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CHICAGO (NewsNation) — Migrants in Chicago growing increasingly anxious as they prepare for potential mass deportation raids, which could start as early as Tuesday.
Monday President Donald Trump signed several orders related to immigration, including declaring a national emergency at the border.
According to The Wall Street Journalfour people familiar with the plan said the day after Trump’s inauguration that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will send “between 100 and 200 officers” to the operation.
In December, Trump’s incoming border czar, Tom Homan, told Chicagoans that the largest deportation operation in history would begin on Tuesday. However, it is uncertain whether the raids will begin as planned, given the extremely cold temperatures and the tracks surrounding the operation.
When can we expect to see mass deportations begin?
Federal immigration officials are expected to target more than 300 people in Chicago with histories of violent crimes, according to an official who spoke anonymously to NewsNation over the weekend.
In addition, Trump aides have indicated they may arrest others, such as spouses or roommates, who are not the primary target but are also in the country illegally. Still, Trump has given no specific timeline for the deportation.
“I don’t want to say when, but it’s going to happen. It has to happen or we won’t have a country left,” Trump said Monday when asked if the ICE raids would start Tuesday.
The Democratic governor of Illinois, JB Pritzker, emphasized that it is not acceptable for Americans to tear families apart, and claimed that the state will stand up for those affected. However, immigrant rights groups say hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants in Chicago are living in fear as raids loom.
How do undocumented Chicagoans prepare for potential raids?
Some churches in Chicago have canceled in-person services to protect churchgoers from potential immigration collections.
Meanwhile, immigrant groups have been handing out flyers and holding workshops to educate undocumented people about their rights.
Elena Barrera, who has lived in the Chicago area without legal status for nearly 27 years, shared her fears. A mother of three, including a 9-year-old, Barrera worries about the trauma her family would face if she were detained by ICE agents.
“(My son) doesn’t want to go to Mexico because he has his school here. He’s lived here all his life. He’s crying. Nothing has happened yet, but he’s already anxious. He’s thinking, “What do I want do without my mother?'” she said.
Organizations like the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights recommend that those who fear a raid not answer the door if ICE agents come knocking. They also encourage people to remember the phone numbers of their loved ones if their phones are taken during an arrest.
Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said city law prohibits Chicago police officers from coordinating with ICE.
Chicago Public Schools, the Chicago Transit Authority, the Chicago Park District and the Community Colleges of Chicago have all been told not to allow ICE access to any of their buildings.
Trump’s deportation plans are a ‘disgrace’: Pope Francis
On Sunday, Pope Francis appeared on a popular Italian talk show, “Che Tempo Che Fa,” where he called Trump’s mass deportation plans a “disgrace.”
“If true, this will be a disgrace because it makes poor wretches who have nothing foot the bill,” Francis said. “This will not do! This is not the way to solve things. This is not how things are solved.”
Bishop Robert Casey, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Chicago, has been a Catholic priest for 30 years.
“For all those 30 years, I’ve found myself living in a nation that has struggled with immigration reform,” said Casey, whose parents were immigrants. “I think it is important to recognize … what Pope Francis reminds us that we are dealing with people with faces and names. This is not just a question on paper.”
Casey added that people are scared and anxious because there is so much unknown about what to expect and when it will happen.
“For many of our immigrants, they have been able to build a life here and contribute greatly to the foundation on which our city is built, and they are at the core of who we are as a community and as churches,” said he. . “But at the same time, in the midst of that blessing, there is the challenge that people don’t want to welcome the stranger, who don’t want to welcome the migrant in our midst.”
