Midwestern Business and Civic Leaders Call for Immigration Reform at DC Summit

The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, 2/28/2013

At an immigration summit in Washington today, a diverse and bipartisan group of Midwestern business and civic leaders will release a report urging immigration reform to ensure regional and national economic competitiveness. Former Midwest Governors Chet Culver and Michael Rounds as well as former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and Crate and Barrel Co-Founder Carole Segal will discuss the report from a bipartisan task force convened by The Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

Like the rest of America, the Midwest is frustrated with federal immigration policy, and states are coping as best they can,” said Michael Rounds, former governor of South Dakota, and task force co-chair. “But the region’s growing need for immigrant workers and its deepening appreciation of the talent and vitality they bring require Midwesterners to be active in demanding better answers from Washington.”

Read more…

Gus Hart Visiting Fellowship at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs

Mexico Institute, 10/3/12

The fellowship has been endowed by the Hart family to honor Gus Hart, distinguished cofounder of the Inter-American Foundation, whose lifelong interest in the Latin American and Caribbean region and long service to The Chicago Council served as an inspiration for many in Chicago.

The 2013 Gus Hart Visiting Fellowship will be awarded to an emerging leader from Mexico working in the business, governmental, social, or cultural realm, who is making outstanding contributions to the advancement of Mexican society, and can deliver an articulate speech to an audience in English. The goals of the fellowship are: to recognize and reinforce the work of an emerging leader who has made a tangible contribution to his/her country; to connect this emerging leader with the resources and energy of Chicago so as to benefit his/her work; and to increase awareness of the Latin American and the Caribbean region in Chicago and deepen the city’s connections to the region.

Download the application here

Obama Policy on Immigrants Is Challenged by Chicago

The New York Times,07/10/2012

Just weeks after the Supreme Court largely reaffirmed the Obama administration’s immigration enforcement powers in its legal battle with Arizona, federal officials are facing a new, politically tricky clash with local authorities over immigration, this time in Chicago.

At a news conference on Tuesday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said he would propose an ordinance that would bar police officers from turning over illegal immigrants to federal agents if the immigrants do not have serious criminal convictions or outstanding criminal warrants.

Read more…

Obama Policy on Immigrants Is Challenged by Chicago

The New York Times, 7/10/12

Just weeks after the Supreme Court largely reaffirmed the Obama administration’s immigration enforcement powers in its legal battle with Arizona, federal officials are facing a new, politically tricky clash with local authorities over immigration, this time in Chicago.

At a news conference on Tuesday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said he would propose an ordinance that would bar police officers from turning over illegal immigrants to federal agents if the immigrants do not have serious criminal convictions or outstanding criminal warrants.

Read More…

7 arrested after authorities find 11 tons of pot in railroad cars

Chicago Tribune, 12/17/2010

Seven people have been arrested after nearly 11 tons of marijuana was found packed into six railroad cars from Mexico in what could be the largest pot seizure in the Chicago area.

The marijuana was found at a south suburban warehouse this month, according to the U.S. attorney’s office, which valued the pot at $22 million.

The arrests were announced Thursday, the same day that members of a south suburban family, in a separate case, were charged with running a large pot growing operation out of their home.

The warehouse raid came after Customs agents in Eagle Pass, Texas, came across a Union Pacific train bound for the Chicago area carrying about 21,800 pounds of suspected marijuana, the office said.

The agents “observed a number of large bundled packages, referred to as ‘super sacks,’ in six cars on the train, the office said.

The agents opened one of the sacks and saw “13 cubic bundles, which were encrusted in a thick layer of fine red masonry pigment dust.” Tests showed the packages all contained marijuana, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

Read more…

Drug violence in Mexico has impact in Chicago

Chicago Tribune, 11/26/2010

Cipriana Jurado still weeps when she thinks of her longtime friend who was gunned down in the violence-plagued region of Ciudad Juarez, just below the Texas- Mexico border.

Now in Chicago, Jurado said she was warned after the January slaying that she could be next if she didn’t leave town.

The veteran human-rights activist is part of a steady trickle of Mexican nationals who have been fleeing to Chicago and other U.S. cities amid a Mexican government war against drug cartels in Juarez that has led to 2,850 deaths so far this year, with criminals and authorities alike alleged to have committed atrocities.

Read more…