Operation Midway Blitz

Your time now, 6.08.

This year, many Dia de los Muertos celebrations, also known as Day of the Dead, are taking on new meaning due to interruptions last year related to Operation Midway Blitz immigration crackdown.

Yeah, the Benavidez family on the northwest side has created an extravagant display known as the Coco House.

Diverse crowds of onlookers have gathered to marvel at their unique ofrenda or offering to deceased loved ones.

Now, Robert, first of all, why didn't the DHS, why didn't ICE announce this operation while it was ongoing?

One of the things that we saw earlier this year that we reported on was the shift from these big-named operations like Operation Metro Surge and Midway Blitz to this Lone Star mission, Operation Rotten Apple in New York City.

And almost certainly because the Trump administration was trying to mitigate – the ability of the anti-ice organized resistance to force confrontations between ICE and these rapid response groups and activists and organized resistance members.

The reason why very likely they did not announce this operation in Texas ahead of time is because even in red states, there are anti-ice organized resistance efforts.

Yeah, I hear you.

So tell folks who don't know, because, you know, it's not as high of a volume as it was when Midway Blitz came into Chicago.

Right.

Tell folks about Whistle Patrol.

FO wanted to know how we in Chicago linked together the issues of school fundings with the issues of our government's war spending, for example.

How we linked learning conditions to the attacks in our communities last year with ICE's Midway Blitz on Chicago.

where tear gas was being released around many of our schools and students and their families were being torn apart in a racist attempt to drive a wedge between undocumented people and those who have a piece of paper saying they're allowed here.

Because let's be clear, no one can be illegal on stolen land built with stolen hands.

FO wanted to know how we in Chicago linked together the issues of school fundings with the issues of our government's war spending, for example.

How we linked learning conditions to the attacks in our communities last year with ICE's Midway Blitz on Chicago.

where tear gas was being released around many of our schools and students and their families were being torn apart in a racist attempt to drive a wedge between undocumented people and those who have a piece of paper saying they're allowed here.

Because let's be clear, no one can be illegal on stolen land built with stolen hands.

And he thinks that particularly in the Chicago suburbs, there is a market for for somebody like him, somebody who maybe comes from more of the classical Republican uh, mold in Illinois, although he does have some positions that align with Democrats too.

You know, he's pro-choice, uh, and, and, you know, he, uh, didn't, you know, was, spoke out against, uh, uh, ICE when they were in Chicago for Midway Blitz.

Um, so he, he's trying to kind of strike more of that moderate tone, uh, you know, believes that there are a number of those voters, uh, in the suburbs who voted for Republicans in the past, but aren't very comfortable with somebody as conservative as Bailey, but maybe they don't want to vote for J.B. Pritzker either, but have kind of felt like in the past they really didn't have a choice.

So I think it'll be interesting to see what he what he ends up with it is, is it like a 3% or a 6% or does he come close to 10%? You know, there has been some polling in some suburban legislative district showing that, you know, maybe he does have kind of close to that threshold in in some in some parts of the suburbs uh but but statewide it'll be very uh i think it'll be tough i mean usually third party candidates or independent candidates tend to fall off towards the end especially if the voters believe that they don't have much of a chance of winning uh and and uh and then you know it it And we have some recent history of it, too, of showing, you know, candidates, independent third party candidates not really doing so well.