With Commander Gregory Bovino back in the region, Chicago activists draw on hard-won lessons to shield immigrants from renewed enforcement.
Alonso Zaragoza knew it would be a shot in the dark when he proposed a whistle packing event in early October. He had seen news reports of whistles being used in Los Angeles to warn community members of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity, and thought the idea could translate to his community of Belmont Cragin as it faced Trump’s anti-immigration campaign, “Operation Midway Blitz.”
Zaragoza reached out to a local Mexican restaurant, Pozoleria El Mexicano that, like many in Chicago’s Latine neighborhoods, had been struggling in the preceding weeks as fears of immigration enforcement kept customers away. In hosting a whistle packing event at Pozoleria El Mexicano, Zaragoza saw an opportunity to connect volunteers while drawing much needed customers to the local business.
More than 400 people showed up to Zaragoza’s event, filling the restaurant and overflowing out of its doors.
“I had the idea of just scaling up,” said Zaragoza, who runs a resource and advocacy network called Belmont Cragin United. “What if we chose several businesses in and around the Belmont Cragin area – north, east, west and south of us – just to create some kind of barrier or shield.”
A series of “Whistlemania” events followed, first expanding to other businesses in the Northwest side, then spreading across Chicago and out into suburbs like Lombard and Skokie. This year, volunteers at these events produced and distributed more than 100,000 packets of whistles and Know Your Rights cards, placing them in pockets throughout the greater Chicago area.
The siren sound of whistles is now a familiar tune across Chicago. Their cry – in a broken rhythm to indicate the presence of ICE or U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), or as a continuous blare to signal someone is being detained – has created a community warning system that has effectively protected targets of immigration enforcement.
“It can be a small piece of plastic but it’s significant if shared with education and awareness,” said Monica S, an organizer behind a Whistlemania initiative called “Project Whistledown.”
Since the Trump administration commenced Midway Blitz in early September, similar stories of grassroots resistance efforts have echoed across Chicago.
Rapidly mobilized Signal chats and social media groups reported on ICE movements, with one Facebook group accumulating nearly 80 thousand members before being suspended at the request of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Local organizations like the Logan Square based Palenque LSNA (Liberating Spaces through Neighborhood Action) formed Rapid Response Watch teams of volunteers trained to identify ICE and CBP officers, deploying them throughout Chicago. Their efforts have helped to monitor and share, via social media and messaging networks, real-time updates on immigration enforcement’s movements throughout Chicago.
The efforts provided a brief respite when about 200 CBP officers departed Chicago with Commander Gregory Bovino on November 13. One month later, Bovino and his caravan have returned, making clear that Midway Blitz is far from over.
As Chicago faces another wave of anti-immigration activity – which some sources from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security have said will ramp up to 1,000 CBP officers come spring 2026 – activists and allies can learn from tried and true strategies that have defended their communities from the reckless and, in many instances illegal, actions of immigration enforcement.
Protecting yourself, knowing your rights
Across Chicago, advocacy groups are equipping individuals and protestors with knowledge about their rights, as information to help them identify illegal conduct by ICE and CPB.
“They want to play the dirty game so you should also know how to defend yourself,” said Karina Nunez, a paralegal specializing in immigration law. Nunez outlined basic rights every person should know when confronted by ICE or CBP – regardless of immigration status, everyone has a right to an attorney, a right to silence and must be presented with a valid warrant before providing entry.
The power to keep ICE out
One tactic used by ICE officers to gain entry is presenting administrative warrants. But these warrants, which are created by ICE, do not allow for entry into private spaces, unlike judicial warrants.
Yara Lechuga, an immigration organizer with Palenque LSNA, stresses the importance of knowing the distinction. When leading Know Your Rights trainings, she notes data from Trump’s first administration that showed in 97% of cases ICE did not present a valid warrant for entry. “Our community, we have the power not to open the door,” said Lechuga.
Allies step forward to defend their neighbors
While the presence of immigration officers has not hit Chicago’s communities equally, the response to Midway Blitz has defied divisions of class, culture and geography.
“This happened in Lake County, in Evanston, in Skokie, in Elgin, in Aurora, in Naperville,” said Yohnka. “I think unless you’ve lived this and experienced this in the way we all have as Chicagoans, I don’t think that anybody else really understands how different and profound that really is.”
Beyond the 4,200 arrests reported by the DHS, Midway Blitz has rocked Latine communities as people have been afraid to shop at local businesses, attend work or even send their children to school.
Zaragoza understands the concern. One morning on his way to work he was cut off by an unmarked vehicle. Officers in military garb held him up for an hour and a half before allowing him to leave, an experience he described as “frustrating and disappointing.”
People with, as Zaragoza put it, “a little more resources and a little less fear,” can more safely participate in watchdog groups, canvass their communities or simply step up to support local businesses.
One major effort has been walking school buses, which have volunteers walk children to and from school to shield them from immigration enforcement.
“Our regular neighbors wouldn’t be able to participate because of the fact that federal agents are targeting people like me who are darker skin color,” Zaragoza said of walking school buses in his community of Belmont Cragin, which is over 75% Hispanic. During the heaviest crackdowns of immigration enforcement, Zaragoza said the efforts of allies are “providing a glimmer of hope.”
Connecting Chicagoans for good
The ties of community activism built throughout the past two months are now spreading beyond the scope of Midway Blitz. The patchwork of Signal chats and social media pages, created as warning systems, are now being used to spread word of food and toy drives, or to share advice on how to host social support events.
It is crystallizing into what Zaragoza has dubbed the “do-gooder network,” which he and other advocates hope to see live on even after immigration enforcement has left the city for good.
“We’re just connecting Chicagoans to other Chicagoans,” he said, “trying to do good for everybody.”
Further information on immigrants rights, including legal resources, can be found at ACLU Illinois.
To report ICE activity and receive immediate help call the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) hotline at 1-855-435-7693.