Trump and his border czar, Tom Homan, threatened to target Chicago the moment Trump took office and they are making good on that promise. What they didn’t expect was how Chicagoans are unwaveringly dedicated to protect their undocumented neighbors.
Before Trump took office, his border czar, Tom Homan attended an event in December saying mass deportations would begin in Chicago. Homan and Trump have made it clear that they will be going after sanctuary cities who protected undocumented people. Currently, Chicago’s Welcoming City Ordinance prevents Chicago police from working with ICE and targeting someone simply based on their legal status. Furthermore, the Illinois Trust Act also ensures local law enforcement cannot collaborate with immigration or enforce immigration operations. There is no doubt that these policies obstruct Trump’s racist plans and he has made it clear that he wants to make an example out of Chicago. Indeed, Homan has already admitted that Chicago’s policies and the mobilization around the city has impeded ICE operations in the city. As pressure from the White House increases, Chicago mayor, Brandon Johnson, and Illinois governor, JB Pritzker, have assured residents that they will continue to uphold their sanctuary laws but undocumented people have been on edge for months now.
The weekend before Inauguration Day, rumors of ICE conducting raids spread rapidly throughout the city and people mobilized to spread Know Your Rights information. After news of the planned raids were leaked, Homan decided to call off the operation on the notion that he didn’t want to put agents in danger. Yet, just days after inauguration the raids would begin. People all over Chicago documented ICE sightings and noted a camera crew filming the arrests. The camera crew was later revealed to be a part of Dr. Phil’s film crew who wanted to show the American people that Trump was fulfilling his promise of mass deportations.
As agents searched for people all over the city, a group of them showed up at Hamline Elementary, a school on the South Side of Chicago with a predominantly Latino student population. Fortunately, school officials were ready for an encounter with ICE and did not allow them inside the school to ask any questions. A spokesperson for Chicago Public Schools later stated that it was not ICE but rather Secret Service searching for a kid who posted an anti-Trump video on social media. Whether it was ICE or the Secret Service, no law enforcement should be showing up to schools to terrorize children. Indeed many people found it suspicious that the Secret Service would show up to a school for one video. Where is the Secret Service when there are school shootings? Why show up to a predominantly Latino school to punish a child but are nowhere to be seen when children are in actual danger?
It has been remarkably obvious that Chicagoans can not count on law enforcement to protect them. But what has been special to witness is the quickness that people have responded to protect their neighbors. As soon as people reported ICE – or rather Secret Service – a crowd of people showed up at Hamline to ensure the safety of everyone. In early January, when two aldermen tried to amend and threaten Chicago’s Welcoming City Ordinance, hundreds of people showed up to City Hall to show support for the ordinance. Since rumors of ICE raids spread, people have mobilized to form Rapid Response Networks to document and verify ICE activity. People have also been printing “Know Your Rights” flyers and posting them all over the city.
Brandon Johnson and the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) also launched a campaign to further spread “Know Your Rights” information on video screens across the city in various languages. In a press conference, Johnson would also go on to say:
“… Now what I do find interesting is when 30,000 Ukrainians sought asylum here in the city of Chicago nobody said a mumbling word. But all of a sudden indigenous people who are trying to get to a land that was robbed from them through colonization they want me as a Black man to be mad at them? You got to be out of your freaking mind.”
Despite the reassurance from local officials and the public, undocumented people are terrified to leave their homes. Little Village, one of the largest Mexican neighborhoods in the country, has especially felt the effects of immigration threats as they report a huge drop in their businesses. One thing to remember is that the paranoia of ICE present in the city does not just interfere with one part of a person’s life. People have not been reporting to work leading to a cut in pay and resulting in people struggling to pay their bills. The absence of immigrants in the workforce will not only affect them but also every American, including those who voted for Trump. It is not long before we view higher grocery prices, or our favorite restaurants at risk of closing down, or seeing vital communities of our cities crumble.
Amidst all this madness, it is more important than ever to check in our neighbors. Whether it’s informing people of their rights, supporting immigrant businesses, or dropping off groceries for our undocumented neighbors, there is something all of us can do. While Homan and Trump do not appear to stop the raids anytime soon, the people of Chicago and Illinois have made it their mission to protect the undocumented community.
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