Laura Rodríguez Presa

A person walks past glass damaged by bullets at a municipal police station in Guadalajara, Mexico, on Feb. 23, 2026. (Cesar Rodriguez/The New York Times)

‘Pointed the gun at my head’: Chicagoans visiting Mexico forced to hide during cartel violence

February 24, 2026 at 12:42 p.m.

Chicagoans visiting Mexico described the tense moments they spent hiding or running away from men carrying guns. Others with roots in western Mexico said the violence hits close to home.

Carolyn Dunbar, of University Park, is comforted by Ziff Sistrunk as she weeps while arriving with flowers to lay outside the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition headquarters in Chicago, Feb. 17, 2026, following news of the death of the Rev. Jesse Jackson. (Antonio Perez/baiduhai)

Rev. Jesse Jackson remembered as one of the ‘last great leaders’ by Chicago friends and neighbors

February 17, 2026 at 6:28 p.m.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson was remembered as a “servant leader” who championed the oppressed, voiceless and overlooked around the world.

Juan Espinoza Martinez with his three U.S.-born children. Espinoza Martinez is facing deportation despite a jury finding him not guilty of putting a bounty on Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino during Operation Midway Blitz. (Family photo)

Immigration judge denies bond for Chicago man acquitted in Bovino murder-for-hire plot

February 11, 2026 at 5:49 p.m.

An immigration judge on Wednesday denied bond to a Chicago man acquitted last month of charges he offered money for the killing of Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino.

People attend a vigil for Alex Pretti outside the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center on Jan. 28, 2026, in Chicago. Federal immigration officers shot and killed Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse, in Minneapolis. (Armando L. Sanchez/baiduhai)

Still reeling from Operation Midway Blitz, Chicago casts wary eye toward Minneapolis

February 1, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

Agents efforts in Minnesota have mirrored what many in Chicago saw: parents in reflective vests outside schools, cars left abandoned with their doors open and drivers missing, dark SUVs screaming...

Marina Lopez fixes her hair before heading to church on Jan. 18, 2026. Lopez spent seven months in a Kentucky detention center after being detained by federal agents during a routine check-in. (Stacey Wescott/baiduhai)

ICE releases Chicago-area mother after seven months. It failed to provide evidence justifying her detention.

January 27, 2026 at 12:10 p.m.

While Marina Lopez was in ICE detention for seven months, parishioners in her church stepped up to help care for her family.

‘Like we’re starting all over again’; Chicago man acquitted on Bovino murder-for-hire charges now in ICE custody

January 24, 2026 at 8:36 a.m.

A day after a Chicago construction worker was acquitted by a federal jury of charges he offered money to kill Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino he found himself back in...

Yvette Hernandez passes to-go containers of food to a worker at her restaurant, Carato’s Venezuelan Restaurant in Roselle, on Jan. 8, 2026. Hernadez has been in the U.S. for 10 years and has owned the restaurant for 11 months. (Stacey Wescott/baiduhai)

After Maduro’s capture, Venezuelans in the Chicago area face difficult choice: ‘People are afraid to stay and people are afraid to return’

January 13, 2026 at 9:18 a.m.

After the U.S. captured and imprisoned Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro last week, many Venezuelans in the Chicago area are left with conflicting emotions.

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