By ASHLEY N. SORIANO,
ISMAEL M. BELKOURA,
& BEN SZALINSKI
Medill Illinois News Bureau
& Capitol News Illinois
[email protected]
CHICAGO – Immigrant communities around Illinois braced Tuesday for threatened mass deportations. But the Little Village neighborhood in Chicago, facing subzero temperatures, saw little foot traffic and no anticipated raids as of Tuesday afternoon on the second day of the Trump Administration.
Trump has vowed to carry out the “largest mass deportation in history.” He wasted no time on Inauguration Day before signing multiple immigration-related executive orders, including ones reinstating the “Remain in Mexico” policy and pausing refugee admissions.
Several states quickly moved to block Trump’s executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship, which grants citizenship to all people born in the U.S., even in cases where the parents are not citizens.
“The President has no authority to amend the Constitution or supersede the Citizenship Clause’s grant of citizenship to individuals born in the United States,” argued a lawsuit filed by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and attorneys general in Oregon, Arizona and Washington state.
Eighteen other states had earlier announced a similar lawsuit.
But raids previously alluded to by the Trump administration hadn’t occurred as of Tuesday afternoon.
A Wall Street Journal report said around 100 to 200 ICE officers would be sent to the city to execute the operation. Following leaks about raids targeting Chicago, and after initially telling Fox News the raids would begin as early as Tuesday, “border czar” Tom Homan later said he was reconsidering the operation’s details due to officer safety concerns.
At an event hosted by local Republican groups in December, Homan, former ICE acting director, named Chicago “ground zero” for the Trump Administration’s mass deportation plan.
Gov. JB Pritzker said at an unrelated news conference Tuesday he spent part of Monday in some of Chicago’s Hispanic neighborhoods. He described businesses that were “relatively empty because people were afraid to show up” with the threat of action by ICE looming. But he said he hadn’t heard anything from the Trump administration.
“They’ve not communicated with us, so we don’t know when exactly those enforcement actions might take place. We have heard that they are targeting as many as 2,000 people, initially in the city of Chicago alone,” Pritzker said.
The governor has reiterated in recent months he supports immigration authorities deporting people living in the U.S. without legal permission who have been convicted of violent crimes, but he said he is worried law-abiding undocumented Illinois residents will get caught up in deportations as well.
Advocacy organizations have been mobilizing resources to inform immigrants of their rights and try to protect undocumented people from the crackdown targeting Chicago and other sanctuary cities.
Mayor Brandon Johnson did not return requests for comment but posted to X Sunday that Chicago “will continue to fight for the justice and safety of all who call this place home.” At the start of the year, Johnson also reaffirmed Chicago’s Welcoming City Ordinance, which does not allow city employees and agencies to help civil immigration enforcement.
An ICE spokesperson told Capitol News Illinois Saturday that questions about post-inauguration activities would need to be directed to the incoming administration.
Hundreds march in Inauguration Day protest
In freezing temperatures, hundreds of protesters and more than 80 organizations gathered at Federal Plaza in downtown Chicago around the same time as the new president’s swearing-in ceremony in Washington, D.C., on Monday.
Chants of “No hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here” echoed blocks away, as the group marched through Chicago’s Loop and ended the rally across the river from Trump Tower.
Nadiah Alyafai, an organizer for the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, was one of the first speakers and said the organizations were not “blind to the reality” that the incoming administration would target members of marginalized communities.
“We have seen how Trump weaponized fear and bigotry and how he perpetrated harmful stereotypes that fuel violence, discrimination and hate, and we know that these policies will continue, starting today,” Alyafai said to the crowd.
Martín Unzueta, the executive director and founder of Chicago Community and Workers Rights, urged people who are concerned or confused about their immigration status to reach out to their alderpersons and local organizations.
“We are part of this country,” Unzueta said in a speech spoken in Spanish. “No one is going to run us out. Here is where we’ll defend ourselves.”
Unzueta also reminded protesters that Chicago remains a sanctuary city. Last week, the Chicago City Council temporarily blocked a proposal that would have allowed the Chicago Police Department to help ICE officers in some deportation cases.
The Chicago Police Department confirmed to Capitol News Illinois Tuesday it would not assist federal immigration authorities with civil enforcement. CPD also does not document immigration status.
“To be clear, the Chicago Police Department will not assist or intervene in civil immigration enforcement in accordance with the City of Chicago Municipal Code,” a CPD spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “As always, we will continue to enforce the law if a crime occurs, regardless of the citizenship status of those involved.”
Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott began busing migrants to Chicago in 2022 as part of what critics, including Illinois’ Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker, called a political stunt. Since August 2022, nearly 52,000 people seeking asylum arrived by bus and plane through Dec. 18, 2024, according to city data. The governors of Arizona and Florida also bused migrants to various cities, including New York City and Washington, D.C.
Chicago has been a sanctuary city for immigrants since 1985 and reaffirmed the protections during the first Trump administration.
A lone counterprotester stood across the street during Monday’s demonstration, swinging an American flag back and forth chanting “America first!” He declined to give his name.
Advocacy organizations warn undocumented clients
Since late last year, advocacy organizations have been warning and preparing their undocumented clients by hosting “Know Your Rights” sessions, including roleplay workshops on what to do if a loved one is detained.
La Villita Community, an organization in the majority Hispanic Little Village neighborhood, provided instructions on social media ahead of reported ICE activity.
Other groups like the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights serve Illinois communities beyond Chicago.
Dulce Ortiz, the ICIRR board president, came to the U.S. from Mexico without documentation when she was 10 years old. The now 43-year-old is a U.S. citizen, and she’s providing resources to people who are in the same shoes as she was as a child.
“I had to make some decisions when I was young, (and) I hope young women will never have to make those decisions in order to become a U.S. citizen,” Ortiz said.
ICIRR, which primarily serves Lake County and parts of McHenry County, defines its mission as to empower and integrate immigrants into their communities.
The organization recommends preparation ahead of possible confrontations with ICE officers, including renewing any visas or permits five months ahead of their expiration. Ortiz, the ICIRR board president, suggests a three-step process: don’t open your door, remain silent and ask for a lawyer.
“We don’t want to create even more fear in our community, but at the end of the day, the fear is already there,” Ortiz said. “And I rather argue to be ready and prepared and alert and aware than us, you know, trying to protect their feelings and do nothing.”
Ortiz and other ICIRR advocates have been meeting with state legislators, ensuring staff and volunteers are keeping an eye out for any ICE presence and hosting mental health workshops.
Another group, Immigrant Solidarity DuPage, provides services to immigrants in the Chicagoland area, organizer Cristobal Cavazos said.
Cavazos attended the Federal Plaza protest alongside a dozen members of the organization, saying that although there is fear, it’s important to translate that fear to action.
“We want to show Trump that we are many and we are more united than ever,” Cavazos said in an interview conducted in Spanish. “He’s not going to make us feel like strangers in our own home.”
Ashley N. Soriano and Ismael M. Belkoura are graduate students in journalism with Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications, and Fellows in its Medill Illinois News Bureau working in partnership with Capitol News Illinois.Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
