-gassed neighbors Saturday, she said.
“He’s crazy about baseball right now. And he goes outside and he says, ‘Mom, it really smells weird out here. Mom, it really smells weird,’” Murray said.
Instead of crisp fall air, it smelled like “burned plastic” outside, Murray said. She quickly realized the wind had picked up the tear gas and was spreading its irritants throughout the neighborhood, she said.
“Why do I have to explain to my 4-year-old why he can’t play baseball in the backyard? Why ICE is doing this?” Murray said.
Saturday’s Halloween parade was slated to start about 10:15 a.m. at Disney II Magnet Elementary School’s playground, 3815 N. Kedvale Ave. But after word spread of federal agents attacking neighbors, nearby parents canceled the parade due to safety concerns, neighbors said.
“One of the volunteers reached out to say ICE is on this block that we were about five or 10 minutes away from taking about 500 people to,” said an Old Irving Park neighbor. He asked for his name to be withheld due to safety concerns.
Parents instead had the children parade around the school and continued with the rest of the event, neighbors said.
“Throughout the whole thing, we were all in consensus of, ‘Hey, we will not be intimidated. We want to show that we care for our neighbors and our community, and we will not be intimidated,’” said the Old Irving Park neighbor.
Neighbors were aware of federal agent activity in nearby neighborhoods prior to Saturday’s incident, but they were unprepared for the violence federal agents unleashed, neighbors said.
“I’m there trying to take pictures. My hands are shaking so much I can’t do anything. And I just keep blowing the whistle because I’m like, ‘OK, at least we can warn other people, or have other people come out,’” Zolkowski Sobor said.
Neighbors ran out of homes in bathrobes, pajamas and even Halloween costumes — federal agents tackled a man in a banana suit — to yell at agents to leave the area and stop arresting and assaulting people, she said.
“People kept screaming. A 68-year-old was pulled out of his car and thrown into the pavement. They knocked over a bike rider. And everyone’s still screaming at them, telling them to get out, and they finally left,” Zolkowski Sobor said. “They are just terrorizing neighborhoods.”
In the aftermath, neighbors were checking on each other and trying to figure out who masked agents had taken away, Zolkowski Sobor said.
“I’m in total disbelief. I’m angry. I’m sad that ICE can come in with such disregard for human life and ruined people’s lives,” said Carol Hammell, a neighbor walking Monday near where the incident happened.
During Saturday’s incident, Hammell was taking a spin class at the Irving Park YMCA, 4251 W. Irving Park Road. As federal agents began their raid, people in her class were discussing how quickly they could get out to the street to try and help neighbors, she said
“They’re not giving people due process. This is not the America that I thought I lived in,” Hammell said. “I do think it totally takes a village, right? It takes a community. We are going to come together to help our neighbors, to protect our neighbors. Because we believe in civil rights.”
Federal agents shouldn’t be using tear gas and conducting “warfare” across the city, especially since a federal judge issued an order to restrain their use of force on peaceful civilians, said neighbor Amanda Worth.
“For it to be so close to home, you realize this can happen to your neighbors. That this can happen to you,” Worth said. “ I have my whistle with me now; I don’t go anywhere without it.”
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