About 40 people, mostly religious sisters and brothers, stood at a busy Brighton Park intersection on March 1 to demonstrate their solidarity with immigrants, refugees and migrants.

The group, dressed in parkas and scarves, some using rolling walkers or canes, waved signs with messages like “No more family separation,” “No human being is illegal” and “We stand with immigrants” when passing drivers honked in support or flashed a thumbs-up signal.

The public witness event was organized by Sisters and Brothers of Immigrants. Holding it at the six-way intersection on the corner of Archer Avenue, Pershing Road and Rockwell Street, in a neighborhood that is more than 70% Hispanic or Latino, according to the American Community Survey, allowed immigrants and their family members see that they are not alone, leaders said.

“I am an immigrant, and a big number of my family are immigrants,” said Society of Helpers Sister Rayo Cuaya, who works in a neighborhood organization in Brighton Park. “We are lucky to have documents. I’m here supporting the community that is being criminalized by the present administration. I’m here saying, ‘You are not a criminal. You are a child of God. You deserve to have due process.’”

Graciela Mauldin came with her 4-year-old son and with her mother, whom, she said, took her to protests and demonstrations when she was a child. Her sign read, “Be loud for those who have to stay silent.”

“I come from a family that got here by immigration,” said Mauldin, who grew up in Chicago and now lives in Northwest Indiana. “Everyone deserves the same rights. We need to teach our children to stand up for others.”

Her mother, Griselda Guerra, carried a sign that said, “If you’re not angry, you’re not paying attention.”

She and her children were born in the U.S., she said, but they know mixed-status families in which the parents are now making arrangements for who will care for their children if they get detained by ICE while their children are in school and are not there when their children come home.

“I think we absolutely need to stand up for the ones who can’t,” she said.

“I grew up near here, in Pilsen,” said Joliet Franciscan Sister Dolores Zemont, who now lives in Romeoville, which also has a significant Hispanic population. “Just hearing people’s stories, how they are living in fear. Neighbors who have been living here for a million years and who are citizens afraid to go out to do their shopping.”

At times, she said, she feels powerless. But being present and standing up publicly for immigrants was something she could do.

“This is one way I can help,” she said. “I can’t sit back and be silent. It’s heartbreaking what we have become as a country. We were all immigrants once.”

Edmund Rice Christian Brother Chuck Fitzsimmons said he came to the public witness because he has been “incensed” with the things being done to immigrants, refugees and migrants under President Donald Trump’s second administration.

Mercy Sister Jacquie Dewar, 86, pushed her rolling walker to the curb, standing behind so she could rest her arm on the bar so she didn’t get tired holding her sign, which said “Welcoming immigrants is a civic and religious responsibility.”

The sign, Sister Jacquie said, was for ICE and other government officials, and for people who don’t understand what’s going on.

She was delighted to join sisters from her congregation as well as women and men religious from other communities.

“I’ve always wanted to be in a protest,” she joked. She turned more serious, saying, “This was an opportunity to stand up for something I deeply believe in. I’m so grateful to the people who invited me.”

Mercy Sister Rita Specht said she came so that immigrants would know they are not alone.

“I just feel I need to put my body where my community is,” she said. “This is for people who need to know we really do support immigrants.”

Viatorian Brother Michael Gosch said the group is planning another public witness on March 28, at the intersection of Northwest Highway and Arlington Heights Road in Arlington Heights.