IN HONOR OF SILVERIO

A Permanent Vigil for Memory, Justice & Community

On September 12, 2025, Silverio Villegas‑González — a devoted father, a hard worker, a neighbor — lost his life in a confrontation with federal agents. His death left a void in our community and raised painful questions about justice, memory, and the safety and dignity of all who belong here.

Since then, neighbors, advocates, and loved ones have gathered for temporary vigils — candlelight, flowers, stories shared. But temporary memorials are fragile. They can be washed away, blown out, or destroyed. And they already have been.

Vandalism & Hate

The makeshift vigil for Silverio has been brutally targeted. Rocks, bearing hateful messages, were used to tear apart parts of what we made to remember. These violent acts try to erase, to intimidate, to deny the humanity of Silverio and of our community. They show us just how urgent it is to build something lasting, something protected — so no one can displace his memory, and his family sees that we stand steadfast for him.

How ICE Has Wounded Our Communities

ICE doesn’t just detain — it destroys.

It tears families apart without warning, leaving children to face empty beds, broken promises, and long‑lasting trauma.

It inflicts suffering in detention: overcrowding, medical neglect, mental anguish. Even death — often for conditions that should have been preventable.

It uses practices like warrant less arrests and “collateral arrests” that violate basic dignity and legal rights. In Chicago, for example, many people without criminal records have been detained or held simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The Guardian

Fear of ICE presence keeps people from seeking medical care, participating in schools, engaging with community or religious life — eroding trust, isolating families, especially children.

KFF

Economic harm also follows: loss of income when a parent or breadwinner is detained or deported, instability in homes, shame, and the stress of living under threat. All of that costs deeply — mentally, physically, socially.

KFF

Economic Policy Institute

Silverio’s story is not isolated. It belongs to a larger pattern of systemic harm — where lives are threatened, communities are intimidated, and memory is under attack.

What We Are Doing & Why

We are raising $1,500 by November 1, 2025 to build a permanent vigil in Silverio’s honor — one that cannot be so easily destroyed. Durable, visible, lasting. A place for grief, for remembrance, for justice.

Your donation will help pay for:

A durable, weather‑ & damage‑resistant monument or plaque

Protective landscaping, lighting, benches, maybe a barrier to deter vandalism

Signage or inscription (Silverio’s name, dates, message)

Installation, permits, and ongoing maintenance

All further donations will support Hijas Del Pueblo’s Saturday programs and our fight for a sanctuary city in Franklin Park.

Why This Matters

A permanent vigil is more than stone or metal — it is our promise that Silverio’s life mattered, that hate will not erase him, that forgetfulness will not silence his memory. It becomes a space where community congregates, where the family looks and sees that we care, that we remember, that we demand justice.

How You Can Help

Contribute whatever you can — $10, $25, $100 or more — every dollar matters.

Share this message with friends, neighbors, community groups.

Volunteer with planning, guarding, maintaining the site.

Stay vigilant: help monitor, protect, and report vandalism or threats.

Our Goal

All donations support Hijas Del Pueblo’s Saturday programs and will help us begin construction to dedicate this vigil in Silverio’s honor.

Let us come together — those who knew him, those who stand in solidarity, those whose hearts bleed at grief never acknowledged. Let Silverio’s light continue to burn in our streets, our memories, our justice. Your support is not just a donation — it is remembrance. It is resistance. It is respect.

With hope, strength, and gratitude,

Hijas Del Pueblo

[email redacted]