Immigration news in Chicago

FILE – Migrants congregate on the banks of the Rio Grande at the U.S. border with Mexico on Dec. 20, 2022, where members of the Texas National Guard cordoned off a gap in the U.S. border wall. (AP Photo/Morgan Lee, File)

How Trump’s immigration crackdown sparked a backlash that could boomerang in the midterms

By Nicholas Riccardi

October 29, 2026 at 6:20 a.m.

President Donald Trump’s effort to fulfill his promises on immigration has turned into a backlash,...

Pope Leo XIV greets members of the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership on Oct. 28, 2026, at the Vatican. (Vatican Media)

Chicago clergy meet with Pope Leo XIV to advocate for immigrants detained in Broadview ICE facility

By Rebecca Johnson

October 29, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

About 30 Chicago-area clergy, religious leaders and laypeople met with Pope Leo Wednesday to advocate...

FILE – The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement website, used to locate someone in immigration detention, is displayed on Sept. 21, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Rachel Leathe, File)

Lawsuit seeks to block ICE from hiding locations of detainees with final removal orders

By Ryan J. Foley

October 28, 2026 at 12:07 p.m.

Groups that provide legal services to immigrants filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking to stop the...

A “Fall Risk” alert bracelet marks the walker of Anna Fischbein as she speaks about the loss of a beloved Haitian home health care worker whose Temporary Protected Status expired this week, during an interview in her apartment, Thursday, July 30, 2026, in Sunny Isles Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell).

Immigration crackdown threatens Haitian caregivers and the seniors who rely on them

By Gisela Salomon

July 31, 2026 at 8:32 a.m.

As the Trump administration unwinds years of protections for hundreds of thousands of people from...

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita talks at a press conference at DriveCo CDL Learning Center in Gary on Thursday, July 30, 2026. Rokita said his office is launching "a serious lawsuit" against the Merrillville Town Council for expressing opposition to a potential ICE detention center in the town. (Maya Wilkins/Post-Tribune)

Indiana AG suing Merrillville for opposing potential ICE facility

By Maya Wilkins

July 30, 2026 at 4:14 p.m.

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita has taken further action in a dispute with the Merrillville,...

Illinois state Rep. Lilian Jiménez answers a question during the State Innovation Exchange (SiX) press conference about a national push for state legislation allowing lawsuits against ICE on July 29, 2026. (Eileen T. Meslar/baiduhai)

Illinois lawmakers seek families hurt by courthouse immigration arrests as more states weigh right-to-sue laws

By Olivia Olander

July 30, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

Illinois elected officials in the Latino Caucus and allied advocates are seeking to connect families...

Venezuelan migrant brothers Alfredo Pacheco, left, and José Gregorio González walk out of their apartment in Cicero before driving to University of Illinois Hospital for kidney transplant surgery on Aug. 14, 2025. Gregorio Gonzalez was released from ICE custody to donate a kidney to his brother on April 4, 2025. (Antonio Perez/baiduhai)

ICE detains Venezuelan man who had been released on humanitarian parole to donate kidney to brother

By Laura Rodríguez Presa

July 29, 2026 at 8:07 p.m.

Jose Gregorio Gonzalez, a Venezuelan migrant who was temporarily released from ICE detention last year...

Danny Greer, left, Forest Park Mayor Rory Hoskins, Cordell Walls and Darren Eichler, right, hold a press conference in Forest Park, Oct. 13, 2025, after Greer, Walls and Eichler, all employees of Concordia Cemetery, were detained for hours by federal agents while on private property on Oct. 7, 2025. (Terrence Antonio James/baiduhai)

Forest Park cemetery workers arrested during Operation Midway Blitz seek damages

By Caroline Kubzansky

July 29, 2026 at 5:08 p.m.

A pair of west suburban cemetery workers who were detained at the height of Operation...

Activists celebrate the Supreme Court’s birthright citizenship ruling outside of the Supreme Court on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, June 30, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Deadline passes for Trump to ask Supreme Court to reconsider birthright citizenship ruling

By Lindsay Whitehurst

July 28, 2026 at 7:30 p.m.

The deadline passed Tuesday for the Trump administration to ask the Supreme Court to reconsider...

Gas is deployed as a vehicle of federal agents backs down the 3300 block of North Lakewood Avenue in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood on Oct. 24, 2025. (Alyson Lewis)

Lakeview man sues feds over immigration raid on his home during Operation Midway Blitz

By Caroline Kubzansky

July 28, 2026 at 4:40 p.m.

It has been nearly nine months since a group of agents pulled up on Leo...

A sign marks the entrance to a series of hardened tents at the Camp East Montana immigrant detention center in the desert at a U.S. Army base on the outskirts of El Paso, Texas, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Morgan Lee)

ICE extends no-bid contract for major detention center in Texas, rejecting calls for closure

By Ryan J. Foley

July 27, 2026 at 2:24 p.m.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to keep one of its largest and most expensive...

Chicago police Chief of Patrol Jon Hein answers questions from City Council members during a committee meeting on April 30, 2025, about teen curfews. (Antonio Perez/baiduhai)

Ex-chief of patrol cleared of wrongdoing in follow-up to Border Patrol shooting

By Caroline Kubzansky

July 27, 2026 at 1:16 p.m.

Chicago police investigators have closed a probe into former Chief of Patrol Jon Hein's actions...

Sisters Claudia, left, and Gabi Siemionkowicz stand in Claudia’s Des Plaines backyard on July 16, 2026, where their mother, Beata Siemionkowicz, was detained by ICE while gardening last August. Beata Siemionkowicz, a U.S. green card holder from Poland, has been in ICE custody since then. (Brian Cassella/baiduhai)

Illinois woman with green card has been detained by ICE for 12 months. Her daughters plead for her release.

By Allison Kiehl

July 27, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

ICE arrested Beata Siemionkowicz, a Poland native and green card holder of more than two...