ABC News: "A day without fear": Chicagoans buy out street vendors amid immigration crackdown

Good news from Chicago. Midwesterners are standing up to support the immigrant community.

ABC News reports that, in light of the roving patrols on the streets of Chicago, Chicagoans are arriving early in the day in "Chicago’s Latino neighborhoods and stopping at tamale carts, elote stands and candy stalls. They buy out every last item . . . . Then they load up the food and deliver it to shelters and families in need."

With a federal mass deportation campaign that has led to more than 3,000 arrests in the Chicago area, "[s]treet vendors . . . have been afraid to leave their homes to work. Local restaurants have struggled as customers stay home."

Neighbors stepped up for one another by, among other things, "a grassroots effort to organize so-called `buy out' events meant to allow vendors who fear being detained by immigration agents to go home early. Some Chicagoans have pooled money in their neighborhoods or through local organizations while others have simply bought out taco stands while on their way to work or tamale vendors outside their local bars."

It is nice to have a "feel good" story on the blog!