With Trump deportation raids expected to start in Chicago, advocates say they will safeguard immigrants

Illinois officials from all levels of government Saturday urged calm amid reports of Chicago being the target of sweeping immigration raids ordered by the Trump administration beginning early Tuesday morning.

Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, D-Ill., said Saturday at a news conference held by immigration rights advocates in Pilsen that "the current threats are nothing new" and advocates are ready to fight for and protect the community.

“We are here today because we will be tested once again,” Garcia said. “However, we do have experience in defending and protecting our community.”

Citing sources, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday the incoming Trump administration is planning a large-scale immigration raid in Chicago starting Tuesday, a day after Trump is inaugurated, and continuing the rest of the week.

Federal immigration officers will target more than 300 people with histories of egregious, violent crimes, the Associated Press reported, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because plans have not been made public.

The operation will be concentrated in the Chicago area, the official said.

Incoming border czar Tom Homan told Fox News on Friday, "there’s going to be a big raid across the country. Chicago is just one of many places.” In December, Homan declared Trump’s mass deportation plan would start right here.

In an interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker on Saturday, Trump didn’t specify when and where mass deportation raids would start, only that they would happen soon.

“It’ll begin very early, very quickly,” Trump said, adding: “I can’t say which cities because things are evolving. And I don’t think we want to say what city. You’ll see it firsthand.

“We have to get the criminals out of our country. And I think you would agree with that. I don’t know how anyone could not agree.”

At the news conference, Garcia pushed back on that claim, saying, "We continue to reject the assertion by Donald Trump and other enablers that somehow we are more prone to criminality. It is a falsehood."

Later Saturday, Homan told the Washington Post the administration was reconsidering the raids because they had leaked in media reports.

The Trump administration's threats have many in Chicago fearing the worst.

Veronica Cisneros came to Chicago from Mexico 24 years ago and now feels she has to prove that she and her family are worthy to be in the country despite having contributed for nearly a quarter century.

“I’ve worked, I’ve paid my taxes, so I don’t have any sort of problems, but I have fear for my family and myself,” Cisneros told the Sun-Times on Saturday morning. “We have to fight now to prove we are good people.”

Rep. Delia Ramirez — a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security — and the daughter of Guatemalan immigrants — warned against fear, which is being used as a tactic. Ramirez's husband is a recipient of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a program set up by President Barack Obama’s administration in 2012 that has shielded half a million young people from deportation.

“What anti-immigrant rhetoric and people all over this country want to do in this moment is to divide us, and to all of us in Chicago, let's choose love over hate. Let's choose unity over division,” Ramirez said.

Ald. Jesse Fuentes (26th) urged calm and reminded the public that people can still go about their daily lives with the protections in Chicago. Current ICE policies consider schools safe spaces, and officials said there’s no reason to believe that policy would change as of Saturday.

“We want families to understand young people can still go to school, our classrooms are going to be safe,” Fuentes said. “Individuals can go to work and that they can dial 911 and not be afraid because the Chicago Police Department will not be working with ICE. … No agency or sister agency of the city of Chicago will coordinate or work with ICE agents.”

The city has been working for months on various scenarios for what would happen when Trump took office, including running "tabletop exercises” dealing with the city's response, city officials told the Sun-Times.

Beatriz Ponce de Leon, Chicago’s deputy mayor overseeing immigration, said the news that immigration raids could start in Chicago on Tuesday “wasn’t a surprise,” but that “hearing confirmation made it more real, more concrete.”

She said the city is prepared. In addition to community agencies holding “know your rights” events all over the city, Chicago has met with city departments and sister agencies, such as the police and school district, to make sure they know what they should, and should not, do.

Garien Gatewood, Chicago’s deputy mayor of community safety, said the police department has been working under a Welcoming City ordinance for 40 years and so police are well aware of what they should do.

The Chicago Police Department does not document immigration status, nor does it share information with federal immigration authorities, said spokesperson Don Terry in a statement. But he added that police “will not intervene or interfere with any other government agencies performing their duties.”

If someone sees a police officer or a sister agency violating the Welcoming City ordinance, they can report it to the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, or COPA, or the city's law department. Gatewood said that with a situation as “intense” as this, violations would potentially be dealt with by the superintendent.

Cisneros, an immigrant parent advocate at the Resurrection Project, a Pilsen-based advocacy group, helps a group of about 10 mothers who are undocumented. She said they’re fearful of what they expect to come Tuesday — a fear she feels herself — but has tried to prepare them as best she can.

“They’re afraid of what’s to come,” Cisneros said. “I try to be strong for them. Everyone in the community wants a good Chicago. I’ve fallen in love with Chicago since the first day I came to this country. … I try to keep safe and save my family.”

Chicago has been a sanctuary city for nearly 40 years since Mayor Harold Washington issued an executive order allowing undocumented people to access city services and live without fear of police harassment or city cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The policy led to passage of the Welcoming City ordinance.

In August 2022, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott started sending asylum-seekers from cities along the U.S.-Mexico border to sanctuary cities led by Democrats, like Chicago.

Speaking on Fox News, Homan said "ICE is finally going to go out and do their job. We’re going to take the handcuffs off ICE and let them go arrest criminal aliens, that’s what’s going to happen."

In December at a Northwest Side GOP holiday party, Homan said “Chicago’s in trouble,” calling Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker “terrible” and to “come to the table” to negotiate with him over a mass deportation plan. He warned Johnson, who has said he would protect the city’s immigrants from federal agents, “If he doesn’t want to help, get the hell out of the way.”

Pritzker’s office did not provide a response to the news that immigration raids were going to start in Chicago next week. The office provided a transcript of the governor’s statement at a Dec. 11 news conference where he said he “believes it is his obligation to protect” undocumented immigrants who have not committed violent crimes.

The City Council on Wednesday voted 39-11 to table an attempt by two Hispanic alderpersons to restore the exceptions to the city’s Welcoming City ordinance, which means Trump will have no help from Chicago police officers when and if he follows through on his threat of mass deportations of illegal immigrants, starting with those with records.

In McHenry County, a Republican stronghold, officials with the sheriff’s office have pushed for state officials to rewrite state laws that bar them from working with federal immigration officials. Though there hasn’t been movement on that legislation, some fear law enforcement officials may decide to go against state law as was threatened by some sheriffs with the state’s contentious assault rifle ban.

Fuentes said state officials will be on the watch for that and hold anyone who violates state law accountable.

“The state is very clear that the Trust Act doesn’t allow for local elected officials to work with ICE,” Fuentes told the Sun-Times. “Our state elected officials are ensuring we are holding local police district officials accountable for that.” The Trust Act assures witnesses and victims of crime that they can cooperate with local law enforcement without fearing deportation.

Resurrection Project officials urged people to call its family support hotline at (855) 435-7693 if an arrest is made.

Contributing: AP, Tina Sfondeles