Immigration Call to Action Projected onto Magnificent Mile Facade

By Steve Bynum
Lourdes leans on the wall as she sweeps the stairs at her house.
“Knowing that this [living in the U.S.] was the best thing for my children, I could endure any amount of work, and I worked day and night… I never talked to them when they were young, saying “Maybe one day I'll be gone, maybe one day this will happen to me.” That is, I never prepared myself to not live in the United States. I never had any problems, I never got into any trouble, I was never a problem for anyone. I thought that since I was doing things the right way, I would be able to stay in the United States,” said Lourdes. Rachel Woolf / Art Works Projects
Lourdes leans on the wall as she sweeps the stairs at her house.
“Knowing that this [living in the U.S.] was the best thing for my children, I could endure any amount of work, and I worked day and night… I never talked to them when they were young, saying “Maybe one day I'll be gone, maybe one day this will happen to me.” That is, I never prepared myself to not live in the United States. I never had any problems, I never got into any trouble, I was never a problem for anyone. I thought that since I was doing things the right way, I would be able to stay in the United States,” said Lourdes. Rachel Woolf / Art Works Projects

Immigration Call to Action Projected onto Magnificent Mile Facade

By Steve Bynum
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The fear of being deported looms over millions of immigrant communities under the Trump administration. President Trump tweeted in June that anyone who has entered the U.S. illegally must be subjected to removal without any judicial process. Detroit-based visual journalist, Rachel Woolf’s latest project, in collaboration with Artworks Projects for Human Rights, is called, “Deported: An American Division. It highlights the story of Lourdes Salazar Bautista. She was deported to Mexico in 2017 and split from her U.S born children, after living in the U.S. for 20 years. We’ll speak today with Laura Sanders, co-founder of the Washtenaw Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights., based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Sanders has known Salazar Bautista for almost a decade. “Deported” will be featured Tuesday, October 2, as part of an event called an “Interfaith Immigrant Justice Vigil” at Chicago’s Fourth Presbyterian Church, 126 E. Chestnut Street. The organizers call the gathering  “an evening of prayer, song, art, and protest, [to] call for justice for our immigrant sisters and brothers”. As part of the vigil, Art Works Projects will project images from Deported” onto the facade of Fourth Presbyterian Church. Sponsors include the Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America and the Interfaith Coalition Against Racism.