Chicago Public Radio continues to cover the raids that swept up 58 immigrants in Lake County, Illinois, earlier this month. Today it featured Frumencio Acevedo, a permanent resident and the DJ known as "Shaggy" on the popular Chicago radio station La Ley. Acevedo has been detained at Dodge County Detention Center for more than two weeks since U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrested him at his home.

ICE officials claim the Lake County raid targeted gang members and other people who they call a "danger to society." But Acevedo, who is being represented by lawyers at the National Immigrant Justice Center, has not been involved in gangs in more than 15 years and has since used the power of the airwaves to help families keep their own kids out of trouble.

La Raza newspaper covered Acevedo's story last Saturday.

"I don't deny that I've made mistakes in the past in my life, but I believe I've already paid to society what the consequences were, by paying fines, by going to prison," Acevedo told Chicago Public Radio reporter Chip Mitchell.

According to the story, "The police detective who heads the village's anti-gang efforts says she's never heard of Acevedo and has no idea how he ended up among targets of the dragnet."

ICE's response in the story essentially comes down to "once a gang member always a gang member," a scary prognosis for citizens and non-citizens alike who are pulled into gangs under a myriad of circumstances when they are young but are able to break the ties later in life and become valuable members of their communities.

American taxpayers' money should not pay to round up, detain, and deport immigrants like Acevedo who pose no threat to our communities. Acevedo's deportation will tear apart his family, leave La Ley's young listeners with one less role model, and diminish the ideals of justice and fairness that the American justice system is supposed to uphold.