Family who fled Russia faces deportation from U.S.

Good morning, Chicago. ✶

🔎 Below: The Tiulenev family spoke out against the war in Ukraine and sought asylum in the U.S., only to be thrust into an immigration system that’s become more unforgiving for Russians. Some family members have settled in the Chicago suburbs while others have been detained for months in California.

🗞️ Plus: An attempt to fix chronic flooding, kids learn the blues at summer camp and more.

📝 Keeping score: The Cubs lost to the Orioles, 3-2; the White Sox fell to the Red Sox, 2-1.

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⏱️: An 8-minute read

TODAY’S WEATHER 🌤️

Partly sunny with a chance of afternoon showers and a high near 81.

TODAY’S TOP STORY 🔎

Family who fled Russia face deportation from U.S.

By Alma Campos, Anna Savchenko and Keenan Chen

Seeking refuge: Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, a wave of Russians have left their country and sought refuge in the United States. The number of Russian asylum cases rose sharply in the two years that followed, according to analysis by the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ. Since 2024, attorneys and advocates say, many Russian asylum-seekers have faced a harsher path: Longer detention, limited access to lawyers and evidence, and a greater risk of losing their cases. 

Facing barriers: Those barriers have become even more serious as immigration judges deny a growing share of asylum claims. The shift has come amid the second Trump administration’s broader efforts to increase deportations and move cases faster through the system. 

Russian risk: For those deported, the real danger begins when they land back in Russia. Attorneys and advocates say Russians known for opposing the war could be screened by security officials at the airport, questioned, searched, monitored and detained. They could then face years navigating a Russian justice system that’s accused of subjecting government critics to unfair trials, degrading prison conditions and torture.

One family’s journey: The Tiulenev family spoke out against the war in Ukraine and sought asylum in the United States, only to be thrust into an immigration system that has become more unforgiving for Russians. Some family members have settled in the Chicago suburbs, while others have been detained for months in California. In the U.S., the Tiulenevs face deportation — and in Russia, they face persecution.

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MORE ON IMMIGRATION ✶

Immigration advocates say ICE arrests are rising in Chicago again

By Kade Heather and Kaitlin Washburn

Arrests rising: Federal immigration enforcement has intensified across Chicago in recent weeks, but the Trump administration’s tactics have been far less publicized than during the height of its deportation campaign last fall, legal groups and immigration advocates say. The Southwest Side, particularly the Back of the Yards, Brighton Park and Gage Park neighborhoods, have been targeted the most over the last two weeks, legal groups said.

Response reports: Last week, at least 20 people were arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Chicago, and another 17 people have been arrested so far this week, according to reports from rapid response groups who document arrests. The vast majority of recent detainees in Chicago also have no criminal records, said Berto Aguayo, a lawyer and co-policy chair of the Latino Leadership Council.

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COURTS ⚖️

Judge finds Chicago’s U.S. Attorney Boutros violated secrecy order in Tren de Aragua case

By Jon Seidel

Courtroom scene: On July 1, Chicago’s top federal prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros, traveled to Washington for a press conference to tout criminal charges against three alleged Tren de Aragua gang members, along with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel. But Thursday, Boutros found himself summoned by U.S. Magistrate Judge Laura McNally in the Dirksen Federal Courthouse, where McNally said there’d been a “clear” violation of her order sealing that very case.

Key context: Thursday’s hearing, during which a crowded gallery of onlookers gathered behind Boutros, amounted to an extraordinary moment. His office is in the midst of a credibility crisis unlike any faced by his recent predecessors. It’s the second time in seven weeks a judge has rebuked Boutros in person.

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MORE NEWS YOU NEED 🗞️

• Girl remembered as ‘bright light’: The third child killed in a Lake Geneva boating crash has been identified by family members as Kathryn Schmidt, 10. Her family hopes to raise money for children’s charities in her honor.
• Teen charged in 2024 shooting: A 16-year-old was charged Thursday in a quadruple shooting that killed a 14-year-old and two others in Chatham. The teen faces three counts of first-degree murder and other lesser charges, police said. He was arrested Wednesday.
• Mormon leader pleads guilty: Wade Christofferson, a former Chicago area Mormon church figure who was excommunicated in the 1990s over allegations of child sexual abuse — then quickly reinstated by the faith group and allowed to serve as a member and leader in Ohio — pleaded guilty Thursday in a case that accused him of molesting two other children.
• Wrongful conviction settlement: City Council’s Finance Committee will be asked to approve a $9 million settlement for a man who spent 17 years in prison, after being beaten by Chicago police and coerced as a teen into signing a confession for a murder he did not commit.
• Assault weapons ban upheld: One week after the U.S. Supreme Court said it would consider a constitutional right to possess assault weapons by taking up a challenge to Cook County’s assault weapons ban, the federal appeals court in Chicago sided Thursday with Gov. JB Pritzker on the validity of Illinois’ statewide ban.
• Mayor’s millionaires tax resisted: Mayor Brandon Johnson’s bid to pressure the Illinois General Assembly to pass a tax on millionaires by putting an advisory referendum on the Chicago ballot was shot down Thursday in the latest act of defiance by an emboldened City Council.
• Mubi Fest opens: Art house and indie film lovers will converge for this multivenue fest that runs through the weekend. Among the Chicagoans highlighted this year is musician Rob Mazurek, who will perform his score for the film “The Mastermind” live.

ENVIRONMENT 🌧️

Underground storage project aims to fix chronic flooding in Chicago

By Brett Chase and Elijah James

Flood solution: Acknowledging the city’s persistent flooding problem, Mayor Johnson, flanked by other elected officials Tuesday, touted a West Side pilot project aimed at temporarily capturing rain underground before it can overwhelm Chicago’s outdated sewers. The city is splitting the $12 million cost to build the underground storage along two streets in Austin with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District.

Key context: The West Side, where Johnson owns a home, experienced historic floods in 2023 due to a combination of storms intensified by climate change and aging sewer infrastructure that should have been replaced. Designed many decades ago, Chicago’s sewers can handle 2 inches of rain in a 24-hour period before flooding becomes likely. About a month’s worth of rain was dumped across Chicago during the recent Fourth of July weekend.

Casting a smell: In the south suburbs, the Thornton Quarry is nearly full after weeks of heavy rainfall — and emitting a foul odor. The reservoir is part of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District’s Deep Tunnel flood-control system. It reached 94% capacity earlier this week.

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MOVIES 🎥

Christopher Nolan speaks on adapting ‘The Odyssey’ and what he learned about movies in Chicago

By Richard Roeper

New movie: Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” is one of the most anticipated films of the century so far. Out next week, Nolan wrote and directed a 172-minute, R-rated, $250 million epic adaptation of Homer’s epic poem — the first feature ever shot entirely on IMAX cameras.

Chicago connection: For Chicago-area audiences, that boundary-pushing ambition carries a particular resonance. The city and suburbs are woven into Nolan’s youth, as he and his siblings spent their summers in Evanston.

In conversation: After seeing the movie, critic Richard Roeper sat down with Nolan to discuss the film’s making and his Chicago memories for the Sun-Times.

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ON WBEZ 91.5 FM 📻

In the Loop with Sasha-Ann Simons, 9 a.m.

• Weekly news recap: The Sun-Times’ Mitchell Armentrout, Better Government Association’s David Greising and Chicago Tribune’s Olivia Olander break down the week’s top stories.

Say More with Mary Dixon and Patrick Smith, 10 a.m.

• Mosquitoes: Chicago is the second-worst city in the country for mosquito activity. How bad has this summer been? What’s in store for the rest of the year? And what role has climate change played in the range of mosquitoes and other invasive species? Mosquito researcher Justin Harbison of Loyola University Chicago, and callers, weigh in.

LISTEN LIVE 🎧

FROM THE PRESS BOX 🏀⚾📺

• Rookies debut in Vegas: Dailyn Swain and Caleb Wilson will make their debuts Friday in a Summer League game that will showcase the Bulls’ new look.
• Murakami set to make return: After missing almost six weeks, the White Sox’ Munetaka Murakami is penciled in for Friday.
• Bregman isn’t a break man: Though the Cubs will have four straight days without a game, their hard-working offseason addition Alex Bregman will spend the time off looking at how he can start producing at the rate he’s used to.
• Picks to click on NBC: For the first time, the MLB Draft will be on network TV.

CHICAGO MINI CROSSWORD 🌭

Today’s clue: 1 D: ___ of Chicago (food festival running this weekend at Grant Park)

PLAY NOW

BRIGHT ONE 🔆

At Blues Camp Chicago, kids connect with city tradition

By Neil Steinberg

At Blues Camp Chicago, the world of summertime childhood fun meets the snap-brim hat and two-tone shoes discipline of blues musicianship. There are studio rehearsals, sound checks and sing-alongs, plus snacks, skating and “sneakerball.”

“We want them to be kids, of course. We want them to understand and appreciate blues, as American roots music,” said Fernando Jones, the veteran Chicago blues man who founded Blues Camp Chicago 17 years ago.

About 80 campers, ages 5 through 17, from all over the country take part in the five-day program. They perform several concerts — at Navy Pier, at Reggie’s blues club on South State — and are guided by 15 instructors and staff. Some kids arrive barely able to carry a tune. Others are aspiring professionals — one brought along a pricey PRS guitar signed by Buddy Guy.

The camp is free, funded by Jones’s Blues Kids Foundation, and Jones says that while applicants are required to create a video, there isn’t a culling process — Blues Camp Chicago accepts everyone who applies, across a range of age, talent and ability. Many have been coming for years.

Ricky, 10, who plays guitar, is here for his third year. What prompted an 8-year-old to go to blues camp?

“He heard about the camp and registered, and I can say he’s become a little blues head now,” said his mother, Nina Garcia-Carpintero.

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YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️

Describe your perfect summer day in Chicago.

Reply via email (please include your first and last name). We may run your answer in a future newsletter or story.

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Written and curated by: Matt Moore
Editor: Eydie Cubarrubia

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