DOWNTOWN — Starting this weekend, activists plan to protest the Trump administration’s policy of separating migrant children from families, while restaurants and bars are hosting fundraisers for immigration groups.
The policy prompted national and international criticism, which led to President Donald Trump signing an executive order to end the practice on Wednesday. But there are no plans yet for reuniting thousands of children with their families.
Here’s how Chicagoans can help those impacted by the policy:
• On Saturday, residents in Lincoln Square will meet at Waters Elementary School, 4540 N Campbell Ave. at 9 a.m. for a march against Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policies. More than 700 people have RSVP’d for the event on Facebook. A similar march is happening Saturday in Rogers Park from 2 to 4 p.m. The march will begin at the Morse Red Line Station, 1358 W. Morse Ave., and end in Touhy Park, 7348 N. Paulina St., organizers said. More than 200 people have RSVP’d for that event.
• On June 30, a large march called Families Belong Together, will start 11 a.m. at the Daley Center, 50 W. Washington St. The event is part of a nationwide series of protests of the separation policy. More than 40,000 people have said they plan to go or are interested in going to the Chicago protest on its Facebook event page.
• Big Star and other restaurants from the One Off Hospitality group are participating in a fundraiser for the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights until July 1. Big Star will give $1 to the center for every walking taco or Estrella Jalisco sold until then.
• Several coffee shops — including Intelligentsia, Metric Coffee Co., Stumptown and Caffè Streets — will participate in Coffee For Families over the weekend. The shops will donate a portion of their sales to the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, according to the Chicago Tribune. The fundraiser runs Friday through Sunday. Click here for all participating cafes.
• Lost Lake, 3154 W. Diversey Ave., will raise money for Organized Communities Against Deportation on Tuesday. Attendees can order a daiquiri, old fashioned, Manhattan, margarita or bees knees for $10 and half of the cost will go to the charitable organization, which works to stop deportations and incarceration of people of color. The event runs 8 p.m. Tuesday to 2 a.m. Wednesday.
• The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights is based out of Woodlawn and works to “promote the best interests of unaccompanied immigrant children,” according to its website. The group has also assigned child advocates to children whose parents have been deported, according to its Facebook page. The center has urged people to volunteer, speak out against the policy and donate to the organization online.
• The Heartland Alliance runs the National Immigrant Justice Center, which offers legal services to immigrants, refugees and people seeking asylum. The center is calling for an end to the detention of immigrants and the separation of families. Information about how to help the program is available online.
• World Relief Chicago works to help refugees and immigrants. The group is trying to send a legal team to Texas to work with immigrants there. Information about donating to the group is available on its Facebook page.
• Chicago writer Parker Molloy created the website IReallyDoCare.com after First Lady Melania Trump wore a controversial jacket while visiting immigrant families. You can go to the website to be redirected to a site, ActBlue, where you can donate to 14 groups working with children who were separated from their families.
