Politics
Federal Immigration Agents Targeted Northwest Side Neighborhoods. Residents Banded Together to Push Back
Luis Kevin Islas says lately the Rogers Park neighborhood is like a “ghost town.”
In recent weeks, the area has seen an increase in federal immigration agents and raids.
“I go to St. Jerome all the time,” Islas said. “I’m always here. My family had a business for 20 years, and now, it’s like nobody’s here, nobody is shopping, nobody is going to the restaurants.”
A video shared by a local resident shows community volunteers confronting a federal vehicle by blowing whistles and warning others in the area. Islas has joined the efforts to patrol his community.
“I feel like most of the groups that we have here in Rogers Park weren’t expecting this, specifically how they came at us,” Islas said. “They were very precise in the way that they got us, going to churches, going to schools.”
Local businesses are also feeling the impact. Rueben Hernandez, who owns multiple businesses in the area, says foot traffic is at its lowest since the pandemic.
“I’ve opened this store and nothing like this has ever happened. I’ve never seen this street like this,” Hernandez said in Spanish. “There was always people walking to St. Jerome throughout the day.”
In spite of increased raids, the community is fighting back.
Adriano Kalin, a social justice photographer and a volunteer with the Rogers Park Rapid Response Team, is one of many residents who take turns as a lookout for ICE agents.
“People are scared, and rightfully so,” Kalin said. “People are traumatized and the only war that is being implemented on Chicago is by the federal government, and it also really constitutes the fact that we don’t have laws to handle this.”
Federal immigration agents on Tuesday deployed tear gas on a group of residents in the city’s East Side neighborhood after a crowd gathered at the scene of a car crash involving those agents.
Last week, a judge issued a temporary order barring the use of tear gas and other “riot control weapons” against protesters and reporters who don’t pose an immediate threat.
Before using those chemical agents, they must first issue two warnings.
“I know that not just here in Illinois, but in other states and in other cities, we are winning legal battles, right, for the enforcement and protection, upholding the law and the rights of all the residents,” said Ald. Maria Hadden (49th Ward). “We have a federal administration that continues to break the law and so it’s a little bit of like a game of chicken.”
In Albany Park, signs in business windows say “private property, no ICE.”
The area has also seen an increase in immigration operations, with one incident leading agents to throw tear gas on residents. That’s what motivated Trisha Grant to join a response group in her neighborhood.
“I know that the neighbors immediately came out, started surrounding them, blowing their whistles and I know tear gas was deployed in the neighborhoods by ICE,” Grant said. “It was scary, I think everybody’s kind of been shaken up by it.”
Churches have taken a stand by mobilizing their congregations through prayer vigils, marches and offering community support services.
“I have colleagues who go to Broadview every Friday,” said the Rev. Matthew Krings of Renewed Hope United Methodist Church. “I have colleagues who are on the streets.”
While the Trump administration has touted its Christian values, Krings argues that its actions contradict core teachings of the Bible.
“It’s Christianity that’s been bent,” Krings said. “It’s Christianity that’s lost the basis of what Christianity is. Because Christianity was about caring for those who needed help.”
For Islas, what’s happening with immigration is personal. The first-generation Mexican American says he watched his parents and community give to this country, only to be threatened by ICE.
“When the community stands up and when they do this stuff, they cannot do what they have been doing, which is antagonizing our communities, harassing us,” Islas said.
