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  • U. of I. Republicans club faces backlash for post supporting ICE: ‘Only traitors help invaders’

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    The Illini Republicans club at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is facing backlash after posting an illustration on social media of a masked gunman holding a weapon to a kneeling man’s head — alongside the caption, “Only traitors help invaders.”

    The Instagram post, published Friday, also says Alex Pretti and Renée Good — who were both fatally shot by federal agents in Minneapolis last month — had “voided their liberties the moment they decided they were above the law.”

    “Our nation has come under invasion from the masses of the third world and those incompatible with Western civilization,” the post says. “Now, the current administration, as duly elected by its people to do so, has taken a stand against this invasion.”

    The illustration was later deleted from the post, as first reported by the Daily Illini. But it prompted a complaint to the university’s Title VI Office, and drew a slew of criticism from U. of I. students online, who argue that it glorified the deaths of Pretti and Good as well as the unrest engulfing Minnesota.

    “My first initial reaction was just disgust, horror and nausea,” said sophomore Rylee Graves, 19, a member of Illini Democrats. “For them to say that that post was not violent or they weren’t condoning violence is a lie, and they know exactly what they’re doing.”

    The image, set against the backdrop of the American flag, depicts a bearded man with his back turned as the gunman looms above him. Some students said that both the man and the scene resembled the Jan. 24 killing of Pretti, who was shot multiple times in the back.

    An illustration, posted by Illini Republicans on Instagram, depicts what appears to be a federal agent pointing a gun at a man’s head. The group has said it stands with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (Illini Republicans)

    Illini Republicans wrote in an email to the Tribune that the image was removed “to prevent misinterpretation while we review concerns,” but it was “not an admission of wrongdoing.” They declined a request for an interview.

    “We take concerns raised by others seriously and are committed to engaging in good-faith dialogue while exercising our right to express political viewpoints as a registered student organization,” the club wrote.

    “The claim that the post glorifies or endorses violence is incorrect,” the club added. “At no point did it advocate harm, violence or extrajudicial action against any individual or group.”

    The post is under review by the university’s Title VI Office, which investigates civil rights complaints, according to a statement from a U. of I. spokesperson. As a registered student organization, Illini Republicans are required to follow the student code of conduct, but U. of I. “cannot discipline them for the viewpoint or content of protected speech,” the spokesperson added.

    “Hate and intolerance are not aligned with our university values,” the spokesperson said. “We strive to be a campus where every member of our community has a transformative and positive experience.”

    More than 1,600 people have commented on the post since Friday. It was posted the same day as “ICE Out” demonstrations across the U.S., including a walkout on the Urbana-Champaign campus.

    The intensified immigration enforcement in Minneapolis, dubbed Operation Metro Surge, began in December. Good was shot during an encounter with agents Jan. 7, and Pretti was shot Jan. 24. The Trump administration said the use of force was justified — but videos of both incidents contradict those claims.

    When Lillie Salas saw the Illini Republicans’ post, her emotions fluctuated from disbelief to outrage. It’s jarring knowing that some of her classmates felt comfortable using phrases such as “foreign invaders” to refer to immigrants, the 22-year-old senior said.

    Citizens who stand against Trump’s immigration aren’t “traitors” either, she added. She said that type of rhetoric is “racist” and shouldn’t be acceptable on campus.

    “I honestly felt very concerned and scared,” Salas said. “It kind of hits differently to see groups so close to you spewing hate so outspokenly. … I know a lot of immigrants who are the most dedicated, hardworking people I’ve ever met in my life.”

    It’s a feeling Salas, who is Mexican American, said she’s grown accustomed to during Trump’s immigration crackdown. She’s sensed anxiety on campus, particularly with her Hispanic friends who’ve told her about feeling “frozen in time “and “stuck.”

    Cat Lodico, a 20-year-old sophomore, likewise, said she’s seen the stress her friends who are international students have faced in recent months. They worry that if they do or say the wrong thing, their visa will get revoked, and they won’t be able to continue their studies.

    U. of I. has one of the largest international student populations in the country. The Illini Republicans post calls immigrants without legal status “enemies of the American people.”

    “Although the main focus is studying and getting good grades and the normal college life,  because of what’s going on in the country now, there is that anxiety and worriedness in the back of everyone’s mind,” Lodico said, adding that her mom also immigrated to the U.S. from China.

    Lodico said as an engineering major, she’s not the most politically involved, but she tries to stay informed. Even still, she said she was shocked and “genuinely concerned” that people her age could agree with Illini Republicans’ post.

    “Saying we stand with enforcement of the law, like is it really lawful for random (immigration agents) to be killing other people,” she said. “I just feel like it’s so backward.”

    College campuses have increasingly become flashpoints in national debates over free speech.

    In the wake of mass student protests over the war in Gaza in 2024, Republican lawmakers have criticized elite colleges and progressive campus culture. The Trump administration froze millions in federal research funding at universities, including at Northwestern University, accusing them of failing to address antisemitism.

    Meanwhile, in September, the killing of Charlie Kirk — a right-wing activist and founder of Turning Point USA — ignited a surge of conservative activism on campuses.

    Lodico said it seems hypocritical for Illini Republicans to seemingly make light of the deaths of Pretti and Good, given the outcry over Kirk’s killing.

    “When people die from ICE suddenly it doesn’t matter? Suddenly it’s valid to shoot people? The logic is not logic-ing, you know,” she said.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

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    Kate Armanini, Rebecca Johnson

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  • As his two sons watch and cry, ‘Pa, te amo,’ federal agents arrest man outside of Naperville apartments

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    A Naperville man was hauled away by federal immigration agents Thursday morning as his two sons watched, the older boy begging them not to hurt his father and tearfully asking for a chance to speak to him before they left.

    The incident, which took place outside the Views of Naperville apartment complex off Ogden Avenue, was video recorded and has been circulating on social media.

    In it, three men wearing vests marked “police” can be seen pinning the man to the ground while taking him into custody. (He has been identified by the Naperville Sun as 47-year-old Carlos; his last name is being withheld at the request of his family, who fear retaliation.)

    Carlos’ 17 and 7-year-old sons can be heard in the background loudly crying.

    “Stop, you’re hurting him,” the 17-year-old says. Then, as they’re taking Carlos to a truck, his son asks, “Can I talk to him? Can I talk to him please before he leaves? Let me — that’s my dad.”

    At one point, one of the agents yells out to the crowd, “Get (the boys) away. Get them away.”

    As Carlos is placed in the vehicle and they get ready to leave, both boys cry out, “Pa, te amo. (Pa, I love you).”

    Such arrests have been taking place in Naperville and all over Chicago and the suburbs as part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s “Operation Midway Blitz,” which began in early September. Some of the arrests in Naperville have been witnessed or caught on video, including one in which three people were detained outside a Menards store and another in which a group of men working on a roof were targeted. All of the roofers detained in that incident were documented, according to a report by ABC7.

    Carlos’ wife, Elena, speaking in Spanish, said she was at work and her husband taking their children to school when a group of federal immigration agents showed up shortly before 7:30 a.m.

    Carlos had gone to get the car and the boys were waiting for him to pick them up, she said. A friend of one of the boys was waiting with them, she said.

    “The kids were ready to get in the car and then they saw the truck, and the officers wouldn’t let them (go),” Elena said. “My husband thought they were just going to park. Then my son started telling him not to open the window, that he had rights — ‘Don’t open the door.’”

    Carlos rolled down his window and the agents asked him for his documents, she said.

    “When they opened my husband’s car door, my son says that one of the men was forcing him out of the car. And then another truck came and they threw (Carlos) to the ground,” Elena said.

    In another video of the incident viewed by the Naperville Sun, authorities can be seen pulling Carlos out of a white vehicle. It appears that another agent is inside the vehicle pushing him out. When Carlos and the agent pulling him out fall to the ground, three agents apprehend him.

    “My husband was telling them that they were hurting him,” Elena said. “They were choking him, and then they took him away.”

    She rushed home from work as soon as one of her sons called her, but by the time she got there at 7:32 a.m., it was too late.

    “My kids were crying uncontrollably. My oldest son was crying, saying they had taken his dad and treated him very badly,” Elena said. “They were yelling that they love him and that they care about him.”

    Elena said she was able to speak with Carlos following his arrest. Her husband, who is from Honduras, told her he was going to be transferred to another state for deportation. Because he has an active deportation order for previously entering the country illegally, she now has to wait for him to be deported before the family can reunite with him.

    “I have to wait for them to send him back to the country, if it’s possible for us to reunite in Honduras with my kids,” Elena said. “I have support from his family, but he’s gone now — he’s the head of our household.”

    Carlos, whom she met in Honduras, has been in the U.S. for nearly a decade and recently opened his own tire business, she said. He is afraid to go back to his native country because he has brothers and other family members who have been killed there, she said. Both of their sons are U.S. citizens.

    “What hurts me most is seeing my kids, what they went through in that moment when they were arresting their father,” Elena said.

    U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    Tribune staff writer Laura Rodríguez Presa contributed to this report. 

    cstein@chicagotribune.com

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    Carolyn Stein

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  • Naperville D203 board member Kelley Black censured again for ‘unprofessional’ actions

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    For the second time this year, Naperville District 203 School Board member Melissa Kelley Black has been censured by fellow board members for conduct deemed unprofessional and detrimental to the district.

    The District 203 board voted 6-1 Monday to censure Kelley Black, with Kelley Black casting the only vote against the resolution. Board members said they were taking a “highly unusual step a second time” because Kelley Black has not corrected her behavior since the first censure resolution was approved in January.

    The censure resolution is posted on the district’s website at as part of the board’s agenda.

    It states that Kelley Black made social media posts that divulged and misrepresented confidential closed session information and disparaged the superintendent and board members.

    In August and September, she posted multiple times about the district’s negotiations during the teacher contract discussions, the resolution said. The teacher’s union used her statements to insinuate the district was not being honest and open, undermining the district’s position in negotiations and harming its reputation, the resolution said.

    The teacher’s union started the school year without a contract in place and had set a strike date if an agreement couldn’t be reached.

    Board member Holly Blastic said the beginning of the school year was a stressful time for staff and families during the ongoing negotiations. A board member cannot act in such a way that might compromise the board or administration and must respect privileged information, she said.

    “The confidentiality is so extremely serious and so important to our fiduciary responsibility when we are negotiating a contract with our largest union group, and most of our budget is in labor expenses,” Blastic said. “To put out publicly at that time of heightened emotions for everyone information that as a board we cannot respond to, to acknowledge or correct because that kind of commentary is either confirming or denying confidential information, puts us in a difficult place.”

    She was one of two board members who were not on the board when the first censure resolution was approved in January.

    Board member Marc Willensky, also elected in April, said board members need to uphold standards and expectations the public can trust.

    “When those standards are repeatedly disregarded, the board has a responsibility to act,” he said. “This censure is not about differences in opinion or perspective. It’s about conduct that undermines the board’s ability to function and erodes trust in our work.”

    Kelley Black, elected to the board in April 2023 for a four-year term, has denied any wrongdoing.

    She said she did not find out about the resolution until the agenda was released and did not expect to be censured when she ran for school board.

    “I acted within my constitutional rights,” Kelley Black said. “Most of the allegations related to my public statements, which I shared concerns about transparency, finances and collective bargaining. Those are matters of public concern protected under the First Amendment and the Illinois Constitution. The Supreme Court has been clear: elected officials cannot be punished for expressing dissent or speaking out on public issues. Transparency and oversight are not misconduct. They are my sworn duty to the taxpayers who elected me.”

    She said the public has a legitimate interest in the transparency around teacher contracts.

    Kelley Black said she believes she is being silenced for speaking out and has requested an independent investigation be done by the DuPage County Regional Office of Education or the Illinois State Board Of Education on whether the board is weaponizing censures to silence an elected official.

    Board member Joseph Kozminski said he was disappointed the board was put back in the position.

    “The public voted us in and trusts us to be a voice for the community and to use our judgment in making decisions behind closed doors when needed,” Kozminski said. “So it was really disappointing and concerning to me this behavior has persisted. I hope that we can move forward and find a more positive place to go from here.”

    Shortly after the censure vote, the board asked Kelley Black to be a delegate for the Illinois Association of School Boards. She questioned why they wanted her to represent them if she “were so horrible.”

    Kelley Black said she would like to be treated with respect.

    “Don’t talk about building unity with me when you lie and throw me under the bus,” she said. “That’s ridiculous. And you know what? My message for those students out there is to stand up for your legal rights. If people accuse you of something, make them prove it.”

    Several board members said they want her to contribute positively as a member of the board, build relationships and move forward.

    In January, the previous District 203 board voted to censure Kelley Black for conduct that violated the board’s principles and ethics. Among the charges listed on the censure resolution were actions that compromised the board and administration by divulging confidential information learned in closed session and making false and disparaging comments about the board on public and private forums.

    Board members have also publicly called Kelley Black out on multiple occasions for failing to review bills and claims with district finance staff. The monthly responsibility is rotated among board members, but others have been forced to step in and do the task when Kelley Black did not during her assigned month.

    Over the summer, Kelley Black publicly alluded to recording a private citizens’ committee meeting without the members’ knowledge or consent, a violation of Illinois law. The district forwarded an eavesdropping complaint to the Naperville Police Department and the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office to investigate, but police determined that no charges would be filed and the investigation was closed.

    Michelle Mullins is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.

     

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    Michelle Mullins

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  • Will County Board will consider resolution to prohibit immigration enforcement

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    The Will County Board will consider next week a resolution asking the state and federal government to adopt polices to prohibit immigration enforcement in courthouses, schools and other sensitive community spaces and ensure that residents, regardless of immigration status, can live without fear of harassment and racial profiling.

    The proposed resolution was passed Tuesday at the board’s Legislative Committee meeting with four Democratic committee members supporting it. The measure moves to the County Board for a vote on Oct. 16.

    Republicans serving on the committee said it amounted to campaign or political speech outside of the board’s purview.

    Legislative Committee Chair Destinee Ortiz, a Democrat from Romeoville, said she brought forward the resolution because residents deserve to live and work without fear.

    “At its core, this resolution is about affirming something very simple — that every person in Will County deserves to feel safe in their own community,” Ortiz said.

    She said there have been reports of aggressive immigration enforcement actions in recent months that cause fear among undocumented and U.S. residents alike.

    “This is not a campaign speech or political or whatever you want to call it,” she said. “It’s about principle. It is about the Constitution. … Every human being on U.S. soil regardless of how they got here is guaranteed basic constitutional protections against government abuse.”

    Ortiz said when people are profiled because of the color of their skin or the language they speak, they become afraid. When residents live in fear, they don’t call police, go to court, send their children to school or seek medical treatment, and they stop trusting government institutions, Ortiz said.

    The resolution was amended along a party-line vote to add language that asks federal and state governments to adopt policies that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement need to identify themselves and stop wearing masks, unless medically necessary, to improve transparency and build trust. Four Democrats on the committee supported the amendment while three Republicans opposed it.

    The resolution also asks for increased transparency and accountability in immigration enforcement actions to ensure that no one is detained or deported solely due to racial or ethnic profiling.

    In a social media post, Ortiz encouraged Will County residents to write to the board in support of the resolution.

    Legislative Committee Republicans voted against the proposed resolution.

    “This has nothing to do with our county responsibilities, and I absolutely do not support this,” said board member Julie Berkowicz, a Naperville Republican.

    She said some of the statements within the resolution, such as 70% of individuals in ICE detention have no criminal records, is not verified.

    “For us to put our names on something that is not truthful or valid is reckless,” Berkowicz said.

    She said the federal government is “finally stepping up to enforce our legal immigration laws.”

    Dan Butler, a Frankfort Republican, said he believed the resolution included inflammatory and misleading statements.

    “There are hardened criminals,” Butler said. “The federal government is within its right to come in and look for those people. Most of these people are criminals. They are getting out of here. There is nothing that is going to stop that. I feel bad for any immigrants that came over illegally who are good people, but this is a campaign speech. This is not a credible resolution.”

    The County Board rejected a resolution in July 2024 that declared the county a nonsanctuary county, after several residents said it was an anti-immigrant resolution that runs counter to the county’s welcoming values. At the time, 11 Democrats voted against the resolution and eight Republicans voted in favor of it.

    The committee meeting came the same day as members of the Texas National Guard stationed soldiers in Elwood.

    County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant released a statement Tuesday saying the county was made aware by state and Elwood officials of the presence of Texas National Guard soldiers at the Army Reserve training facility in Elwood.

    “We have received no information or coordination from the federal government about this deployment, including the scale of operations or the length of time they will be stationed at this facility,” Bertino-Tarrant said. “The arrival of the National Guard by the Trump Administration is an aggressive overreach. Our federal government moving armed troops into our community should be alarming to everyone.”

    She said she will coordinate with local leaders to protect the rights of the residents and ensure safety.

    Michelle Mullins is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.

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    Michelle Mullins

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  • Naperville District 203 teachers say they’re going on strike Tuesday

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    After three bargaining sessions this week failed to produce a new contract, union officials announced Thursday night that Naperville School District 203 teachers will go on strike Tuesday.

    The Naperville Unit Education Association said in a news release that the school board’s most recent proposal represented a major step backward.

    “We have always said a strike is our last resort,” union President Ross Berkley said in a statement. “However, after months of bargaining, overwhelming community support and the board’s refusal to make meaningful progress, we have reached a point where we may have no other choice. As a result, we have set our official strike date.”

    The union’s decision to send its members to the picket line came after its third bargaining session of the week ended Thursday night without an agreement.

    Berkley said the union wanted to make sure the community had as much time as possible to make arrangements for their children. The union represents more than 1,500 teachers and licensed staff and has been working without a contract since June 30. Contract negotiations began in February.

    The union’s statement said teachers will strike Tuesday unless the board reverses course and offers a fair agreement that “values educators, supports our students and provides the stability our community deserves.”

    Berkley said the board’s latest proposal is significantly lower than its previous base salary proposals.

    Union members voted to authorize a strike on Aug. 13 — the legal step necessary in advance of a walkout — and rallied at two school board meetings this month to drum up support for a fair contract. At the meeting Monday, teachers, parents and students spoke for more than two hours in support a new contract for the teachers.

    Union representatives said negotiations are continuing in an effort to reach an agreement and avert a strike. The two sides have been talking with the assistance of a federal mediator and are to meet again Friday.

    District officials have said the board is committed to bargaining in good faith and reaching an agreement that is fair to both educators and taxpayers.

    Board President Charles Cush previously released a video message in which he said the union’s requests are not financially feasible and that the offer being made by the board would ensure the district’s teachers would be among the highest compensated in the region.

    Thursday night, District 203 officials said the board is committed to reaching a fair, fiscally responsible solution that focuses on keeping students in school.

    “Our top priority remains our students and keeping them in classrooms,” Cush said in a district news release.  “We are committed to moving forward together. The strength of our district has always come from the unity between our educators and our community, and we are dedicated to preserving that.”

    Michelle Mullins is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.

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    Michelle Mullins

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