As raids intensify across the city and suburbs, students share their observations and fears about federal immigration enforcement.

Hosted by Jesse Leon. Produced by Aidan Johnson. Additional reporting by Carlos Alanis-Avila, Marc Balbarin, Jaylen Barlow, Will Blakley, Madison Blancas, Matt Brady, Michael Cortez, Mya DeJesus, Stuart Doperalski, Jazlynn Edwards, Michael Ferguson, Shawn Katz, Andrew Kennett, Kate Julianne Larroder, Rico Mays, Vasileia McFadyen, Zahra Sandhu and Frida Scheffler-Gonzalez.

Transcript:

0:07: Welcome back to the Chronicle Chronversations. 

 0:10: I’m your guest host Jesse Leon. 

 0:13: Tension is rising across Chicago’s neighborhoods as federal immigration raids intensify. 

 0:19: In recent weeks, agents from immigration and custom enforcements have staged operations across the city and suburbs, sometimes before dawn, sometimes in broad daylight, leaving families fearful and communities on edge. 

 0:35: What began as a targeted enforcement has now expanded into a wave of arrests and confrontations with reports of agents using increasingly aggressive tactics, neighbors are fighting back and filming encounters on their phones. 

 1:00: We talked to students on Columbia’s campus about ICE in Chicago and any fears they may have. 

 1:08: I think ICE being here has really drained my mental state a lot. 

 1:12: I think it’s diabolical, let’s be for real. 

 1:15: I think they’re overstepping and what they’re doing is quite insane to be honest. 

 1:21: I’m not, I’m, I’m not the biggest fan. 

 1:23: Like, it’s honestly pretty scary. 

 1:25: I don’t live in the city, but I live like around 30 minutes away. 

 1:30: And every night I just hear helicopters like going around my place. 

 1:35: My family, they came here from Asia, and they feel like they’re at risk of being deported to. 

 1:43: I couldn’t leave for some days. 

 1:46: I had to miss some classes for them some days because, you know, there’s like the, the trucks are just like around the corner, so I couldn’t really leave. 

 1:55: yeah, it’s, it’s been really hard. 

 1:58: I’m a citizen, I was born here. 

 2:00: But they don’t see that, they just, they just see another brown kid just walking around. 

 2:05: I’m definitely in a place of privilege within this whole situation, so I know I feel safer than other people feel, but I feel like if any of our neighbors are feeling unsafe, then we’re all unsafe. 

 2:18: This episode was produced by Aidan Johnson. 

 2:21: I’m Jesse Leon. 

 2:23: Thanks for listening. 

Copy edited by Mya DeJesus