Max Herman/Borderless MagazineChicago officials said they’ve focused on the ground efforts to ensure constituents know their rights amid Trump’s immigration crackdown.
After a several-month hiatus, Chicago’s Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights held its first meeting to protect and support the city’s migrant community amid Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Committee Chair Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th) detailed local officials’ efforts to combat Trump’s immigration raids. Vasquez described online and in-person partnerships with groups like The Resurrection Project and National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) for Know Your Rights workshops.
They’ve also been canvassing streets, grocery stores, and laundromats to provide people with information on how to respond if approached by Immigration Customs and Enforcement agents, he said.
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Vasquez and other alderpeople said they were looking for potential legislation to bolster protections from the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration policies.
“We are seeing increased of arrests of people, who have absolutely no criminal history, who have not had any prior contact with immigration enforcement,” said Katarina Ramos, managing attorney at NIJC. “We are also seeing arrests of people…in their homes or on the streets.”
The meeting comes a week after Mayor Brandon Johnson defended the city’s sanctuary status before congressional leaders in D.C. Johnson told members of Congress that sanctuary policies do not increase crime but instead build trust with local law enforcement.
“The cooperation of all people, regardless of their immigration status, is essential to achieving the city’s goals of reducing crime and pursuing justice for victims,” Johnson told Congress. “When there is trust between cities’ residents and the police, undocumented immigrants come forward to report crimes to local law enforcement and provide information that helps the police solve those crimes.”
During Tuesday’s hearing, Ald. Michael Rodriguez (22nd) commended Mayor Johnson and three mayors for accepting the challenge to represent sanctuary cities before Congress.
“About three-quarters of Chicago believe that we shouldn’t be coordinating with the federal agents… I think part of that reason is the work of our council persons here,” he said. “I just want to commend this body… we got a lot more work to do.”
Last month, the Trump administration’s Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Chicago, Cook County, and the State of Illinois over sanctuary policies that prohibit local law enforcement from coordinating with federal immigration authorities.
Meanwhile, local officials have faced internal challenges to the city’s sanctuary ordinance. In January, the city council blocked efforts to weaken the law to allow local agents to cooperate with federal agents.
Vasquez addressed the city’s commitment to uphold the ordinance.
Since taking office, Trump has signed a dozen executive orders taking aim at the immigration system, including attempts to end the constitutional right of birthright citizenship.
Trump’s handpicked border Czar, Tom Homan, has targeted Chicago and allowed TV personality Phil McGraw, better known as Dr. Phil, to live-stream arrests.
Tuesday’s meeting was the first in nearly eight months, according to a report from Block Club Chicago. Vasquez previously pledged to hold meetings every month after his predecessor failed to meet for over a year at the peak of the humanitarian crisis.
“We have seen videos celebrating undocumented immigrants being shackled and loaded onto deportation flights,” Vasquez remarked. “We have seen this administration rely on an 18th-century law that led to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, to justify sending thousands of Venezuelans to El Salvador.”
Last month, local officials, including NIJC and the Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights (CIRR), hosted an online session to discuss how to protect yourself amid the flurry of changes happening with the United States immigration services. The group discussed the importance of staying informed about legal rights, preparing emergency plans, and connecting with community resources.
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Other elected officials, like Ald. Jessie Fuentes (26th) echoed the need for continued vigilance and support for immigrant communities.
“There are several executive orders, and things that we see happen every day, sort of, even the immigration and deportation patterns of deporting individuals that have working visas or green cards,” Fuentes said. “Sort of rhetoric that’s being put out that we are only deporting criminals is just not what we are seeing on the day-to-day.”
“We are not even respecting the process the individuals have gone through to have residency here in the United States,” she added.
Fatema Hosseini is a Roy W. Howard Investigative Reporting fellow covering immigrant communities for Borderless Magazine. Send her an email at [email protected].
Mauricio Peña editorial director at Borderless Magazine. Send him an email at [email protected].
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