Igor told me about Palatine protests and showed his photos, and it was only later that I saw the news about the incident that prompted the anti-police rally. The news cited “about 20 people,” but since I already saw Igor’s photos, I knew there were way more people.

I am really proud of Palatine’s community, and I feel that our family contributed our small part to Palatine being vocal about any injustices.

Below is Igor’s article from Journal and Topics about the rally, and I think it explains everything perfectly. My Palatine friends, you rock!

Palatine Rally Urges Accountability, Denounces ICE

By Igor Studenkov

on October 30, 2025

Protesters line up along Hicks Road, in front of the Palatine police station, to denounce ICE presence and urging Palatine Police not to aid ICE agents (photo by Igor Studenkov/Journal & Topics Reporter)

About 110 people, mostly from Palatine, rallied in front of the Palatine Police Station on Tuesday (Oct. 28) after a Palatine police officer reportedly helped Immigration and Customs Enforcement detain a man outside La Rosita Fresh Market grocery store.

The incident took place on Monday (Oct. 27) at around 11:50 a.m. According to witness accounts and a village of Palatine statement issued later the same day, three federal immigration officers attempted to arrest a 24-year-old man. A police officer who responded to the incident ended up holding the detained man’s wrist as the federal agents cuffed him. 

To the protesters, the incident represented a violation of the Illinois Trust Act, a 2017 state law that limits, but doesn’t fully prohibit, local and state law enforcement from cooperating with federal agencies on immigration-related enforcement. And, for many protesters, this was an opportunity to protest against ICE’s increasingly aggressive tactics throughout the Northwest suburbs.

According to the Palatine Police Department, the officer responded to a call about “three individuals wearing police insignia” who were “attempting to arrest a customer.” They said that,  by the time the officers arrived, “a crowd of approximately 20 people had gathered, with several individuals shouting obscenities and moving toward the arresting agents.”

“A Palatine police officer positioned himself between the agents and the crowd to ensure the safety of everyone involved and to maintain order at the scene,” the police department stated.

The Trust Act states that “law enforcement agency or official may not participate, support, or assist in any capacity with an immigration agent’s enforcement operations” when it comes to federal law civil violations such as alleged immigration law violations.

The village defended the officer’s actions as necessary under the circumstances. “Given the subject’s noncompliance, the agitated crowd, and the potential risk of injury, the officer made a split-second decision to assist in stabilizing the situation,” the statement said. “The officer provided verbal instructions in Spanish to the subject and grasped the subject’s right arm, which was already being handcuffed, while agents secured the left arm helping to bring the incident to a safe and peaceful resolution.”

La Rosita manager Rosie Perez, who attended the rally, told the Journal & Topics that the man “kept saying that he had a work permit,” but that the federal agents ignored him. Over the past two months, ICE has detained immigrants who had legal status and even U.S. citizens. 

Perez said that the man had a wife and a young child, and she and her friends were planning to reach to them to get them “groceries, diapers, whatever is needed.”

The rally kicked off at 4:30 p.m., with most of the protesters assembling on the left side of the driveway to the police station on Hicks Road. While most of the protesters left by 5:30 p.m., a few stuck around until 6 p.m. The marchers received plenty of supportive honks from passing cars, trucks and even school buses, but the rally wasn’t without counter-protesters.

A van with a Trump 2024 flag hanging out the window drives past the protesters in front of the Palatine police station (Photo by Igor Studenkov/Journal & Topics Reporter)

Two people in a white van drove by waving a Trump flag at around 5 p.m., and returned about 17 minutes later. A brief confrontation ensued as a woman in the passenger side front seat shouted at the protesters. A Palatine police car drove up and placed itself between the van and the protesters. The van soon drove off and didn’t return. 

Jenny Levin, of Palatine, running for 51st District state representative as a Democrat, told the Journal & Topics that she joined the rally because “our community doesn’t need ICE to make people feel unsafe and take people away from their homes.” She said that what she wants is accountability.

“Transparency is very important,” Levin said. “We need to be able to trust our police officers, and that comes with transparency. If there was an incident, it needs to be investigated. The Trust Act obviously needs to be upheld. Masked people who show up and say they’re federal agents — there’s no trust and accountability there.”

Photo by Igor Studenkov/Journal & Topics Reporter

Hugh Brady, of unincorporated Palatine Township, walked around with a large American flag. He said that, as he saw it, people wearing masks and no badges taking people off the street was fundamentally un-American.

“If they have due process, the court can find out if [the immigrants] are legally in the country or not,” he said. “Without due process, ICE is kidnappers.”

Kelly Travers, of Palatine, said that she simply wanted police and ICE to follow the law.

“Regardless of how someone came into this country, everybody should be treated fairly,” she said.

Travers said she hasn’t seen ICE activity in her part of Palatine — but, to her, that’s beside the point.

“That doesn’t deter me from spreading the message,” she said. “Just because it doesn’t affect me doesn’t mean I shouldn’t speak out. Basically, we want to feel safe in our own community. Everybody deserves that.”

Carol Murray came from Arlington Heights to offer support.

“I’m just very upset [about] what’s happening to immigrants in my community,” she said. “ICE is very cruel, and I just find it so un-American, to be so cruel to someone who came here to find a better life.”

Laura Hurtado, of Palatine, said that being Hispanic and dealing with ICE raids has been exhausting. 

“We’re just tired of seeing injustice on the streets of Palatine, and we’re tired of being targeted because of our skin color and police not doing anything about it,” she said. “It’s a nightmare. I just want to make it clear that immigrants pay taxes, and we pay the police budget [through taxes], and I hope they don’t forget that.”

As the crowd started to thin, Hurtado struck a defiant note.

“My community is tired and scared, and we’re here, standing strong,” she said. “And we’re not going to let racism win.”