Citizens and children, zip-tied in Chicago
Is this what Congressman Max Miller wants to bring to Cleveland?
Earlier this week, federal agents with the Border Patrol, FBI, and ATF ransacked an entire apartment building on the south side of Chicago, indiscriminately arresting people, zip-tying them, and holding them for hours. Even U.S. citizens and children were held, some naked. The agents had no warrants. They used brute force, and gave no answers. They left only chaos and destruction.
Neighbor Ebony Sweets Watson witnessed the early morning raid, and said hundreds of agents were involved. “It was heartbreaking to watch. Even if you’re not a mother, seeing kids coming out buck naked and taken from their mothers, it was horrible,” she told WBEZ.
Is this what Congressman Max Miller wants to happen in Cleveland, by calling for the militarization of our streets? Which neighborhoods? Why?
At the Chicago complex, agents claimed to be looking for members of the Tren de Aragua gang, but none were reportedly arrested. Even if the Trump administration manages to claim that some were, we already know how easily they lie. They lied about the hundreds of men they sent to CECOT, and pulled that same stunt with Ohioans too.
The gang card is simply a lie they tell to scare us about our neighbors, and justify their unjustifiable use of force.
The truth is, it is the Trump administration that brings violence to our communities. Just think back to what Trump did to Springfield when he made his outrageous remarks about Haitian-Ohioans. He and Ohio’s own J.D. Vance are responsible for white supremacists descending upon the town from outside. They are responsible for the hate crimes and acts of intimidation against Ohioans assumed to be born in Haiti. They are responsible for the bomb threats that closed stores, schools, and City Hall.
Meanwhile, Springfield Mayor Rob Rue, religious, business, and community leaders, and many residents — of Haitian and non-Haitian descent — stood up for their brothers and sisters, demanded peace, and pointed out that the town has literally been saved by the presence of a group of people occupying formerly abandoned homes, who are happy to live and work in what was, and should continue to be, a wonderful community.
Yet Congressman Max Miller, who doesn’t even represent Cleveland, is calling for the chaos of this Chicago raid to be brought to northeast Ohio. Writing in the Washington Times, he claimed that his suburban constituents are “afraid to go into the city” and “the Cleveland I grew up in is now unrecognizable.”
Anyone who has ever been to any of the Cleveland sports complexes knows this is a blatant lie. Attendance is up at all stadiums and the streets are alive before, during, and after games. As Lynn Tramonte, Executive Director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance wrote in The Land: “with the racism underneath [Miller’s] rhetoric about ‘crime’ and ‘fear of the city,’ we are under no illusion about who will be targeted and harmed,” if the National Guard and federal agents are deployed in Cleveland, as federal agents have been used in Chicago, and the Guard and federal agents have been used in Washington, DC.
“Of course there is crime in Cleveland that needs to be addressed. There’s also crime in Wooster and Parma, cities Rep. Miller might want to focus on, since he actually represents them,” Tramonte continued. “The truth is, this country is filled with hurt people who hurt other people. That’s not a city problem — it’s an us problem…. But lashing out at people who aren’t like you is not a solution. Looking for someone to blame is not a solution. Deploying the National Guard on Cleveland is not it, either.”
Instead, Tramonte offered, the path to reducing crime is understanding why it happens. On that, we have decades of research to draw upon and already know the solution: investing in our communities. “Ensure everyone who works can earn a living wage and exercise their rights in the workplace; fairly fund our education system; and invest in affordable healthcare, transportation and housing. These are things that reduce poverty; expand opportunity; allow us to work, be healthy and take care of our families; and ensure everyone has an equal chance to succeed.”
Read Tramonte’s complete op-ed here.
