Immigration
“We’re not going to be intimidated in Chicago,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said. “It’s my responsibility to stand up to tyranny and to make sure that we are defending the people of this city.”
President Donald Trump plans to deploy 400 members of the Texas National Guard and 300 members of the Illinois National Guard to the area any day. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have asked a federal judge to block that move.
Prosecutors in Chicago on Monday filed a murder-for-hire charge against 37-year-old Juan Espinoza Martinez, whom they claim is a “ranking member” of the Latin Kings gang.
Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling rejected claims his officers failed to respond to a pair of incidents involving federal agents in the city over the weekend, saying more than two dozen officers were affected by chemical gas deployed by the agents.
The lawsuit filed by Illinois and Chicago officials calls the looming deployment of both Texas and Illinois National Guard troops a politically motivated and unconstitutional federal overreach.
Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson has signed an executive order setting fixed protest hours outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s suburban processing facility.
The campaign is part of ICE’s $30 billion initiative to hire 10,000 more deportation officers by the end of the year to supercharge deportations.
The Chicago Headline Club, Chicago Newspaper Guild Local 34071, Block Club Chicago and other media groups filed the suit alongside protesters in federal court alleging their First Amendment rights have been violated.
Marimar Martinez, 30, and Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz, 21, are facing felony charges of “forcibly assaulting, impeding, and interfering with a federal law enforcement officer,” federal prosecutors announced Sunday.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said military officials called Saturday morning and “gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will. It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a Governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will.”
Gov. JB Pritzker, who is running for a third term as governor and considering a run for president in 2028, said he was “appalled by the reports of excessive use of force against children as well as the many innocent bystanders who were punished simply for residing in that building.”
Chicago Ald. Jessie Fuentes was detained by federal agents inside Humboldt Park Health, as tensions continue to rise between local residents and officials and immigration agents conducting enforcement operations in the city.
Illinois and Cook County law enforcement have constructed designated areas for protesters to “safely exercise their rights” outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in suburban Broadview.
Calls from local residents seeking legal aid have “skyrocketed” in recent months, Chicago immigration advocates said Thursday, as families are increasingly seeking out assistance amid ongoing federal enforcement operations.
It’s not yet clear when military troops could be deployed into Illinois, but Gov. JB Pritzker expects President Donald Trump to “keep the militarization going” even after the federal government shut down overnight.
“Someone who says ‘I’m against abortion but says I am in favor of the death penalty’ is not really pro-life,” Pope Leo XIV said. “Someone who says that ‘I’m against abortion, but I’m in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States,’ I don’t know if that’s pro-life.”