Katrina Pham/Borderless MagazineChicagoans share the immigration policies and changes they will be working toward during President Trump’s second term.
Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 47th president of the United States today. Trump has promised sweeping changes to immigration in the United States, including beginning “the largest deportation operation in the history” of the United States.
Trump has vowed to “seal the border” as soon as he takes office and to challenge longstanding programs like Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and asylum. These challenges may mirror attempts during his first presidency, where Trump tried to dismantle the asylum system and enacted a series of travel bans.
Many Chicago immigrant organizations remember the early days of the first Trump administration and have been preparing for an increased demand for legal assistance, Know Your Rights workshops and more. While visiting the city last month, Trump’s new “border czar” vowed mass deportations would “start right here in Chicago” and warned Mayor Brandon Johnson that he would be prosecuted if he continued to “harbor and conceal” asylum seekers.
Want to receive stories like this in your inbox every week?
Sign up for our free newsletter.
Borderless Magazine asked immigrant organizers and their allies in Chicago what policies and issues they plan to advocate for during Trump’s second term. Here is what they said.
Statements have been edited for length and clarity.
Dulce Guzmán, executive director of Alianza Americas
As the new administration comes into office Alianza Americas and our 58 member organizations are focused on advocating for state and local protections that keep families together while continuing to insist on the need to address root causes of migration as a core strategy.
Deterrence and criminalization have never stopped migration. We need a new approach that recognizes that the U.S. needs immigration to meet the labor challenges and that also provides safe migration pathways. We believe it is critical to combat narratives of individualism and hate with love, solidarity and collective care.
Andrea Ortiz, director of organizing at the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council
As the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, we represent a predominantly Latine immigrant population on the southwest side of Chicago. Much of our organizing work is done in coalition with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR). Along with other coalition members, we uplift the needs of our respective membership bases and advocate for policy that impacts [or] would help our immigrant community.
Over the years, there has been a strong effort to name harmful policies that criminalize Black and Latine folks in Chicago. These are the same policy pieces used against immigrant communities, such as the Chicago Gang Database… As an organization, we helped fight hard to ensure [eliminating those] carveouts …. And [we] will continue to fight to ensure that our city is welcoming to all.
Lawrence Benito, executive director of Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
At ICIRR, we will be working to block Trump’s actions, bridge the divides that anti-immigrant forces have created over the last two years, and build the community needed to make sure we’re in a stronger position four years from now.
We’ll block the worst of the new administration by sharing Know Your Rights information with our communities, mobilizing rapid response teams, and making sure our state and local policies are as strong as possible to prevent deportations. We’ll bridge the divides by continuing to organize and strengthen relationships across communities. And we’ll build community to ensure that we’re in a strong position to win our long-term goals: a pathway to legalization for all, economic justice for all, and healthcare for all.
These goals are not out of reach — by continuing to organize and doing as much as we can to protect people who will come under attack during the Trump administration, we’ll be in an even stronger position four years from now to ensure that all communities have the safety, opportunity, and resources they need to thrive.
Nubia Willman, chief programs officer at the Latinos Progresando
We have a legal services team in addition to our other programs, so one of the things we have been doing these past two weeks has been rapid response for legal services. We’ve been applying for DACA renewal and work permit renewal for folks so they can get those in before things shift so they can get them in the pike to be processed. We’ve been doing some Know Your Rights presentations…. In the next few months, we will continue to do different Know Your Rights [presentations] for different sectors.
Then, in our community programs, folks will continue to support the community on the ground. We do a lot of community response needs. So we anticipate if there are questions, concerns, or emergencies that happen in the community, and we’ll be working with our local schools and our local families to be responsive to that.
Read More of Our Coverage
Antonio Gutierrez, cofounder and strategic coordinator for Organized Communities Against Deportations
OCAD is advocating and supporting efforts around [know-your-rights] information for undocumented immigrants and their families in case of an ICE raid at their home, workplace, or on the street. OCAD is activating with the support of our closest allies ICIRR, NIJC, Beyond Legal Aid and neighborhood-level rapid response networks to build an infrastructure of legal and organizing support that will be available to resist Trump’s attacks on undocumented immigrants in Chicago and Illinois.
We are recruiting allies and those who want to protect their undocumented neighbors to take risks, show up and donate time or resources. On a policy level, OCAD will work with alders and other organizations to ensure the protections we have as a sanctuary city for all and state are not rolled back by xenophobic elected officials.
Erendira Rendon, vice president for Immigrant Justice at the Resurrection Project
As a DACAmented immigrant and advocate, I understand the immense challenges our communities face under the incoming administration. At The Resurrection Project (TRP), we are committed to protecting immigrant families and the lives they have built here in Illinois.
Our efforts focus on several priorities: First, expanding access to legal services. TRP… offers comprehensive wraparound services, ranging from Know Your Rights education to legal representation in deportation proceedings. We’re growing our removal defense team and deportation defense organizing to address increasing needs.
Second, TRP strengthening emergency preparedness. Our new Prepare and Protect Campaign provides families with resources that can be found at trpimmigrantjustice.org to create emergency plans, understand their rights, and secure legal support.
Third, TRP is building our capacity for rapid response to protect our communities. We have been expanding our emergency legal workshops and, together with coalition partners, have been advocating for increased funding for Illinois Access to Justice to ensure communities have access to legal protections they are entitled to.
We are fortunate to work in a state that values the contributions of its immigrant community members and we will continue to work with local and state partners to protect and expand safeguards to limit the impact of harmful federal policies.
While these times bring uncertainty, I’m reminded daily of the resilience of our immigrant communities. Despite challenges, we continue to thrive, build homes, educate our children, and create positive change. TRP stands ready to defend these achievements.
Linh Le, community services manager at the Vietnamese Association of Illinois
For many people, there may be little to no recourse available when faced with threats of mass deportations and anti-immigrant policies. Therefore, it is vital for communities to come together to protect each other. VAI will continue to organize with our community members and partner organizations to ensure Chicago remains a Welcoming City, to combat disinformation and to fight for greater protection for our communities to thrive.
Vietnamese Americans are no strangers to the hostility against immigrants and refugees in this country as we faced tremendous systemic disenfranchisement and discrimination upon our migration to the U.S. [This year] marks 50 years of the end of the U.S.-Vietnam War and what has been 50 years of Vietnamese American community-building in the U.S. We honor this historic milestone through our unwavering commitment to defending and advocating for immigrant and refugee communities.
Bring power to immigrant voices!
Our work is made possible thanks to donations from people like you. Support high-quality reporting by making a tax-deductible donation today.
