Guest post by Paul Drabik
The Standard Club in Chicago is about as old an institution as can be found in the City of Broad shoulders. Founded in 1869, the club was formed for Jewish people to congregate, dine, and socialize. The Standard Club is a fixture in the heart of the Chicago neighborhood known as “The Loop,” or the central business district neighborhood. Falling on hard times over the years, The Standard Club was finally forced to sell its property at 320 S. Plymouth Court in February of 2022. It has come a long way from hosting fundraisers with the Obamas and Pritzkers to housing illegal immigrants, where the Chicago Police Department (CPD) responded to 706 incidents between June 2023 and May 2024.
Through a FOIA request by Terry Newsome of Behind Enemy Lines podcast, numerous criminal incidents were uncovered at The Standard Club. In March of this year Gateway Pundit reported on a similar FOIA finding at the Inn of Chicago that included assault, robbery, domestic battery, and child abuse. Coincidentally, according to the Chicago Sun Times, both facilities were recently purchased by the same hotel investor out of California. Similar findings were uncovered at The Standard Club, including many vehicle-related crimes such as those listed in the image below. While many violent crimes were present in the 706 incidents, there was an apparent ease with which these illegal immigrants found a way to obtain motor vehicle usage. Surely their comfort facilitated through government and taxpayer funding is unrelated.
Another alarming observation within the report was the 7 examples of the possession of a fraudulent ID card as shown in the image below. This offense brings to mind the trepidation that has arisen regarding the coming election. The perception of many citizens across the country is that a lack of election safeguards will engender widespread cheating and ballot harvesting afforded by a mass illegal immigration policy.
In states such as Illinois there is particular concern as the state has passed HB3882 allowing anyone who has been approved for asylum or has entered the country under refugee status to obtain the same driver’s license or ID card as an Illinois citizen. This should bring the utmost scrutiny from citizens as Illinois’ WTTW – a PBS affiliate – points out, there was an automatic voter registration bill signed into law in 2017. If that does not raise enough suspicion, one might also consider the fact that Illinois is a same day voter registration state.
Most egregious however, is the offense highlighted below. This arrest was for child pornography. These are the types of distinctions that are brought to light in the battle between liberals and conservatives as it relates to the illegal immigration crisis.
While it may be true that most illegal immigrants are merely looking for a better life, the harrowing reality is that we are importing crime unnecessarily. People like Laken Riley in Georgia do not have to die, and children do not have to be exploited. The border policy can be ameliorated.
Further investigation into the above offense is warranted. It’s relevant to reference reporting from May of this year by Gateway Pundit. In that article, evidence of human trafficking was found on a government-funded Vortex phone on the person of an illegal immigrant at the Chicago area Pilsen migrant facility. In April 2022 Fox News reported on the federal government issuing government phones to illegals crossing the border. As Jen Psaki confirmed, “…we can track…” and “…check in with them.” This is likely an extension of the Obama phone program, itself an extension of the Lifeline program, which sought to provide poverty level Americans with free cell phones and service. Clearly the program has been extended once again, only this time, to cover illegal immigrants.
A final observation regards the arrest data provided for the geographical demographics of the incoming illegal immigration population. Given the current situation in Venezuela with dictator Nicolas Maduro seemingly stealing the recent election, it’s no surprise that the bulk of illegal immigrant arrests comes from Venezuela with an uptick in 2024. As Gateway Pundit reported in February of 2024, there was evidence of the presence of illegal Venezuelans in the Chicago suburbs. In a video of an encounter, Terry Newsome of Behind Enemy Lines engaged the illegal immigrants as they displayed multiple cellular devices and flashed gang signs closely resembling those of the transnational criminal gang Tren de Aragua.
Seemingly, mass immigration driven by the left serves as an attempt to bribe foreigners to come to the country in order to win future elections. This desperate attempt to purchase voters is an indication that the Democrat party’s policies are too extreme and the progressivism is too accelerated. All indications point to a new class of citizen being forcibly migrated into the country. As documented, left leaning policy is making it easier to become a citizen as well as easier to commit fraud in elections. The real effort appears to be the expansion of the welfare state as well as the government through dependency and weakening of the dollar. The acceleration aspect is alarming as the quickened pace is happening during a time of pique distrust in the government. The question becomes: How far are Americans willing to be pushed?
