On 8 July, federal immigration brokers confirmed up unexpectedly on the Nationwide Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Tradition (NMPRAC) in Chicago’s Humboldt Park. In accordance with the Chicago public-television station WTTW, native officers and neighborhood leaders described the motion as “bullying and intimidation” concentrating on immigrant communities. (Though Puerto Rico is a US territory and its residents are US residents, there was a rising concern of the Trump administration’s lax perspective in direction of detaining individuals assumed to be unlawful immigrants.)
Native information sources reported that greater than a dozen Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) automobiles arrived on the museum within the afternoon with out prior discover or a legitimate warrant. They remained on the premises for roughly two hours.
Based in 2000, NMPRAC is “the one self-standing museum within the nation dedicated to showcasing Puerto Rican arts and cultural exhibitions year-round”, in response to its web site. It additionally holds an integral place in Chicago’s Puerto Rican neighborhood.
Surveillance footage later obtained by native information shops confirmed a number of federal automobiles within the museum’s car parking zone as brokers entered the premises. Whereas it’s nonetheless not clear precisely why the brokers had been there, locals speculate that it needed to do with the museum’s annual arts pageant, which was scheduled for 12-13 July.
Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary at DHS, denied claims that brokers had particularly focused the museum. “FALSE. The Division of Homeland Safety DID NOT goal the Nationwide Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Tradition,” McLaughlin wrote in an announcement circulated to the media. “On July 8, HSI Chicago’s Monetary Crimes Job Pressure (FCTF) staged and held a fast briefing within the museum’s car parking zone prematurely of an enforcement motion associated to a narcotics investigation.”
Regardless of federal officers denying that the museum was focused, workers there stay on excessive alert given the broader social and political local weather. The local people additionally stays skeptical. The day after the raid, elected officers gathered on the museum to specific solidarity and reassure residents.
“What occurred yesterday was an intentional scare tactic and has nothing to do with security,” Anthony Quezada, a Chicago Metropolis Council member, advised WTTW. “It was meant to ship a message to our undocumented neighbours, to our cultural establishments and to our complete neighborhood that they’re being watched and they don’t seem to be protected.”
NMPRAC had deliberate to host its annual Barrio Arts Competition the next weekend, coinciding with Chicago’s Colombian Independence Day Celebration in Logan Sq., only a couple miles to the north. Regardless of fears that these would possibly immediate additional federal presence, each occasions moved ahead as scheduled with out incident. “What they did was assist to unite the Latino neighborhood,” Billy Ocasio, NMPRAC’s director, advised ABC Information. Nevertheless, on account of the heightened tensions, Humboldt Park’s All Concerned Block Get together was postponed.
The incident at NMPRAC has renewed concern concerning the visibility of cultural establishments serving immigrant communities, and the vulnerability they face in moments of elevated federal scrutiny. Whereas DHS maintains that the museum was not a goal, what occurred there that afternoon left a deep mark. For a lot of, the message was clear: areas constructed to have a good time tradition and id usually are not proof against surveillance.
