Hundreds take to the streets in Chicago to protest Trump's first week
Hundreds took to Chicago’s streets Saturday in River North to protest Donald Trump’s first week in office.
A coalition of more than 65 groups advocating for various causes came together at the protest and march, which had been rescheduled from Monday, the day of President Trump's inauguration, due to frigid temperatures. Groups that had pushed for a ceasefire in Gaza were in lockstep with LGBTQ+ and immigrant rights groups as they protested Trump's actions in the early days of his second term.
The president has signed a flurry of executive orders in his first week on immigration — including a blitz of immigration policies attempting to change where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement can detain people and trying to end humanitarian parole programs — to fulfill his campaign promises of mass deportations, though some are already facing court injunctions.
Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, had said Chicago would be targeted for immigration enforcement, and media reports leaked of plans for large-scale immigration raids last week in Chicago, which have yet to materialize but continue to stoke fear.
“Ceasefire was just our first demand; this isn’t over,” said organizer Jinan Chehade. “The system that backs genocide is the same one that builds walls. … This isn’t the time to back down. We’ve seen what can happen in a week. Together we fight, and together we’ll tear down every wall of oppression.”
After rallying at Water Tower Place in Streeterville for an hour and a half, the group marched south down Michigan Avenue to bring chants of "Say it loud, say it clear, immigrants are welcome here," across the river from Trump Tower.
Leslie Ochoadieta, a 19-year-old resident of the north suburbs, said she came to the protest with her sister and cousin to be a voice for her parents, who came to the U.S. from Mexico more than 20 years ago. When she was in elementary school, her father was going through immigration court proceedings, instilling fear that has stayed with her since.
“What if I come out of this courtroom without my dad?” Ochoadieta recalled.
While her parents are in the middle of the immigration process and have their paperwork in order, there still has been a fear of being detained by immigration enforcement.
“It gets worse every year; a lot of people don’t know what we feel,” Ochoadieta said. “I know my parents know their rights; we printed out their cards. [But also] we have their locations, we take them to work — we’re living in fear.”
Elizabeth Lopez, 33, of Hanover Park, took to the streets on behalf of her family, who are from Mexico, to make sure their voices were heard — specifically her undocumented relatives who have grappled with the fear of being deported for as long as she can remember.
Lopez said her family has felt the same fear Ochoadieta's had, and it had only worsened in the week since Trump returned to the White House promising "mass deportations."
“It has affected our lives since I was a kid,” Lopez said. “[Now] they aren’t going to work. It breaks my heart; people shouldn’t have to live with this. They’re scared. It’s just constant.”
She said she even feared for herself because of Trump’s — so far empty — threats to end birthright citizenship for babies of non-citizens and unauthorized immigrants born in the United States, but that speaking on behalf of her relatives was important enough to protest and march.
“We’re not alone in this,” Lopez said. “Do not give up. There’s a lot of people willing to fight. … [And] I’m tired of being quiet. This isn’t something I’ll back down on.”