It has been a little over a month since President Donald Trump’s deportation campaign began spreading anxiety in communities across the nation. Officials in Illinois and community organizations in Chicago have taken a stand against it. One non-profit, the Illinois Coalition For Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR), has been a leader in immigrant advocacy work since 1986 and they have continued to be a major supporter for individuals and families who have been harmed by the Trump administration’s deportation threats. They have been leaders in preparing immigrants to know their rights and gain citizenship—as well as managing the largest hotline in the state of Illinois for reporting ICE activity (1-855-HELP-MY-FAMILY).
The Weekly spoke with Brandon Lee, ICIRR’s communications director, about how the coalition is adapting to the new landscape. Senior Policy Counsel Fred Tsao added some points of clarity on the legality of enforcement tactics.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What has your work been like since the election?
Brandon Lee: Since the election, we’ve been focused on three areas of work for us in the coalition. One is updating and sharing our Know Your Rights materials with our member organizations across the state, which includes hosting Know Your Rights workshops for community-based organizations and faith organizations and doing “Train the Trainer” sessions so that other people can lead their own Know Your Rights workshops. We’ve been bringing our members, community leaders, and volunteers together to start these neighborhood-based rapid-response teams. These are groups that will, in collaboration with our family support network hotline, receive calls about suspected ICE enforcement in the area, and they will go and check it out to see if it’s really ICE, or, if they arrive after the fact, which is what happens most of the time, then they’ll try to find out more information about whether ICE was present, canvass the area, and pass out additional Know Your Rights info. It’s not different from how a reporter might investigate a tip. You’ll go to the area and you’ll try to find out what happened. The third part is preserving our local welcoming ordinances, [like] the Chicago Welcoming City Ordinance, the Illinois TRUST Act, and the Illinois Way Forward Act. All of these laws combined prevent police from collaborating with ICE and prevent ICE from operating detention centers [in Illinois].
Do you feel that the defenses were built out during Trump’s first term?
BL: Some of this was built out in Trump’s first term. We have several of the community-based teams from 2017 to 2018 who are doing the ICE lookout again. And then it was in that first Trump era that our coalition pushed for the TRUST Act, to put in some of those separations between police and ICE that have been strengthened through subsequent legislation. But it was the 2017 push that was the direct response to Trump’s election in 2016.
With this new iteration of Trump and ICE, what have been the biggest obstacles?
BL: There is something about the degree to which they’re going from zero to 100 on enforcement from the jump. It’s horrifying. In the campaign, you had the signs that they passed out at the Republican National Convention all saying “Mass Deportations Now,” and then you have Trump. There were times when Trump would walk it back, you know, “We’re focusing on certain people.” We would love to do something for DACA recipients, to protect them, or anything like that, right? He kind of moderates himself on immigration, but the reality of the first week is that they’re not moderate on immigration. They’re going full force on deportations. And it really is causing a sense of fear.
We’re starting to speak with more families who have had a family member who has been detained. Dr. Phil [McGraw] was in town to be a part of portraying this operation from the enforcement side and all of this contributes to the sort of spectacle that Trump is trying to create and the fear that he’s trying to create in communities. Now, we look at that; we look at the Know Your Rights effort, which is our member organizations and organic operations; other communities, other institutions, other groups of volunteers, other groups of local leaders, churches, unions, what have you, all of whom are sharing this vital information that is empowering for people to know their rights. To know that they have the right to not open the door, that they have the right to remain silent, like you have the right to ask for an attorney. If you’ve watched one episode of Law and Order, you know that there is a feeling that people are empowered when they know their rights and there is a sense of safety when you know that people in your community are looking out for one another and have your back.
The optics-based strategy by the Trump administration, compared to Biden’s approach, showcases how each iteration of resistance adapts. How does ICIRR continue to fight with a transforming strategy towards deportation?
BL: What you’re bringing up has been a challenge for immigrant rights advocates and immigrant communities over the course of multiple presidential administrations across political parties. [Former President Barack] Obama had a record number of deportations; Trump ran on an anti-immigrant platform. You can look at the numbers under the Biden administration, so it’s not as if we’ve stopped fighting. What makes this moment different is the level of fear created throughout the campaign, and that was front and center in Trump’s messaging. Also, this swift run of anti-immigrant and pro-enforcement executive orders, like whether it’s the attempt to repeal birthright citizenship, which may or may not go anywhere, but it’s part of “flooding the zone.” It’s the removing of sensitive locations from ICE enforcement [restrictions], so putting schools, hospitals, and churches in play for enforcement activity, or if it’s deputizing these other federal law enforcement agencies like the DEA or the US Marshals—which is kind of like tripling the size of your enforcement operation overnight and putting a laser focus on Chicago throughout.
At Hamline Elementary School, a principal apparently mistook Secret Service agents for ICE. Though it may have been a false alarm, it showed that in Chicago the people are ready, even if previously safe spaces are being targeted. What are your thoughts on the situation in regards to the response of the school and the possibility of ICE operating around them?
BL: When we look at that situation, we track it throughout the day, given the atmosphere that Trump was trying to create, the confusion over who actually could carry out immigration enforcement, in terms of the departments, agencies, and things like that. We believe the school made the right choice [to not allow federal agents to enter the school], and I hope that schools continue to exercise caution and to look out for the safety of their students and their families above all else.
In regards to Illinois- and Chicago-specific policies, are there any loopholes or issues that have come up with this iteration of Trump’s campaign?
BL: We’re in the process of really combing through the legislation and seeing where the difference is, seeing where potential pitfalls or weaknesses might be. So we’ll have some updates on that, particularly as the General Assembly session starts up or continues in Springfield. I think the Chicago ordinance the last few years has been challenging. I mean, South Side Weekly has done a good job of covering the community tensions and the different challenges that came up over the new arrivals mission; over the course of Governor Abbott in Texas, making Chicago a target by feeding into Trump making Chicago a target.
So, tensions within City Hall are certainly high, and that led to the early efforts to amend the Welcoming City Ordinance. That is sort of one of those things that we expect to continue happening as Trump’s campaign and enforcement efforts ramp up and continue to have a focus on Chicago. It’s important to not retreat, and it’s important to not comply in advance with what the Trump administration is trying to do, like it’s incumbent upon Chicago and upon Illinois to look out for its residents. We appreciate that both Mayor Johnson and Governor Pritzker have been supportive of the laws that are on the books. And this is a moment where, if there’s an opportunity to be bold or if there’s an opportunity to really push back against the Trump administration, that we can continue standing together, to stand up for Chicagoans and stand up for Illinois.
When Alds. Raymond Lopez (15th Ward) and Silvana Tabares (23rd Ward) attempted to amend the Welcoming City Ordinance, was there any type of reaction from your organization?
BL: We were out at City Hall to push back. We also looked to our member organizations to put in calls to all their people in their areas and ask them to vote no or reject the changes. It was a confusing procedural move where the “yes” vote stopped it from moving forward. But ultimately, the end goal was achieved that the amendments did not move forward. And I think it’s an instance of a couple of other people kind of willing to meet Trump halfway on enforcement, when really, if you look at the operation of his first two weeks, it’s broad. This is not something that’s focused. It is meant to instill fear. It is meant to increase detention. It is meant to lead to deportations. It is large and chilling.
Has there been any reporting of the people that have been detained, of who actually has criminal records and who just happens to be here with a different status?
BL: The Department of Homeland Security has not been particularly forthcoming with putting out info. Congressman [Chuy] Garcia (IL-4) and Congresswoman [Delia] Ramirez (IL-3) mentioned at their press conference that they have been requesting this info from the Department of Homeland Security, but they have not gotten it. I think the other thing that Trump is clearly trying to do is trying to criminalize all immigrants from the jump, particularly criminalizing anyone undocumented. You saw that in the remarks from the White House press secretary, essentially saying anybody in the country that’s undocumented is fair game, and it is something that goes to show the frame that they’re trying to create around immigration and criminalizing the people who seek safety or seek opportunity in this complex and broken immigration system.
I think it’s incumbent upon us as community organizations and community members who have immigrant neighbors to reject that notion of criminality and see everybody as the neighbors, the co-workers, fellow students, and fellow church-goers that we are. The way forward is not in offending communities and, essentially, disappearing people. The way forward is in relief for immigrants. It’s in the programs that lift up all families of all backgrounds and all citizenship statuses, rather than one of exclusion and one focused on punishment.
What support can people get through the ICIRR hotline?
BL: The hotline was around for Trump’s first go-round. But we’ve also used the hotline as a more general offering for our program. During open enrollment, people call in with questions about healthcare or for referrals to other social service agencies, other legal support, citizenship application assistance, what have you.
But we also have this option for support with people going through deportation or if your family has been affected by someone being arrested by ICE. So, compared to January 2024, we’re seeing five times as many calls in January 2025. And it’s a lot of [ICE] sightings, some of which are confirmed and some of which are false alarms, some of which are inconclusive. And then we have started to get calls of families where one of their family members has been detained and folks from the team, Organized Communities Against Deportations (OCAD) and the National Immigrant Justice Center, who are two of our really strong partners, following up with folks making sure that they get the community support or legal support that they need.
What can and can’t federal agents legally do when engaging in immigration enforcement?
Fred Tsao: Well, breaking down doors is only permissible if they have a judicial warrant, otherwise the administrative warrants that they usually have do not have the force of law when it comes to compelling someone to open the door or conducting forcible entry. Traffic stops: Nava restricts warrantless arrests, including traffic stops, unless there’s probable cause for the stop. [Editor’s note: In 2018, a settlement was reached in Castañon Nava et al. v. Dep’t of Homeland Security et al., which stemmed from a lawsuit brought by ICIRR and others against ICE regarding its arrest procedures.] So, ICE does not enforce traffic law, so there’d have to be some reasonable basis and facts that a person of interest to ICE is actually in the car. It’s not as though ICE could just randomly pull someone over and ask them, “Hey, show me your papers.” They actually need to have done their homework; they need to check plates, cars, and driver’s license information and all that stuff before they can develop the probable cause, which you know they may or may not do. So that’s the law governing traffic stops. Now, this is under the Nava agreement but it is an application of basic Fourth Amendment law, too.
Do you feel like there have been any weaknesses, or maybe even strengths with Chicago’s welcoming policies that are working in the favor of the Trump administration?
FT: The policies in place only cover ICE agents and CPD agents, and we saw the Justice Department is getting into the act. They’re deploying the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) and ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) and Marshalls, and then there’s Homeland Security trying to deputize local cops and from other states, National Guard, and military. So it’s not just ICE anymore. We need to address that. I think one could make an argument that anybody working in collaboration with ICE should be considered ICE, but it would be helpful to get that clarity and just say that anybody who’s engaging in immigration enforcement needs to be covered by this law.
Regarding the Secure Communities Program, is there any means of defense, legally, for individuals that are detained by ICE using fingerprint data provided by the FBI?
FT: ICE would still need to meet its burden of proving that the person is deportable. Secure Communities makes that easier by identifying people who might be out of status. And the person might still be eligible for asylum or other forms of immigration relief.
Cordell Longstreath is an Army veteran, writer, community advocate and activist, and teacher. He also fact-checks for the Weekly. He last wrote about an INVEST South/West development.