They were working on the Concordia Cemetery water system when they heard voices coming from the nearby river. They tried to assist 2 men, wading in water up to their necks, fleeing from ICE. In a way, the men were trying to reach sanctuary on holy ground, though they may not have realized they were trying to climb up the bank into a cemetery.
The ICE-ickles demanded a locked gate be opened, then pulled out bolt cutters and entered without waiting. The cemetery workers were cuffed and left beside the pump house for more than an hour, then taken away for more waiting.
There was no warrant, and the charges are the usual Trumped-up BS: no current crime cited, just old ones. After more time spent waiting at a Homeland Security facility, requesting lawyers and asking what they were being charged with, they were released. One man had to get treatment at a nearby hospital.
After being released, one suburban Chicago cemetery worker responded to a request from the Chicago Tribune with poetry:
“Amidst a trembling exchange of power, one where my hands could not rise in defense, and the law, in theory, should have risen for me, a burning rain began to fall,” he wrote. “Oil-born, it clung to my skin, slick and stinging, baptizing me in disbelief.
“Then came the chorus — a hail of peppered fire, each shot a punctuation of pain, each breath thick with the taste of vinegar and fear.”
He declined further comment. They’re all trying to process what happened to them.
This being Illinois, the mayor held a press conference (he’s running for Congress).
Link: https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/13/ice-forest-park-cemetery-workers/
