In Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood, minutes away from Wrigley Field, lies the Southport Corridor portion of Southport Avenue. Filled with shops, restaurants, and my apartment, the street is perhaps one of Chicago's fastest growing thoroughfares.

But if one organization gets its way, Southport Avenue might become home to an ICE detention center for immigrant children.

The group planning to build this center, at a Catholic church of all places, is a group called Heartland Alliance, who already operates 5 other facilities throughout Chicago. Heartland owns these facilities under contract with ICE's parent department, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Although Heartland claims that their facilities are much better than those that have been criticized for being unsanitary, oftentimes they follow the guidelines provided by ICE and DHS, typically going against the requests for children to not be separated from their parents. And as one ProPublica report shows, money truly does talk, as Heartland is the 4th largest recipient of money by ICE in recent years.

Heartland's direct collaboration with ICE poses a fundamental threat to these children and their families who simply want to live a normal life. Families belong together, and that is the bottom line; and the fact that there could potentially be hundreds of separated children literally two blocks away from where I live makes me sick to my stomach.

Heartland is doing nothing more than unethically enabling ICE's crusade to make immigrant families' lives a living hell. They not only need to release the children and reunite them with their families, but also divest themselves from ICE and use their power to ethically support immigrants coming to Chicago. If Heartland wants to prove that they really do care about immigrants, then these are some concrete steps they can take.

Moreover, Heartland can completely disassociate themselves from ICE and continue to help immigrant families in need. They can remove any mentioning of ICE in their job openings, prevent ICE from taking children the moment they turn 18, and sharing vital records of detainees with the organization.

Given its deplorable and unspeakable record of torturing immigrant families, it is safe to say that ICE is a terrorist organization and most certainly should be abolished. While we are all fighting to abolish ICE and help those in their crosshairs know their rights, we should also help #FreeHeartlandKids and those who are being detained right in our own backyard.

For more information on the #FreeHearlandKids campaign, you can learn more here and sign this petition.