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

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

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

The situation is similar to what happened in Los Angeles over the summer, when ICE swept across Southern California, snatching up people on the streets and raiding car washes and home storage facilities in predominantly Latino neighborhoods while leaving large swaths of the region untouched.

Take Sunday, the day of the Chicago Marathon.

About 50,000 runners from more than 100 countries and 50 states gathered downtown to run, jog and run 26.3 miles along the Lake Michigan shoreline and city streets.

The sun was shining brightly, temperatures hovered above 60 degrees, and maple, oak, aspen and ginkgo leaves painted the city in splashes of yellow, orange and red.

It was one of those rare, glorious Midwestern fall days when everyone goes outside to soak up the sun, knowing that the darkness and cold of winter is about to arrive.

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

“Honestly, my main concern was that the government shutdown would somehow affect my flight,” Marcel said. He said he had seen nothing in the city for several days that would indicate the city was unsafe.

Another man, who declined to give his name, said he came from Mexico City to complete the race. He said it doesn't bother him either.

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

At the same moment 10 miles northwest the community was subjected to tear gas.

Dozens of residents of the quiet, leafy Albany Park neighborhood gathered on the street to shout “traitor” and “Nazi” as federal immigration agents grabbed the man and tried to detain others.

Witnesses said agents in at least three vehicles got out and began pushing people to the ground and then throwing tear gas canisters into the street. Video of the event show masked agents grabbing hold of a man in a red shirt, throwing a man in a skeleton costume to the ground, and violently throwing a bicycle off the street as several plumes of smoke rise into the air. The woman can be heard screaming and neighbors can be heard yelling at the agents.

Last week, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order requiring agents to give two warnings before using riot control weapons such as tear gas, chemical spray, plastic bullets and stun grenades.

Witnesses told the Chicago Sun-Times that there were no warnings.

Since Trump's Operation Midway Blitz began more than six weeks ago, nearly 1,000 people have been arrested or detained.

At the ICE detention center in Broadview, a suburb 12 miles west of the city center, there were daily protests. While most were peaceful, some escalated into physical confrontations between federal agents or police and protesters.

In September, federal agents fired pepper balls and tear gas at protesters who had gathered peacefully near the facility. Saturday, local law enforcement forced the protesters to leave from the place with sticks and threats of using tear gas. Several protesters were thrown to the ground and handcuffed. By the end of the evening, 15 people had been arrested.

About two dozen protesters returned to the site early Sunday morning. They played music, danced, socialized and heckled ICE vehicles as they entered and exited the fenced-in facility.

In Chicago's predominantly Latino neighborhood called Little Village, everything seemed peaceful Sunday afternoon.

This area of ​​85,000 people, affectionately known by its residents as the “capital of Mexico's Midwest,” is predominantly Latino. Michael Rodriguez, a Chicago City Council member and ward alderman, said 85% of the population is of Mexican descent.

On Sunday afternoon, traditional Mexican music was broadcast into the street through the loudspeakers of OK Corral VIP, a Western clothing store.

Along East 26th Street, where shops and buildings are painted with colorful murals depicting Mexican folklore, history and wildlife such as golden eagles and jaguars, a family sat at a table eating lunch as two young women in their 20s laughed and chatted as they strolled west toward Kedzie Avenue.

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

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

Rodriguez's wife, whom he described as a black Hispanic woman with degrees from DePaul University and Northwestern University, will not leave the house without a passport.

On the 26th, at the barbershop Peluqueria 5 Star Fades Estrellas, a barber named Juan Garcia was sitting in a chair near the entrance to the store. He had a towel on the back of his head. He said his English is limited, but he knows enough to tell a visitor that things are going badly.

“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 clientele — mostly construction workers and landscapers — has all but disappeared.

“Business is down 60%,” he told the client. “I don't know if they've been captured or if they're too afraid to come out. All I know is that they won't come here anymore.”

Rodriguez said ICE agents have arrested people living in the neighborhood, but those arrests took place outside his area.

“I think they know this is a well-organized and knowledgeable district,” he said. “I think they discovered it and decided to grab people on the outskirts.”