In his campaign to return to the White House, then-candidate Donald Trump relied on a familiar tactic: weaponizing immigration to energize his base and vilify entire communities. The president’s rhetoric and policies have long relied on fear, and with the help of his so-called “Border Czar” Tom Homan, that pattern is repeating itself.
Homan, officially the executive associate director of enforcement and removal operations, wasted no time reigniting a combative stance on immigration enforcement, claiming that cities targeted by the administration were obstructing efforts to arrest what he called “criminals.” He singled out Chicago, accusing our city of training residents to “defy ICE, how to hide from ICE.” It’s an accusation steeped in exaggeration and meant to inflame.
Since then, Chicago residents have reported a visible uptick in Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity. Community organizers say raids have become a near-weekly occurrence, culminating most recently in early-morning detentions on June 4, according to advocates with the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program.
In Los Angeles, ICE operations sparked widespread protests — and the administration responded with escalation. Following those demonstrations, President Trump called up 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines, ostensibly to protect federal agents. But critics, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, saw it for what it was: a political show of force designed to provoke, not protect. Newsom called the move “purposely inflammatory” and warned that it would “erode public trust.” He filed for a restraining order, and federal district court judge Charles R. Breyer declared President Trump’s actions illegal, issuing an order late Thursday, June 11 blocking the president from sending National Guard troops and putting them back under the command of the governor. That decision was immediately overturned on appeal, and a hearing has now been scheduled for next Tuesday, June 17.
Trump isn’t just reviving his immigration agenda. He’s using it, once again, as a political cudgel — one that relies not on solutions but on stoking fear and deepening division.
Like Newsom, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has spoken against the raids and encouraged residents to “rise up in this moment” in his weekly City Hall press conference, the Sun-Times reported.
When I first moved to the U.S., my parents would hand me government documents while they worked on other forms asking me to translate as much as I could. I was only a kid, barely eight years old, trying to make sense of papers like the N-400 and N-600. I still don’t know what those forms fully meant, but I do know the weight they carry.
It was a grueling, years-long process filled with anxiety and mental and financial expense. I didn’t even do a fraction of the work yet I still remember the stress. I can’t even imagine what it was like for my parents — arriving in a new country in their 40s, learning a new language and trying to assimilate to a completely different culture while taking care of two kids.
Despite all that I was lucky. I am privileged enough to have been able to do the entire process legally and without the constant threat of deportation. The people being removed from the country this past week are not as lucky and the people that remain are living in constant fear of losing yet another family member or loved one to the cold hand of Trump’s unconstitutional immigration policy.
Your immigrant neighbors need you now. Not later, not when the political climate has leveled, not when it will get you more likes on your Instagram story. They need you now. If history has taught us anything, it’s that it looks back on those who stayed silent as cowards. Some ways to actually make a difference are to support local organizations that deal with legal aid, show up to protests, vote in every local election; not just the major ones, donate to nonprofits and much more. When people look back on this period of time they won’t look to see if you had a perfect response, they’ll see if you had any response at all.
The people of Chicago are already making their voices heard with thousands turning out for protests this week, which were largely peaceful.
It’s important to note that President Trump’s mission statement regarding immigration was to get rid of drug traffickers, gangbangers, rapists and murderers. But they are actively arresting hard-working immigrants, many of whom are doing the legal process of naturalization, a process which I know to be an incredibly strenuous and anxiety-inducing process and claiming to the public that they are simply criminals.
They are raiding schools during graduation ceremonies; they are raiding hardware stores, they are raiding whole communities. A government that actively attacks flourishing communities, is one that is built entirely on hatred and misinformation.
Ask yourself how you would feel if your parents were kidnapped in broad daylight and dumped at the border.
Ask yourself how the children whose parents are being stripped from them are going to grow up in an already defunct foster care system.
Know your history or be prepared to relive it.
Copy edited by Vanessa Orozco
