This article was republished for International Women’s Day 2026 to highlight the incredible women of Bylines Network
The elected leaders of Chicago have been unified in their rhetoric resisting Donald Trump’s federal overreach. Our governor, mayor and legislators have stood collectively against his meme-rich threats to use military force in Chicago. Now they have joined their citizens on the front line in protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and their tactics.
ICE challenged as Senator Villa takes to the streets
On Monday 15 September, State Senator Karina Villa chased down federal agents screaming, “Not in my city! This is my city! Take off your masks!” Highlighting the novelty of this scene were her bright red pants and heels, not the garb of someone who woke up planning subversion, but that of one drawn into it with urgency. Senator Villa, a former school social worker, grew up in and was elected by my suburb of West Chicago.
She was filming presumed ICE agents just blocks from my house, warning Latinos to stay inside and imploring allies to take to the streets, observe and film. I’d been wondering how I could take a stand against Trump’s targeting of alleged ‘criminal illegal aliens‘. That Monday morning, Senator Villa gave me an entry point, calling me and other locals into urgent action.
The risk she took was significant. These agents almost never identify themselves or the agency they represent. They have detained or deported US citizens and legal residents, along with undocumented immigrants who, for the most part, turn out not to be the violent criminals the administration claims. Add to that, Trump and his administration have a track record of threatening perceived opponents, including lawmakers and both Chicago’s mayor and governor.
Schools are potential targets for ICE
Schools are one of the core institutions on the front lines of immigrant rights. Upon seeing Villa’s video, I rushed to the intersection in question, but she and the ICE agents had moved on. Knowing schools are potential targets, I decided to pick my 10-year-old up early and make sure his friends and teachers were safe.
While I waited for my son to come out, I spoke with staff members who were worried for their own families with children in schools in the district, but steadfast in keeping our children safe. I saw one of them shaken, with tears in her eyes, but no less resolved. She shared that she was furious about ICE’s presence. “I’ll be the first one to go”, she said. “We have to keep all our kids safe.” Another staff member said he was worried about his mom at home alone and his children at another school.
I learned that Senator Villa had been in touch with schools and promised to come if ICE agents tried to enter.
My part as a protestor begins
After leaving my son at home with my mom, I was trying to figure out where and how to be of help. I texted a couple of my son’s friends’ parents to offer support, then returned to Senator Villa’s Facebook page. Following tips from the comment section, I drove to locations where ICE was spotted, arriving always after they had left. I followed digital breadcrumbs to the Immigrant Solidarity DuPage website and their people’s patrol, joining them that day in monitoring and protesting in our community.
There were rumours that agents would be at the afternoon shift change of a local factory, Jel Sert. We stood at their exit gates and handed out ‘red cards’ that easily help people understand and communicate their rights.
ICE agents were seen around town all day, capturing people at an apartment complex, a Mexican grocer, and in the street. Increasingly, they are making ‘street arrests’ based on profiling, rather than searching out specific people under the authority of a judicial warrant.
At the factory gates, I heard the beautiful testimony from a daughter of a Guatemalan immigrant who was protesting at the Broadview Processing Center on the day of Silverio Villegas-Gonzales’ killing by ICE agents. She recounted that ICE had shot at and tear gassed protesters. She said her granddaughter’s kindergarten class nearby was on lockdown, that her granddaughter remains traumatized from hearing those gunshots.
The most vulnerable take the lead
Our group moved from the factory exit to stand guard over a middle-school let-out. As we walked, this same woman told me she’d never done anything like that before. I told her that she sounded for all the world like a lifelong activist and speaker. “What you see is actually a tremendous amount of fear”, she said. At that, we cried together as she wondered if her father, who died undocumented, would have wanted her to do this or would have told her to be safe. She hoped he was watching and proud. I could only assure her that he must be.
The children and parents coming out of the school were waving and some shed tears to see us there in support. Our group was a little less than 50% white. That means that many brown and black people were taking on the risk of keeping our community safe, though they are the most vulnerable. One Latina woman walked quite far with us in her house slippers because she’d run out her front door as she was when she heard the news.
White or Latino, ICE causes trauma
There were journalists from a small Spanish-language print outlet as well as Univision, the largest Spanish-language television network in the US.
At one point, I recognized the distinctive voice of one of my personal heroes, journalist Maria Hinojosa. She was there working on a documentary on what’s happening to immigrants and Latinos in this country. Hinojosa asked me why I’d pulled my kid out of school, even though, as white-presenting, he is not personally at risk. “Do you think it’s traumatizing just to witness?” I told her I did think so but emphasized that that was very minor compared to the trauma being experienced by Latino community members and that my child had thanked me as I left the house for keeping his friends safe.
While I was able to take Monday off work, I had to be back Tuesday. Schools were still in soft lockdown, but I sent my child, confident in his safety after witnessing the excellent tactics of the staff.
On Tuesday night, we had a record number of attendees at the West Chicago Mexican Independence Day parade.
Political organizing is difficult in the US, but possible
In the US, it is difficult to have meaningful protest and direct action when there is little to no social safety net. Here, livelihood and healthcare are completely bound up in working (at least) 40 hours a week, most people with only two weeks paid time off annually.
But through the organizers I’d met on my day off, I was invited to an evening meeting that Friday. The facilitator, Cristóbal Cavazos, was out of Central Casting, with his ‘Che beret’ and referring to everyone as compañero and compañera. It was very sincere, though.
At this session, I met the same woman who’d spoken so passionately earlier in the week. She told me that she’d come close to being fired by the restaurant where she works due to her exhaustion from “patrolling around their neighborhood, making sure their employees don’t get taken!”
Presenters included an unassuming, softspoken Latino man, who had played an instrumental role in advocating for rights of Latino workers at Jel Sert in 2020 when owners were not taking proper health precautions for Covid. A 16-year-old white boy shared details about a small victory we’d all seen on video, his key role in preventing an ICE arrest.
I was struck by how many people in that room were, like me, relatively new to actively supporting immigrants. But also, by the deep roots of activism in our seemingly sleepy town.
Chicago is a testing ground for militarization of US cities
ICE, acting more and more like federal secret police, have already been using military equipment and tactics in Chicago’s communities. Over the weekend of 27 September, feds made a show of force, marching through downtown. On Tuesday 30 September, they rappelled from Blackhawk helicopters into an apartment complex, arresting 37 people, detaining US citizens, including young children, for hours and destroying homes and personal property with no cause or judicial warrant. They have even had clashes with our local law enforcement.
The same day as the apartment raid, Trump gathered 800+ generals and admirals from around the world in a meeting that led retired General Ben Hodges, former head of the US Army in Europe, to draw comparisons to Nazi Germany.
In Trump’s speech to the generals, he specifically called out Chicago, saying, “We should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military. National Guard, but military, because we’re going into Chicago very soon. That’s a big city, with an incompetent governor, stupid governor, stupid”.
Trump’s actions will not go unchecked
Over the weekend and on the day of the speech, the actions of Cristóbal Cavazos and other community leaders were picked up by local and national news outlets. That night, I joined a hastily organized protest in downtown Chicago. Cavazos drove me along with fellow Immigrant Solidarity DuPage executive Gabriela Hernández-Chico and organizer Angel Cruz, who said that he had also come to social justice after organizing workers at his former employer, a candy manufacturer near Rockford, Illinois.
We joined hundreds of protestors walking peacefully from Trump Tower to Chicago’s iconic Water Tower. This was an incredible showing for a last-minute protest on a Tuesday night.
Trump seems determined to continue his war on immigrants for his own political and financial gain. He may not stop with immigrants. But the responses of our communities in Washington DC, Los Angeles, and Chicago are proof that Americans will not let his actions go unchecked.
Elected officials get active for the community
Some politicians are starting to do what organizers have requested; they are hitting the streets. Chicago’s Mayor has enacted executive orders to keep protestors safe and limit the power and comfort of federal agents in the city. Last week, Homeland Security Chief Kristi Noem and her team couldn’t even use the police station bathroom in Broadview. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker is suing the Department of Homeland Security to prevent troop deployments in the state.
We’re increasingly seeing elected officials arrested in the community. This willingness of Zohran Mamdani to speak for and be among the people has largely contributed to his unlikely success as a mayoral candidate in New York.
People like Senator Villa and Alderwoman Jessie Fuentes have modeled how elected officials can stand with the populace in upholding democracy against the aggressive onslaught of Trump’s brand of politics. After many calls, Governor Pritzker is following suit.
Some leaders are noticeably absent, such as Alderman Gregory Mitchell who oversees the 7th Ward of Chicago, where the military-style raid was executed on the apartment complex. He, and 12 other alderpeople, couldn’t even be bothered to sign a letter opposing ICE’s abuse of power against his colleague and has been silent about the attack on his constituents.
People aren’t putting up with Trump’s tactics
Cities in the US are pushing back peacefully against Trump’s bid to harm their neighbours and, some say, to incite violence so he can invoke the Insurrection Act and possibly cancel elections. He has hinted at an unconstitutional third term as president.
Citizens, judges, and progressive leaders aren’t having it. Politicians like Pritzker and California’s Governor Newsom have aligned their opposition to the administration with potential presidential bids of their own. Trump’s house of cards is wavering. Politicians who are complicit with his fascism will, at best, be forgotten when elections do, in fact, come around.
Editor’s note: It’s worth noting that being an undocumented immigrant in the US is not a serious crime, as many people assume that it is. It’s a misdemeanor – the equivalent of a minor traffic offence.
