In light of immigration raids in the West Chicago area, Audrey Luhmann got together with a team of rapid responders, college students and family to deliver candy to two apartment complexes in the area that she said were hit by immigration enforcement this year.
Luhmann, 40, who organized the event with her Signal group called Join Together and other community members, delivered nearly $900 worth of Haribo, Snickers, Airheads and a broad assortment of candy on Friday evening to children around the Timber Lake and Main Park apartments. The event was an opportunity to bring a sense of normalcy and safety to trick-or-treating for families who may be fearful of immigration enforcement in the suburb.
The idea came to her because children are being affected by the “outright oppression” in our neighborhoods, she said, referring to immigration raids and their impact on everyday life for families.
“This is just so awful, even little things like trick-or-treating are now off the table, if their families are going to be safe,” Luhmann said, “and then we thought like: Wait a second. What if we brought trick-or-treating to them?”
And that’s how reverse trick-or-treating was born.
Luhmann collected about $900 worth of candy in 72 hours through donations as large as $100 to distribute to children at 1200 Kings Circle and 813 Main St. in West Chicago. She and around 40 other volunteers dressed up as Disney and superhero characters—Luhmann dressed up as Elsa from “Frozen”— and split into two groups to hit each apartment complex from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Children were able to pick a piece of candy from each person’s bag for a total of about 20 pieces of candy per child.
One mother was driving around Main Street when her kids got excited at the sight of around 20 people giving out candy. Her kids, who dressed up as color stripes, a SWAT officer and a vampire, were thrilled with the candy, said Corazon Carrera, 29. Carrera, who is from Mexico and a resident of Chicago, was a little fearful about what her children might see in regards to immigration enforcement while trick-or-treating in West Chicago.
“In the last months, each time they see something they say ‘There’s ICE,’” Carrera said. “They’re watching the highway and saying, ‘Mom, there’s immigration!’”
Luhmann encouraged group members to wear whistles around their necks, which she describes as a “universal symbol for I’m a safe person,” and contacted the West Chicago Angels, a grassroots community organization, to help patrol the streets Friday night.
Since Sept. 15, Luhmann said the West Chicago community has been hit particularly hard by immigration enforcement. As part of a rapid response team, she said she gets reports about immigration enforcement daily. Luhmann, whose car is stocked with a megaphone, gas masks, and sheets to cover the car in case they get pepper-sprayed, said she wants “to hold some semblance of normal.”
“I wanna do everything in my power to take some of that away, and give them one night, where they can look around, and think: ‘Everybody who’s here is here for me.’”
