Local officials, protesters clash with ICE outside office over detentions in growing escalation over Trump's immigration tactics

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2 days ago

In another sign of escalating tension over President Donald Trump's immigration policies, community organizers, protesters and several Chicago aldermen clashed with federal agents Wednesday as they detained immigrants outside a U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement office on the Near South Side.
The office in the 2200 block of South Michigan Avenue operates the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, or ISAP, which is run by ICE. The program utilizes technology, such as ankle monitors, as an alternative to detention, providing enhanced supervision for individuals in immigration proceedings who haven't been detained.
Organizers were first alerted of ICE activity when Yolanda Chavez, a member of Organized Communities Against Deportations, went into the office for a check-in Wednesday morning and didn't come out for hours. The organization quickly mobilized supporters outside, said Antonio Gutierrez, president of the nonprofit. Chavez is from Honduras and has been in the United States for 10 years, Gutierrez said. She has a child and was in asylum proceedings, he added. Gutierrez hasn't heard from her since she went in. 'This is only the beginning,' he said. By Wednesday afternoon, elected officials, including Aldermen Anthony Quezada, 35th, Byron Sigcho-Lopez, 25th, and Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez, 33rd, joined the growing number of people. Quezada and Rodriguez-Sanchez sat down in front of a white van as it attempted to enter the office parking lot. The vans drove away, and then federal immigration officers wearing sunglasses and face coverings suddenly arrived in a large group and began to jostle and push the approximately 30 people who were there.
Sigcho-Lopez told the Tribune that he, Rodriguez-Sanchez and Quezada were attempting to form a human chain as federal agents entered the building and pushed Quezada to the ground.
'We were trying to hold arms,' Sigcho-Lopez said. 'These ICE agents came in with batons, and they came hard. They stomped into the building, they shoved Alderman Quezada to the ground, pushed the rest of us, stepped on everybody, threatened everybody. This is the Gestapo.'
Sigcho-Lopez said he saw Quezada 'shaking' afterward, and Rodriguez-Sanchez texted the Tribune that she was 'bruised but okay' after being 'thrown around a lot.'
'This is a really sad day for the city. We will not allow this to happen again,' Sigcho-Lopez said.
Police were notified of the growing protest and showed up at the scene to 'ensure the safety of all involved, including those exercising their First Amendment rights,' said Tom Ahern, a Chicago police spokesman. No arrests were made, police said. The clash between Chicago community members and federal immigration agents is representative of a growing wave of grassroots resistance and pro-immigrant groups that are challenging ICE operations across the country. Residents and advocates are mobilizing rapidly to report ICE sightings, disrupt arrests and show up in force at immigration court hearings.
ICE did not say how many people were detained Wednesday. The city and organizations that work against federal deportation efforts estimated the number to be more than 10, with whom they have lost contact.
'Those arrested had executable final orders of removal by an immigration judge and had not complied with that order,' an ICE spokesman said in a statement.
Clashes between ICE and protesters erupted in San Diego last week and in Minneapolis this week, when residents learned that ICE agents were conducting raids at local restaurants. In May, protests erupted outside immigration courts in San Francisco, New York and Arizona when advocates learned ICE would be detaining certain migrants after their hearings.
On Michigan Avenue on Wednesday, after ICE officials got into shiny black SUVs and trucks and drove away, Gerardo Perez, 23, stood outside the office with his family.
His mother was taken, he said. They live in Rogers Park, and he has six siblings. She had been here for close to 40 years. 'It's just an act of racism,' he said as he got into a car. 'This is nobody's land.'
'They are destroying families because they know they can,' said Rodriguez-Sanchez, 33rd, at a hastily organized news conference afterward. 'This is a moment of solidarity. Este es un momento de solidaridad.'
The more recent aggressive tactics from ICE have had a chilling effect across Chicago, with people opting out of work, church services, doctor appointments and school.
Now, immigration attorneys and advocates are reporting that people aren't showing up for court hearings. Lawyers said the Trump administration appears to be coordinating efforts to dismiss cases of individuals in the U.S. who have been in the country for less than two years, so that federal agents can immediately detain them, potentially for an expedited removal order.
Immigration officials confirmed to the Tribune that Chicago's courtrooms will also be an epicenter for the detentions.
'Most aliens who illegally entered the United States within the past two years are subject to expedited removals,' a statement from Department of Homeland Security, Secretary Kristi Noem said. 'ICE is now following the law and placing these illegal aliens in expedited removal, as they always should have been.'
That means that, as attorneys and advocates suspected, ICE agents will be targeting migrants who have been in the country less than two years by dismissing their case during the hearing and arresting them afterward.
Unless migrants have 'a valid credible fear claim, they will continue in immigration proceedings,' the DHS statement says. 'But if no valid claim is found, aliens will be subject to a swift deportation.'
According to immigration experts and lawyers in the Chicago area, the move is another strategy to limit the migrants' ability to present their case before a judge, forcing them to leave the country instead. Reports of arrests in Chicago's immigration court surfaced in mid-May when several attorneys reported seeing ICE agents roaming the courtrooms with a list in hand, followed by a series of arrests.
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'For many families trying to 'do it the legal way' and dutifully attending their court dates, they expect a normal check-in that brings them closer to stability. Instead, Trump and Noem are weaponizing a moment of hopeful anticipation to terrorize our communities further. Their vile actions show just how little they respect our courts, due process, our rights, and laws,' said U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez, who sent a letter to ICE demanding answers about the arrest made at Chicago's immigration courts.
Ramirez also urged other members of Congress to to demand answers from the administration.
Because of the lack of transparency from DHS and other immigration agencies, attorneys can offer limited help, depending on people's cases, said Azadeh Erfani, policy director of the National Immigrant Justice Center.
'They are boxing them in: you will get deported if you show up to your hearing as mandated by law, but you will also get deported if you don't show up to your hearing,' said Erendira Rendon, vice president of immigrant justice at the Resurrection Project, a nonprofit organization that provides legal services to immigrants in need.
Over the last week, reports of ICE agents in some of Chicago's predominantly Latino neighborhoods spread rapidly.
When neighbors noticed unfamiliar cars on the corner of Troy and 27th streets, in Little Village at around 8 a.m. Tuesday, they quickly contacted their local rapid response team and their aldermen, who confirmed they were ICE agents.
Members of the rapid response team, including members of La Villita Se Defiende, which is made up of area residents, approached the agents and patrolled the area until the agents left without making any arrests, according to officials.
'(The terrorizing of ICE in our communities) needs to stop, but I fear it won't,' said Ald. Mike Rodriguez, 23rd Ward. 'We need to work like hell to protect people and to resist until we get this person (Trump) out of office.'
Though the sighting of ICE were just outside his ward, Rodriguez said his office is vigilant and ready to respond when they are notified of immigration officials in the neighborhood 'to make sure people's rights are preserved.'
In a Wednesday evening statement, Mayor Brandon Johnson said his office is 'reviewing' the clash, which he described as an 'assault' by federal authorities.
'Mayor Johnson condemns the reckless and dangerous escalation by ICE agents this afternoon in the South Loop,' he wrote. 'Chicagoans have the right to protest the separation of family members by federal immigration enforcement. Federal agents should never be allowed to come into our city and assault elected officials or any Chicagoan.'
In Pilsen, however, the community remains alert after ICE, in conjunction with the FBI, arrested two residents who work at a local business near the 1800 block of South Carpenter Street. In both instances, the agents failed to properly identify themselves or present arrest warrants, according to Sigcho Lopez and local rapid response teams.
The Pilsen Migra Watch team reported that one of the arrests took place in the private residential area above the local business, which federal agents are not allowed to enter without a warrant signed by a judge.
Chicago Tribune's Alice Yin contributed.