A red, blue and orange neon sign and an assortment of posters, photos and boxing memorabilia have greeted customers at 3 JMH Boxing in Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood since the gym opened in 2022.
On Friday, owner Miguel Hernandez added another sign to that collection.
“Private areas. No trespassing,” the sign reads. “You do not have consent to enter for civil immigration enforcement purposes.”
The sign is a part of an executive order Mayor Brandon Johnson signed this month. The order bars U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from staging on city-owned property, including parking lots next to Chicago public schools, libraries, parks and buildings.
Since the order’s signing, the city has begun installing signs at its properties, which it says need to be posted clearly in advance of a raid in order for the executive order to be enforced. Johnson has said the city would take the federal government “to court” if ICE ignores the order.
Some community members have urged the city to more quickly enforce its order, noting a recent raid in Little Village where ICE agents staged at a city Water Department parking lot.
Owners and tenants of private properties, businesses and community groups can also join the program on a voluntary basis and display signs made by the city.
Johnson joined Ald. Julia Ramirez (12th) and other community leaders Friday afternoon to distribute these signs to local businesses in Brighton Park.
“People are looking for ways to defend themselves, their community,” Ramirez told the Sun-Times. “These signs are another statement that we’re trying to put out against federal agents that are obstructing people’s rights.”
She said she hopes the sign, apart from affirming private property rights, will also serve as a reminder to federal agents that “the community actually doesn’t want them here” terrorizing residents.
At 3 JMH Boxing, Johnson praised Hernandez’s business as a place where community members support one another.
“The Trump administration, they want us to bow. They also want to steal our hope and our joy,” the mayor told Hernandez. “This is a way in which you can bring the community together.”
A few blocks away at Supermercados El Guero, a Brighton Park staple for 50 years, Johnson reiterated his intention to protect city-owned and private properties from the federal agents’ “practice of terror.”
“The more we show that level of solidarity, the more Chicago sends Trump the signal that this is not going to go down the way he wants to go down,” he told store employees.
Patrick Brosnan, executive director of the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, joined Johnson and Ramirez on Friday.
Brosnan, who carried a bright orange whistle, said his group works with other community groups in Brighton Park and surrounding neighborhoods to respond rapidly to reports of ICE activity.
“We have families that have not left their home in two weeks in the fear of ICE detaining them or one of their family members,” Brosnan said. “Our businesses in this community … they want their customers to be safe. They want their community to be safe.”
The Trump administration denounced the “ICE-free zones” and criticized the mayor for “shielding the most depraved, violent criminals from justice.”
Hernandez, the boxing gym owner, pushed back at that rhetoric. He said he understands the need for those who commit violent crimes to face consequences, but he called on federal agents to respect and stop intimidating his community.
“We’re in a community where we have a lot of people that are nervous to come in here because of what’s going on in our world,” Hernandez said. “I just want them to feel comfortable coming in here.”