Mourning and Resistance

“ICE is back, ICE never left.”

Many Chicagoans know both statements are true.

And many South Side Weekly readers have not felt safe or at peace in their neighborhoods since last September, when federal agents were deployed to the city and quickly began to target people based on race and ethnicity.

Some South Siders were essentially forced underground last fall, making costly choices to limit or halt work, skip church services and other social gatherings, and miss medical appointments to avoid harassment, abduction, trauma, detention, and physical assault. People stayed inside to stay alive.

ICE arrests in Chicago dipped in the winter and early spring, but they have dramatically risen this summer. Nationally, the New York Times estimated that federal immigration officials detained more than 10,000 people in the last five days of June. According to the Chicago Tribune, ICE agents made 16,213 arrests during the first 11 days of July across the country, for a daily average of more than 1,400. The daily average was more than 1,300 in June, the highest number in Donald Trump’s second term.

Locally, the Resurrection Project, a Pilsen-based nonprofit, reported that legal advocates received 170 referrals for immigration-related legal assistance in June, almost double the amount received in May. And since late June, legal groups note that ICE has been most active on the Southwest Side—particularly Back of the Yards, Brighton Park, and Gage Park.

But once again, Chicagoans are showing up for each other. Paul Goyette, a self-described “Chicago-based photographer documenting and uplifting collective action for progressive change,” captures our love, courage, and resolve.

Goyette took these photos at the Vigil for Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and Joan Sabastián Guerrero on July 15 (killed by ICE agents on July 7 in Houston, Texas and on July 13 in Biddleford, Maine, respectively); the ICE Out Now! rally at the Little Village Arch on July 18; the Say Their Names march in Broadview on July 25; and the Chicago Vigil to Demand Justice for Lorenzo and Johan on July 25.  

Goyette has chosen to license most of his photographs under Creative Commons for public use. In a 2025 Instagram post, he wrote, “It’s a pretty significant change to the way I’m doing things that I believe will increase my reach while also making my work more useful to local reporters and editors.” We’re grateful to share and amplify his labor here.

Paul Goyette is a Chicago-based movement photographer primarily interested in documenting and uplifting collective action for progressive change.