Good morning, Chicago. ✶
🔎 Below: Alexa Ramírez came to Chicago with big plans for the future. Then she was deported back to Mexico. She and her husband, who is detained in Michigan, wonder if they can reunite and rebuild their life together.
🗞️ Plus: Why we gave Chicagoans disposable cameras, alarming self-deportation rates and more news you need to know.
📝 Keeping score: The Bears lost to the 49ers, 42-38; the Blackhawks fell to the Penguins, 7-3.
⏱️: A 7-minute read
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TODAY’S WEATHER 🌨️
Snow with a high near 23, wind chill values as low as 1 and gusts as fast as 45 mph.
TODAY’S TOP STORY 🔎
She was deported to Mexico, he’s in detention — Chicago couple has to figure out what’s next
By Adriana Cardona-Maguigad
Couple separated: Alexa Ramírez and Alexander Villeda came to Chicago seeking a better life. The couple first met at a restaurant in suburban Crestwood, where they both worked. Just eight days after they were married, they were separated by a Midway Blitz raid in Back of the Yards. Ramírez, 38, was deported to Mexico and Villeda, 30, remains at an immigration detention center in Battle Creek, Michigan.
Dream deferred: Ramírez is back at her parents’ farm in the arid mountains of the Sierra Mixteca region in southern Mexico, where internet connection is spotty and economic opportunities are lacking. Villeda remains in a Michigan detention center and feels pressure to self-deport to his native El Salvador. Villeda getting out on bond gives the pair their best shot at reuniting in Mexico, though he doesn’t have a job and their belongings remain in Chicago.
What’s next?: WBEZ’s Adriana Cardona-Maguigad traveled to Mexico to learn more about what’s next for the couple, reporting that brought her to Ramírez’s hometown in Oaxaca and a press conference in Mexico City with the country’s President Claudia Sheinbaum.
MORE ON IMMIGRATION ✶
Broadview detainees during Operation Midway Blitz were self-deporting at alarming rates: Analysis
By Amy Qin and Sophie Sherry
Facility transformed: In just a few months, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview has transformed from an immigration holding center that rarely booked more than 10 people a day to a de facto detention center processing dozens of detainees almost all hours of the day. People held there have described a litany of inhumane conditions: Overcrowded and unsanitary holding cells, not enough food and water, and freezing conditions at night.
Self-deporting: People at the facility have been signing a form to voluntarily leave the country — to self-deport — at alarmingly high rates, according to a WBEZ and Sun-Times analysis of recently released federal data. Legal experts said in many cases, detainees at Broadview were coerced into signing paperwork before even speaking to a lawyer.
Our analysis: The number and rate of self-deportations among detainees booked into Broadview appear to have soared during the first five and a half weeks of Operation Midway Blitz, according to our analysis. From Sept. 8 through Oct. 15, at least 154 people who were initially booked into Broadview have self-deported, more than nearly every other ICE detention facility in the nation during that time.
MORE NEWS YOU NEED 🗞️
- Quote installed: Construction workers at the Obama Presidential Center on Friday began placing 5-foot letters from a speech the former president delivered in 2015 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the historic Selma to Montgomery Civil Rights marches.
- Holiday gun violence: At least 28 people have been shot, six fatally, across Chicago since the start of the long holiday weekend Wednesday, according to Chicago police.
- Remembering Pat Finn: Mr. Finn, a comedic actor who grew up in Wilmette and honed his sense of humor with close friend Chris Farley at Marquette University, died Dec. 22 at age 60.
- Property tax doled out: After a four-month delay due to prolonged technical issues, Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas’ office is taking “emergency steps” to distribute $2.3 billion in property tax revenue to local governments, she announced Friday.
- Snowplow naming contest: The city is collecting submissions for its fourth annual “You Name a Snowplow” contest. One submission, “ABOLISH ICE,” has garnered attention, including from Mayor Brandon Johnson.
THROUGH THEIR LENSES 📸
Chicagoans document what it’s like to live with pollution, using disposable cameras
By Anthony Vazquez and Brett Chase
Chicagoan’s POV: The Sun-Times asked people across the city to visually document their daily experiences with pollution and other environmental issues.
The project: For more than a year, 14 people used disposable cameras provided by the Sun-Times to capture images showing ways environmental factors affect their lives. Then we interviewed them about what those images represent and why they’re important.
Their views: For some South Side and West Side residents, industrial and traffic sources contribute to high levels of air pollution, odors and noise. Some participants’ projects pointed to disinvestment in their communities. Others found escapes in pockets of natural areas in and around the city. These are their stories.
FROM THE PRESS BOX 🏈🏀
- Bears boost: Chicago area sports retailers have been getting a big boost from the Bears’ high-flying season as the team gears up for the playoffs. “Christmas came early for our company this year,” one store owner said.
- Post-game analysis: The Bears looked like they belonged — even in defeat — during their postseason dress rehearsal, writes Patrick Finley.
- Trade deadline nears: Bulls’ Coby White is getting back in shape, but will he be traded before he’s ready?
- WNBA negotiations: The Sun-Times’ Alissa Hirsh breaks down the three forces shaping the WNBA’s stalled CBA negotiations.
- High school boys basketball: Waukegan, St. Laurence and Young rise and Morgan Park debuts in Michael O’Brien’s Super 25 high school basketball rankings for Dec. 28.
BRIGHT ONE 🔆
Bronzeville Kwanzaa event celebrates Black business owners
By Erica Thompson
On Saturday, the Bronzeville Kwanzaa Celebration and Vendor Fair demonstrated the value of Ujamaa, or cooperative economics, in real time.
Twenty Black-owned businesses offered a diverse range of products, including candles, children’s books, Pan-African flags, hand-stitched Chicago Bears hats, framed pictures of political activists and even homemade detergent. Black customers purchased the items, thereby achieving the goal of circulating their dollars within the community.
“A lot of Black-owned business owners talk about how they feel overlooked,” said Torshanda Campbell, a vendor at the event, held at the Hatch 41 co-working space on South State Street. “I love Kwanzaa because it brings us together. We’re going to appreciate everybody and bring them in like family. We’re here to support everyone.”
The gathering occurred on the second day of Kwanzaa, a holiday that was created in 1966 and takes place annually from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1.
It was hosted by the Black Star Project, a nonprofit that supports academic and economic development in Black and Latino communities in Chicago. Ujamaa is just one of the holiday’s seven principles; the others are Umoja (unity), Kujichagulia (self-determination), Ujima (collective work and responsibility), Nia (purpose), Kuumba (creativity) and Imani (faith).
YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️
On Friday, we asked you: What single moment in Bears playoff history do you either cherish or agonize over the most?
Here’s some of what you said…
“The Double Doink. That Bears team had such a good defense, they could have reached the Super Bowl that year with even a slightly above average QB play.” — Jordan Mainzer
“Ditka’s decision to give the ball to Fridge Perry, rather than Walter Payton, for the final touchdown in the ’86 Super Bowl still sticks in my craw. Fridge was a terrific guy and a vital part of that greatest of Bear teams, but Walter was the greatest Bear of all time and, due to that call, didn’t score a TD in the only Super Bowl in which he appeared. That Walter didn’t get the chance when it was so easily in his grasp is a travesty.” — Mark Quinn
“I got engaged during the third quarter of the Super Bowl win in ’86. Best day of my life!” — Elaine Spiros Oldham
“It’s Wilbur Marshall running down the sidelines escorted by his teammates after recovering a fumble to ice the NFC Championship game against the Rams in January 1986 at Soldier Field.” — Mark Liptak
Thanks for reading the Sun-Times Morning Edition!
Got a story you think we missed? Email us here.
Written and curated by: Matt Moore
Editor: Eydie Cubarrubia
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