Echoing the raids in L.A., parts of Chicago are untouched by ICE, others under siege

CHICAGO- Since the Trump administration announced plans to expedite and detain and forcibly deport thousands of immigrants here, the Chicago area has been a split screen between daily life and a city under siege.

While many people go shopping, go to work, walk their dogs, and hang out with friends in parks, others are chased, tear-gassed, detained, and assaulted by federal agents conducting immigration checks.

The situation is similar to what happened in Los Angeles in the summer, when ICE swept through Southern California, snatching people off the streets and attacking car washes and Home Depots in predominantly Latino areas, while leaving large parts of the region untouched.

Take Sunday, the day of the Chicago Marathon.

Some 50,000 runners from more than 100 countries and 50 states gathered downtown to run, race and hang out on 26.3 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline and city streets.

The sun was shining, temperatures hovered in the 60s, and the leaves of maples, oaks, aspens, and ginkgoes colored the town with splashes of yellow, orange, and red.

Protesters march past the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Broadview, Illinois, on October 10.

(Kayana Szymczak/For the Times)

It was one of those rare, glorious Midwestern fall days where everyone goes outside to enjoy the sunshine, knowing that the darkness and cold of winter are about to set in.

At 12:30 p.m., Ludwig Marchel and Karen Vanherck, from Belgium, strolled west along East Monroe Street, through Millennium Park. They smiled and proudly wore medals around their necks commemorating their marathon achievement. They said they were not worried about coming to Chicago, despite reports of protests and violent raids, and the Trump administration’s description of the city as “war-torn,” a “hell,” a “killing field” and “the most dangerous city in the world.”

“Honestly. I was mostly worried that the government shutdown would somehow affect my flight,” Marchel said. He said he saw nothing in his few days in town that would suggest the city was unsafe.

Another man, who declined to give his name, said he had come from Mexico City to complete the race. He said he wasn’t worried either.

“I have my passport, I have a visa and I have money,” he said. “Why should I worry?”

At the same time, 16 kilometers to the northwest, a community was bombarded with tear gas.

Dozens of residents in the quiet, leafy Albany Park neighborhood gathered in the street to shout “traitor” and “Nazi” as federal immigration agents nabbed one man and tried to arrest others.

According to testimony, officers in at least three vehicles got out and began pushing people to the ground before throwing tear gas canisters into the street. Videos of the event show masked officers tackling a person in a red shirt, knocking a person in a skeleton costume to the ground and violently throwing a bicycle out of the street as several plumes of smoke rose into the air. A woman can be heard screaming while neighbors yell at officers.

Last week, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order requiring officers to issue two warnings before using riot control weapons such as tear gas, chemical sprays, plastic bullets and flash grenades.

Witnesses told the Chicago Sun-Times that no warning was given.

Chicago community member Deirdre Anglin takes part in a protest near an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Broadview, Illinois, on October 10.

(Kayana Szymczak/For the Times)

Since Trump’s “Operation Midway Blitz” was launched more than six weeks ago, about 1,000 people have been arrested or detained.

At the ICE detention center in Broadview – a suburb 20 km west of the city center – protests take place daily. While most took place peacefully, some degenerated into physical clashes between federal agents or police and demonstrators.

In September, federal agents fired pepper balls and tear gas at protesters peacefully gathering outside the facility. On Saturday, local law enforcement forced protesters to leave the site using riot batons and threats of tear gas. Several protesters were thrown to the ground and forcefully handcuffed. By the end of the evening, 15 people had been arrested.

On Sunday afternoon, around twenty demonstrators returned to the scene. They played music, danced, socialized and heckled the ICE vehicles as they entered and exited the fenced-in facility.

In a predominantly Latino neighborhood in Chicago called Little Village, things seemed peaceful Sunday afternoon.

Affectionately nicknamed by its residents the “capital of the Midwest of Mexico”, this district of 85,000 inhabitants is predominantly Latin American. Chicago City Councilman and ward alderman Michael Rodriguez said 85 percent of the population is of Mexican origin.

On Sunday afternoon, traditional Mexican music played on the street through speakers from the OK Corral VIP, a Western clothing store.

Protesters demonstrate near an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Broadview, Illinois on October 10.

(Kayana Szymczak/For the Times)

Along East 26th Street, where stores and buildings are painted with brightly colored murals depicting Mexican folklore, history and wildlife — like a golden eagle and a jaguar — a family sat at a table eating lunch, while two young women, in their early 20s, laughed and chatted as they strolled west toward the avenue Kedzie.

Rodriguez said that despite appearances, “people are afraid.”

He said he spoke with a teacher who complained that many of her elementary students had stopped coming to class. Their parents are too afraid to walk them or drive them to school, hearing stories from other parents who have been arrested or detained by ICE agents on other campuses across the city — in front of their terrified children.

Rodriguez’s wife, whom he described as a dark-skinned Latina and graduate of DePaul and Northwestern universities, will not leave the house without her passport.

On the 26th, at a hair salon called Peluqueria 5 Star Fades Estrellas, a hairdresser named Juan Garcia was sitting in a chair near the entrance of the store. He had a towel draped over the back of his neck. He said his English was limited, but he knew enough to tell a visitor that business was bad.

“People don’t come,” he said. “They are afraid.”

Victor Sanchez, owner of a taco truck parked on Kedzie Road about a half-mile south of town, said his customer base — mostly construction workers and landscapers — has largely disappeared.

“Business is down 60%,” he told one customer. “I don’t know if they were taken away or if they’re too scared to come out. All I know is they don’t come here anymore.”

Rodriguez said ICE agents have arrested people who live in his neighborhood, but those arrests took place outside his district’s borders.

“I think they know it’s a well-organized, conscious neighborhood,” he said. “I think they sorted it out and decided to stop people on the outskirts.”