Activists: City wrong for turning woman over to immigration agents
BY MAUDLYNE IHEJIRIKA Staff Reporter mihejirika@suntimes.com February 17, 2012 8:02PM
Cesar Kamga talks about his mother, 54-year-old Rose Tchakounte from Cameroon who police turned over to immigration agents. | John H. White~Chicago Sun-Times.
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Updated: March 19, 2012 8:06AM
Immigrant rights groups on Friday accused Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago Police Department of violating the city’s Safe Sanctuary ordinance in the arrest of a 54-year-old Cameroonian mother who was stopped on a traffic violation this week and turned over to U.S. immigration officials.
Rose Tchakounte, who with her son legally entered the country in 2001 seeking asylum, then missed a court date — allegedly because a lawyer she hired failed to tell her about it — was pulled over by police on the South Side Wednesday for failure to use her turn signal, said activists.
Police then checked her immigration status — in violation of the 2006 ordinance and preceding executive orders dating back to 1985 — and arrested her, jailing her for two days before delivering her to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials Friday, activists said.
“We call upon Mayor Emanuel and Supt. Garry McCarthy to uphold the spirit and letter of this city’s longstanding immigration policy to protect our entire community and all Chicago families,” said Lawrence Benito, CEO of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
The ordinance was intended to prevent racial profiling and other such instances of overzealous policing, and the unwarranted arrest of Tchakounte and a second case involving two young Mexican men present a disturbing image to the world as the G8 and NATO summits approach, activists said.
In her initial petition, Tchakounte’s son was granted asylum, but she was denied, said activists. She then hired a lawyer who took her money and failed to advise her of a court date, triggering an order of deportation, activists said. The woman has no criminal record, they said.
Chicago police on Friday defended the immigration actions.
“Chicago Police Department members will not stop and question, detain, arrest or place an Immigration Hold on any person on the grounds that the person may be an undocumented foreign national or subject of deportation,” spokeswoman Maureen Biggane said. “However, members have an obligation to take necessary measures when a serviceable warrant or order is discovered as a result of other investigatory or enforcement action.”
However, Alie Kabba, board president of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and executive director of the United African Organization, said that clearly goes against the city’s ordinance.
“Rose’s detention is a stain on Chicago’s record as a global city that welcomes immigrants,” he said. “We call on Mayor Emanuel to ... apologize to her family, and let it be known that no immigrant should ever have reason to fear our Chicago police force.”
Late Friday, federal immigration officials released the woman to her attorney. She must report to the agency in three months.
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