Major events, including the Cubs’ National League Division Series matchup, will be held as usual. But across the Chicago area, locals say President Trump’s immigration enforcement crackdown is upending people’s lives.
Chicagoans fear immigration raids amid enforcement action
USA TODAY’s Michael Loria interviews Chicago residents about how immigration enforcement is impacting their daily lives and community life.
CHICAGO – Walls covered in ivy. Approximately 40,000 people chanted in the bottom of the seventh inning. Hope raising a white flag with a symbolic “W”.
On October 8, the National League Division Series game between the Cubs and the Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley Field was played as usual in Chicago. And the Cubs won 4-3, keeping their hopes of making it back to the World Series alive.
But residents say there’s something going on away from Friendly Confines that they’ve never seen before.
“Our community is being terrorized by agents who kidnap people,” said Corina Pedraza, a longtime South Sider. “People are living in fear of going out to buy groceries or taking their kids to school, and they’re strategizing how they can commute three or five blocks to work.”
Life in and around Chicago has changed forever since President Donald Trump launched the immigration crackdown known as Operation Midway Blitz.
The White House says the crackdown is aimed at catching the “worst of the worst” criminal immigrants. Local officials claim this is a power grab. Residents who feel they are bearing the brunt of the crackdown say immigration officials are making it impossible for them to maintain their livelihoods.
The scene of the raid included a Mexican man who was shot and killed by immigration officers in the northwest suburbs. Federal authorities spray protesters and journalists with chemicals outside a local immigration detention facility. Agents rappel from Black Hawk helicopters and raid South Side apartment buildings in the middle of the night.
Homeland Security officials announced on October 8 that they had “arrested more than 1,500 illegal aliens, including pedophiles, murderers, child molesters, kidnappers, gang members, and armed robbers” in connection with the raids. USA TODAY has not been able to independently verify the Homeland Security arrests.
Most recently, President Trump announced that he would jail Gov. JB Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson for resisting his goal of combating crime in the city. National Guard troops are being deployed to the area.
See how the air raids are affecting people in the Chicago area, from near the Wisconsin border to Indiana.
South side parking lot stakeout
Before dawn on October 7, dozens of Chicagoans gathered near an empty parking lot off a busy thoroughfare on the South Side.
They told reporters at the scene that the early morning hours were because they noticed immigration officials were sticking to their schedules. They said they want to be able to record agents performing their duties.
Federal agents arrived at the Back of the Yards parking lot early in the morning and used it as a staging point for the operation. The Yard Plaza site is located off the main thoroughfare of 47th Street near schools and hardware stores.
Residents said masked men with guns were taking people from the surrounding streets, putting them in vans and taking them elsewhere.
“We’ve disappeared from the community where we walk our kids to school and go to the park…The streets are empty now,” Pedraza said, adding that she worries about students in the area witnessing the agents’ work. “Imagine being in the first grade and seeing operatives and masked men with military-style weapons. No child should have to go through that.”
“Agents have created a war zone in our area,” says local city councilor.
Among those waiting before dawn was local Aldo. Julia Ramirez. The city councilor said he came out to fight back on behalf of residents he deemed caught up in a “war zone.”
“People can’t live the same way they used to,” Ramirez said. “Agents have created a war zone in our community.”
Many in attendance were members of what is known as the Southwest Side Rapid Response Team, a group of volunteers whose purpose is to document immigration enforcement actions and confirm sightings of immigration officers.
Team member Pedraza said neighbors who plan to leave their homes call her in advance to confirm the latest confirmed immigration officer sightings.
After gathering in the morning, team members were seen standing on nearby corners, particularly hardware stores and other locations where immigration officials had been flagged down in the past.
The Southwest Side team is one of many operating throughout the Chicago area. Many people regularly broadcast sightings of immigration officials.
DHS officials have criticized the efforts, saying activists pursuing federal immigration officials endanger law enforcement officers doing their jobs.
On October 8, the Southwest Side team reported sightings of immigration agents in the area, including the make, model, and license plate number of the immigration agent’s vehicle.
Another team reported seeing eight immigration agents’ vehicles, including a white SUV with a Mexican flag on the hood, in the northwest part of the city. Local residents believe the agents are placing Mexican flags on the cars as decoys.
Suburban teams also reported sightings of immigration agents on Oct. 8, and in Oak Park, volunteers Berwin and Cicero said they could “confirm that ICE is active in our community and has abducted at least two of our neighbors.”
A rapid response team responds to calls to the Illinois Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition’s hotline. Press Secretary Brandon Lee said their role is to record federal law enforcement documents and not to interfere with federal law enforcement operations.
A friendly neighborhood is still full of “joy”
Many people in Chicago are trying to maintain a sense of normalcy amid increasingly severe crackdowns, with major events helping to overshadow the national attention from immigration agents shooting residents and President Trump’s calls for the governor’s arrest.
“It’s hard sometimes to live your life knowing something like this is happening,” said Jeanne Uehling, a Chicago resident of more than 20 years who attended the Cubs game on Oct. 8. “It’s unrealistic to have to worry about someone filing something at work when helicopters are landing and attacking people.”
The downtown office worker spoke to USA TODAY outside Wrigley Field with longtime friend Julie Murphy. They said they were going to the game even though the president called Chicago a hellhole.
“We still have to feel joy, but there’s a lot of joy in this city,” said Murphy, who originally moved to the city from the suburbs. “People outside the city don’t know what’s going on and think we’re somehow being rescued.”
The game and the crowds milling up and down Clark Street outside the stadium are just the latest example of the city enjoying its freedom. During intermission in the bottom of the first inning, fans stopped to sing the famous Trump anthem “YMCA,” which has been a Wrigley Field staple for years.
Hundreds of swimmers recently competed in a swim race on the city’s river for the first time in nearly a century. The first Chicago River Swim comes after decades spent cleaning up the former industrial waterway.
On Sunday, October 12, the city is preparing for its annual marathon, which is expected to attract more than 53,000 runners. The race will showcase the city’s iconic downtown Loop district.
“Closed due to circumstances.”
Unpredictable raids on migrants and the deployment of the National Guard have put the region from the Wisconsin border to Indiana in jeopardy.
“For the past few weeks, families have been scared to leave the house and go to school, and parents have been kissing their children goodbye, not knowing if they’ll be able to go home. This is something no one should have to endure,” said Edwin Lagunas of Toluca’s Restaurant in Waukegan.
Raghunath, who was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs, spoke at a news conference Oct. 7 after at least seven people were detained by immigration officials in the area on Oct. 6.
Local residents say the arrival of immigration officials is having a serious impact on life in the area. Toluca and other nearby spots had signs reading “Closed due to circumstances” until at least Oct. 9, at which point a federal judge in Chicago is expected to rule on the question of whether the National Guard will remain in the area.
Sandra Fajardo, owner of a popular indoor soccer complex, said teams suddenly started taking players down or canceling games.
“What’s happening in our city right now is heartbreaking,” the Waukegan native said. “Immigration authorities prevent people from enjoying the basic things in life.”
(This story has been updated to add new information.)
