Cinco de Mayo in Chicago will be canceled this year due to fears of strict immigration enforcement, a local organizer of the event said.
The Cermak Road Chamber of Commerce, who announced on Thursday that they are canceling the event, reportedly said the Mexican community in Chicago is concerned about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
“Our people are scared,” Hector Escobar, president of the Casa Puebla and Cermak Road Chamber of Commerce, said to a local ABC affiliate.
Escobar went on to say, “See, some of them, they don’t even want to go to work and some of them, they’ve taken a high risk. And, definitely, it’s not much to celebrate.”
Cinco de Mayo is held annually on the southwest side of Chicago, involving a parade with musical performances and activities celebrating Mexican culture.
ICE conducted raids across the Windy City, targeting suspected criminal migrants’ records, as well as arresting undocumented immigrants if they were caught at the raid sites.
Soon after President Donald Trump was elected into office, ICE made hundreds of arrests of illegal immigrants, including those with criminal histories that include sexual assault, domestic violence and drugs and weapons crimes.
Trump’s border czar pick, Tom Homan, pledged to go after Chicago with strict enforcement, vowing to verify the status of asylum seekers and arrest anyone providing sanctuary to illegal immigrants.
The incoming border czar also warned that Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson would be prosecuted should he obstruct ICE’s mass deportation efforts.
“Our community is very frightened because of the raids and the threat that ICE has imposed on the families that work tirelessly to provide a better future for their kids,” Escobar said in a statement obtained by CBS. “Our community has faced bullying and prosecution and are not indulging in community activities, therefore we feel that there is nothing to celebrate.”
Escobar did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Furthermore, Johnson and other sanctuary city-supporting mayors were pressed by federal lawmakers to explain their policies last month.
Immigration has been a hot topic in the city after several residents blasted the mayor for his handling of the large influx of migrants that have come to the city over the past two years.
