At Veterans Day rally, vets blast Trump on immigration, VA service cuts
Many Chicago area veterans marked Veterans Day by protesting actions taken by the Trump administration in its aggressive immigration enforcement and service cuts to Veterans Affairs.
More than 300 participated in the rally, held at the Vietnam War Memorial near the Chicago River at Wacker Drive and Wabash Avenue.
Organized by the group About Face: Veterans Against the War, some veterans held signs reading “No Cuts, No ICE, No Occupation.”
“ICE not only has been targeting people just because they are brown-skinned or speak Spanish, but they have also detained a lot of veterans,” said Nick Podjasek, an Air Force veteran who works as a health care provider at Veterans Affairs. Podjasek is also a member of SEIU Healthcare.
“The attacks are to divide and conquer working people, going after Brown, Black, Spanish-speaking, low-income and people needing and using services, which also includes veterans and VA staff members, and then going after unions because that's how workers have power.”
Adelena Marshall, a provider at the VA and a member of National Nurses United, said that although nurses and doctors are dedicated to veterans, many have been retiring under pressure from the Trump administration.
“Our nurses are leaving. We have doctors, social workers, everyone who have been dedicated to our veterans, because of the intimidation that's going on at the VA,” Marshall said. “I am staying. I am not going to run. I'm going to stay there to fight.”
The rally focused on myriad issues, from the rounding up of undocumented immigrants to U.S. support of Israel in its war against Hamas, and the blowing up of suspected drug boats off the coast of Venezuela on orders of President Donald Trump.
A major theme, however, was ICE and its use of force and intimidation in rounding up immigrants and even some American citizens.
Mohamed Yasin of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and Arab American Family Services said Chicago could get a break if recent reports are true that ICE could be winding down its enforcement action in the city.
“We heard reports that ICE is leaving our city this week, and they say maybe today, because it's too cold for them,” Yasin said. “It is the resistance of the people that turned up the heat and melted ICE.”
Army Reserves veteran Edgar Gonzalez, 44 of Midlothian, said he attended to show support for veterans.
“I'm just here supporting. And with a unified voice that we veterans are saying no to Trump's occupation, that we don't want cuts of benefits. We don't want cuts to the community in order to give tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires,” Gonzalez said.
Michael Applegate, 47, Berwyn, is a Navy veteran who served on a submarine. He said there are active-duty military personnel who are conflicted in carrying out some White House orders.
“I came out here in support of other veterans who are refusing illegal and unlawful orders to commit crimes against our neighbors and the people in our communities,” Applegate said. “I believe a good amount of veterans are probably facing a crisis of conscience right now, and to know that there are veterans out there who support them in their decision to defy these orders and follow their own beliefs.”
Attendees at the rally then marched to Daley Plaza.
Kayla Harris, a native of Rockford and a veteran of the Illinois National Guard, said she’s angered by many of the actions taken by the Trump administration.
“I am here because I’m enraged. I need some place to put that rage,” Harris said. “I'm enraged about deportations. I'm enraged about children being taken from their homes, their parents. It's ridiculous. That's not what I serve for, I'll tell you that!”