ICE operations expected to begin in Chicago on Saturday as Mexican Independence Day celebrations are canceled
Communities across Chicago are preparing for Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids to begin as soon as today with some Mexican Independence Day events canceled in anticipation.
For weeks, President Donald Trump and his administration have said Chicago is their next target in fulfilling the president’s mass deportation agenda. But they’ve provided few details.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has said he and other city officials were expecting ICE operations to begin as early as Saturday morning – though the Trump administration has not communicated its exact timing.
Pritzker had already warned Chicago communities that he believed ICE was coordinating raids in tandem with Mexican Independence Day celebrations in the city, which are to begin on Saturday with a parade in the Pilsen neighborhood.
While the Pilsen parade is still scheduled to go ahead, officials said there would be more volunteers “maintaining vigilance” and keeping an eye out for immigration law enforcement.
But other celebrations have been postponed or canceled in light of the potential immigration raids.
Organizers of El Grito Chicago, a two-day festival in the downtown area, said they were postponing the event that was set to begin September 13.
“To proceed in spite of the advice we’ve received directly from city and state officials and potentially expose our community to becoming collateral damage would be irresponsible,” German Gonzalez, the El Grito Chicago organizer, said in a statement. “That’s a risk we are not willing to take.”
Organizers of the Wauconda Latin Heritage Festival said they were canceling the September 13 event in light of the potential ICE raids. Wauconda is a village in the north suburbs of Chicago and approximately 20 percent of its population is Hispanic or Latino, according to the 2020 census.
Little Village, a neighborhood with a high concentration of Mexican–Americans, said its parade scheduled for September 14 would still occur but with increased private security, immigration lawyers, and a rapid response team for immigration raids. Plans could change quickly, though, depending on how aggressive the immigration raids are and the city’s response.
Earlier this year, protests erupted in downtown Los Angeles when the Trump administration sent ICE into communities with higher populations of Hispanic residents. While the protests were mostly peaceful, the minor disruption they caused the city led the president to deploy the National Guard and Marines to protect ICE officials.
The Independent has asked ICE for comment.
