As protests extend across the nation in response to sweeping U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids under President Donald Trump’s second administration, Chicago residents and organizers rallied Sunday to denounce local enforcement actions being carried out across the country.
Communities from Martha’s Vineyard to Los Angeles — which was on its third day of escalating protests — have mobilized against aggressive anti-immigration actions. In Chicago on Sunday local organizers urged officials to stop cooperating with ICE.
Community members and organizers gathered at Pilsen’s Plaza Tenochtitlan. The demonstration was organized by the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and Organized Communities Against Deportations.
The event was sparked by an incident Wednesday in which Chicago police reportedly assisted ICE agents as they detained individuals during routine check-ins at the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program office at 2245 S. Michigan Ave. in the South Loop.
Organizers said CPD officers were present during the operation, violating the city’s Welcoming City Ordinance, which prohibits city agencies and employees from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement in most cases. Some who were on the scene say federal agents broke the law.
“We demand an end to the deportations immediately and legalization for all,” said Omar Flores, a member of Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, at Sunday’s rally at Plaza Tenochtitlan in Pilsen. Communities across the nation have seen protests of Trump administration enforcement efforts.
Zubaer Khan/Sun-Times
“We will not allow CPD to work with ICE under Trump’s reactionary deportation agenda that is designed to instill fear in our communities,” said Omar Flores, a member of the alliance. “We demand an end to the deportations immediately and legalization for all.”
Speakers demanded a full and transparent investigation into CPD’s role in the operation, as well as accountability for any officers found to be in violation of the ordinance.
The event drew support from several local officials, including 25th Ward Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez and 26th Ward Ald. Jessie Fuentes. Mayor Brandon Johnson also condemned CPD’s reported collaboration with the raid.
Organizers criticized Gov. JB Pritzker for defending CPD’s actions and urged residents to support resistance efforts.
“Chicago police followed the law,” Pritzker said Thursday. “We’ve tried to make sure that our police are focused on deterring violent crime and not engaged in administrative deportation proceedings like the ones that ICE are now turning into something criminal.”
Sunday’s rally was also an effort to reinforce Chicago’s status as a sanctuary city and to resist the return of aggressive immigration enforcement actions undertaken in the first Trump administration.
On Friday a Homeland Security Investigations operation occurred at a warehouse in Elk Grove Village, the Daily Herald reported. Cook County Commissioner Kevin Morrison said agents may have detained more than a dozen workers who had work authorization but were not carrying physical copies of their work permits. The action angered many people.
Community members at the Sunday rally expressed deep concern about the long-term consequences of ICE’s actions and CPD’s involvement.
Nino Brown, a 34-year-old Pilsen resident and an organizer with the Pilsen Rapid Response Network, said the raids are not just an attack on undocumented people, but on civil rights more broadly.
“ICE is terrorizing undocumented working-class people. If the federal government can break the laws and do this to undocumented people, they can do it to any person in the country,” Brown told the Sun-Times. “An injury to one is an injury to all. If we allow them to violate some people’s rights, all of our rights are compromised.”
Liana Zelli, a 42-year-old South Loop resident, said she sees protests like Sunday’s as essential acts of civic engagement.
“I think the most important thing is to show consistency and community. These are our constitutional rights and they’re under attack, so we need to continue exercising them,” Zelli said. “Nobody’s here to save us. Not the police. Our elected officials … we can’t depend on them. We have to look out for one another. We’ll get through this, but it’s going to get a little bumpy before we do.”
Gio Araujo, 18, a student at the University of Illinois Chicago majoring in the teaching of history, is part of CAARPR’s Immigrant Rights Working Committee. Araujo said he was present during the ISAP arrests last week.
“What we saw on Wednesday was CPD and ICE collaboration — the most visible we’ve seen so far,” Araujo said. “I saw CPD came out to basically protect the actions that ICE was doing inside the building, becoming a barrier between the people resisting these deportations. These collaborations are creeping up in Chicago.”
Araujo said Sigcho-Lopez has been supportive of residents and organizers protesting these events and has been vocal that CPD should face consequences.
“Seeing images and videos from L.A. currently, as the National Guard is being deployed and these brutal tactics are being used, we also want to show that there is a visible resistance that’s growing against it,” Araujo said.