Immigrant communities across the country are on high alert after President Donald Trump began his second term by signing a series of executive orders that are putting Latinx families at risk of deportation. As dozens of ICE agents deploy in Chicago, public officials and community groups are springing to action to keep their neighbors aware of their surroundings and their rights.
On Friday, January 24, parents in Back of the Yards grew fearful when word spread that federal agents had tried to enter Hamline Elementary School after days of uncertainty over whether the Trump administration would reconsider its plans to target Chicago. The principal prevented the agents from entering the school, and it was later revealed that they were not ICE, but U.S. Secret Service agents.
City residents remained cautious the rest of the weekend in response to “border czar” Tom Homan’s threats to go after “criminals” and Trump deputizing other federal agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), to conduct immigration enforcement in sanctuary cities.
Ward staffers and volunteers on the Southwest and Northwest Sides proactively took to the streets under freezing temperatures to pass out leaflets with resources in Spanish and cards that could be slipped under the door if ICE came to their homes, stating their right to remain silent and their right to an attorney.
Little Village business owners attended a know-your-rights session in Nuevo Leon Restaurant organized by Congressman Chuy Garcia’s office to strategize how to interact with ICE if they entered their stores to target employees or customers, and non-profit organizations such as the Resurrection Project and the Southwest Organizing Project held bilingual workshops geared to the general public. People were encouraged to report any potential ICE activity to the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) by calling (855) 435-7693.
On Sunday, various neighborhoods and suburbs, including Logan Square, South Chicago, and Cicero saw immigration sweeps, according to rapid response groups—neighborhood watch groups that emerged during the first Trump administration in support of immigrants.
Videos on Facebook and TikTok spread in the community, purporting to show nighttime ICE arrests on the West Side and claiming agents used explosives to enter homes.
In a statement, Mayor Brandon Johnson said, “There have been confirmed reports of ICE enforcement activity in Chicago today, Sunday, January 26. Per City code, Chicago police were not involved in this immigration enforcement activity. My team and I are in close communication with City officials including the CPD. It is imperative that all Chicagoans know their constitutional rights and share the Know Your Rights guidance with their neighbors and community.”
With immigration officials driving unmarked vehicles with regular plates, paranoia is at an all-time high. The brunt of verifying the presence of ICE has fallen on rapid response groups, such as La Villita Se Defiende, when public officials are unable to. Through their social media channels, neighborhood groups have debunked fake news and doctored images of ICE vehicles in the neighborhoods.
Despite the Chicago ICE office’s reluctance to provide local news outlets with much information, national media has reported that immigration officials are enforcing quotas, which according to CNN are seventy-five per day in Chicago.
On X (the site formerly known as Twitter), the official ICE account has posted a daily count of arrests nationally and mugshots of select detainees along with their name, city, and alleged crimes. A Mexican national was arrested in Chicago on January 22 who allegedly had two DUIs on his record, according to one post.
Bloomberg reported ICE was targeting 260 people in Chicago on Sunday, but only a handful had warrants.
Further dramatizing ICE operations to the point of spectacle, the television personality Phillip McGraw, popularly known as “Dr. Phil,” has been permitted to accompany ICE agents in Chicago in order to livestream and interview immigrants as they’re being arrested. In one video that was widely shared, McGraw repeatedly accused a man from Thailand in handcuffs for sexual crimes involving a minor. However, it’s not clear if there was a warrant for the man’s arrest.
On Monday afternoon, Ald. Michael Rodriguez (22nd Ward) said there were “confirmed reports of federal authorities, possibly ICE, activity in Little Village today” and that community members from the 22nd Ward Immigration Support Network were on the ground monitoring and addressing the reports. Community groups on Facebook posted multiple videos apparently showing agents pulling drivers over on 26th St., the neighborhood business corridor.
Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th Ward) confirmed that people were detained in the Belmont Cragin and Hermosa neighborhoods.
ATF agents were seen Wednesday morning detaining an individual on 31st and Kedzie, as corroborated by La Villita Se Defiende.
Immigrant advocacy groups Organized Communities Against Deportation, ICIRR, Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, and Raise the Floor filed a suit on Saturday seeking an injunction against the plan for mass deportations, arguing that the operations violate the First Amendment and are “retaliatory in nature” because of Trump’s opposition to sanctuary cities. A federal judge denied their request for an emergency hearing because the plaintiffs themselves were not the target of the operations.
Republicans have called on Mayor Johnson and other sanctuary city mayors to testify at a congressional hearing on February 11 about the impact of having sanctuary status on public safety and national security.
Jacqueline Serrato is the Weekly’s editor-in-chief.