Chicago's community organizers build rapid response model as ICE shifts focus nationwide

Federal agents have thrown tear gas at protesters, deliberately caused car crashes, and detained high school students as young as 16 in Chicago over the past month, prompting community organizations to urgently mobilize residents in response.

From Pilsen to Belmont Cragin to Uptown, hundreds of volunteers are attending trainings, assembling emergency kits, and building rapid response networks to protect immigrant families.

On the evening of Oct. 9, the cafeteria at Benito Juarez High School in Pilsen was packed with city residents. Pilsen Unidos Por Nuestro Orgullo (PUñO), a Pilsen Neighbors Community Council task force, hosted one of several Migra Watch trainings that have been running since June. 

This training session, organized in collaboration with City Bureau, brought in attendees who cited: wanting to learn how to support immigrant families in their communities, becoming better educated on the issue, and plugging into a potential network for grocery and rental assistance for immigrants who are scared to leave their homes as reasons for coming to the session.

Personal ties to immigration and the fallout from enforcement policies were anonymously expressed on Post-it notes and placed on tables in the center of the cafeteria. “My dad is an immigrant + his whole family immigrated here from Colombia, so as a Latina woman + a person who wants to protect others – it is important to me”, detailed one attendee. Another wrote, “ICE broke up my family. F— em!”  

Once the session began, organizers from PUñO presented information on legislative and judicial protections—including the difference between a signed judicial warrant and an administrative order—enforcement tactics, how to distinguish ICE from the Chicago Police Department and other federal agencies, and key phrases to memorize in Spanish. A walkthrough of how to record ICE activity was followed by volunteers from the audience role-playing a situation in which they may encounter and record ICE. 

After the presentation finished, those who lived in Pilsen were invited to join and train for PUñO’s neighborhood Migra Watch and rapid response teams. 

Mimi Guiracocha, an organizing lead with PUñO, emphasized PUñO’s ability to respond to the needs of Pilsen’s immigrant community as a coalition of many organizations contributing to the work.

“We have churches … social service groups, … individual organizing groups, politicians, elected officials that are part of this work,” Guiracocha said. “...We're able to do all the parts of our response, from the legal support to the advocacy efforts to the rapid response to ... direct support with people and getting them groceries or helping them with dropping off kids.”

Throughout October, ​​Pilsen Defense & Access launched a fundraiser benefitting the work of PUñO. Funds were used to print and distribute Know Your Rights Materials, provide equipment and supplies for the Migra Watch team, and according to PUñO’s Instagram, assist 30 local families with groceries and food support. 

The following week, Whistlemania I, an event organized by Belmont Cragin United, took place at several locations throughout the Northwest and West sides. Belmont Cragin restaurants and businesses in Avondale, Logan Square, Portage Park, Austin, and Hermosa hosted hundreds of volunteers. All seven locations reached capacity.

The success of this first event kicked off a follow-up event, Whistlemania II. Whistlemania II took place in 47 different locations and surrounding suburbs, with the majority held on Oct. 29, according to a Facebook post from Alonso Zaragoza, co-founder of Belmont Cragin United. Additional whistle assembly events were hosted in Elgin, IL, on Nov. 8, Elmhurst, IL, on Nov. 12, and in the Rogers Park neighborhood on Nov. 6.

Volunteers at Pizzeria Martello’s in Hermosa assembled kits that included whistles, ACLU of Arizona Know Your Rights pamphlets, a zine explaining how to use whistles to alert neighbors of ICE activity, and a script card that both citizens and non-citizens may use to assert their 4th and 5th Amendment rights. All written materials were provided in English and Spanish. 

Christina John, a resident of West Logan Square, spoke about attending the event. “I wanted to help volunteer and do the practical part of it, but also just connect with the neighborhood more,” John said. “I live by Rico Fresh, a grocery store where there was a huge incident last weekend outside of Funston Elementary.” 

The northside nonprofit, Asian Americans Advancing Justice Chicago, organized a virtual Safety Planning and Risk Assessment workshop as a part of the coalition’s A Just Chi campaign. The workshop, held on Oct. 15, was one of the campaign’s monthly general meetings. Around 50 participants were split into breakout groups to analyze their overall risk from federal enforcement initiatives through self-assessment and reflection.  

“I think it's really important for us to take a step back and really think about what our vulnerabilities [are], what our capacities [are], and what … threats … are outside of that … how do we then engage with the actions that are happening in our lives”, asked Anooshka Gupta, the Organizing Manager at Advancing Justice Chicago.

Advancing Justice Chicago also hosts Know Your Rights training and canvassing events in the Uptown/Edgewater area, where they're located. According to Gupta, around 70 people were in attendance, and an additional 20 people arrived to canvass on Sunday, Oct. 19. 

A Know Your Rights event for local businesses was held at the Vietnamese Association of Illinois on Oct. 21. “Business owners from all around the surrounding area came to see what they could do with their businesses for Know Your Rights purposes”, said Gupta. “I would say that there has been a big appetite for it.”   

*This piece was edited with support from Liana Ordonez and Gemma Mueller, part of 15 West’s Reporting/Editing Internship.