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So, Trump said officially that he is going to “leave Chicago” (and the other three Democratic cities) “for now,” although he is threatening to “come back if…”
I want to put it in writing in my journal today, when we have no way to know how it will play out later. That being said, I might be wrong, but today I want to say: we resist and we can achieve something. Long live Federalism! 😀
ICE is going away from Chicago! They didn’t like our winter rehearsal :), and now they want to return in March. Well, we can absolutely create a snowstorm in March!
I had a very disturbing conversation at work. One of my co-workers told us about his “buddy” who joined ICE. He was like “I just told him: don’t you dare to touch the kids,” but it didn’t seem like he was horrified with this confession. The rest of us were more disturbed, especially having two Latino co-workers present.
That first co-worker who mentioned his friend joining ICE, told us, that according to his friend, the pay was good, and he was getting three times more than otherwise (and if I recall correctly our earlier conversations, “otherwise” was police). So we are talking about three times of police pay, and also, they were getting 1.5K for each person arrested! No wonder they were snatching people off the streets! I went ahead with a speach about moral values, and others were like “how can he sleep at night?”
My Venesuelan co-worker, who voted for Trump, now uses each opportunity to tell me how much she regret it, and how instead of sending criminals out of the country, Trump is now detaining hard working good people, and my other co-workers do not even try to say something in opposition.
The Judge ordered to release most of people who were seized by ICE in Chicago.
And today was the first time in two months, that I saw a woman with a little girl tighed to her back, walking with a box of candies through the CTA car.
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!
Continue reading “Palatine Protests”Here is the article, and I agree with every word here!
What a difference a week makes.
Seven days ago, Ukraine’s supporters were watching on optimistically, as all signs pointed toward Donald Trump allowing Ukraine to acquire long-range Tomahawk missiles at a meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday.
Giving the green light for Ukraine to buy and use such powerful weapons would have dramatically increased the country’s firepower and ability to strike military infrastructure inside Russia.
But Trump, whose tone towards Russia had hardened since his Alaska Summit with Putin in August failed to produce any meaningful results, made a U-turn that few saw coming.
Zelensky’s most recent trip to Washington had a lot more in common with the notorious shouting match that took place in the Oval Office in February. On top of Trump’s withholding of weapons Ukraine needs, he returned to some of his old talking points. Most alarmingly, he insisted that any halt to fighting would mean Ukraine give up the Donbas region to Putin—an area Russia has failed to take total control of, despite 11 years of fighting.
According to a report in the FT, Trump told the Ukrainian leader that if he did not bow to Putin’s will, Ukraine would be “destroyed.” The meeting reportedly descended into a bad-tempered shouting match, with Trump throwing away maps of the frontline, repeatedly swearing, and echoing a Kremlin talking point that the invasion is a “special operation, not even a war.”
Trump held a surprise two-and-a-half-hour phone call with the Russian President Vladimir Putin while Zelensky was on his way to America.
During that call, Trump reportedly agreed to a second face-to-face summit with Putin, this time in Budapest. Hungary is one of Putin’s few allies in the West, and its Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, has repeatedly dug his heels in on Western efforts to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. To say it will be an embarrassment not just for Ukraine but many of its European allies is an understatement.
The meeting will allow Putin onto E.U. and NATO soil, where in theory he should be arrested given an ICC arrest warrant. The sight of Putin standing alongside the most powerful man in the world in a NATO country will instead likely be used as Kremlin propaganda—and another sign that Trump has once again been played for a fool by Putin.
For all the positive noises that have come each time Trump has made commitments to Ukraine, or encouraged NATO allies to spend more on defense, or apparently started to see Putin for who he really is, the facts speak for themselves. A BBC Verify report in August found that the number of Russian attacks on Ukraine has doubled since Trump’s inauguration. In recent weeks, mounting drone incursions have even brazenly entered NATO skies.
Trump’s desire for the war to end seems sincere. He has also made no secret of his wish to win a Nobel Peace Prize. But if the war in Ukraine ends with the nation’s future largely in the hands of its invader, the very idea that Trump is deserving of the prize would be a dishonor.
The Russian President is a man who lives by the axiom: give an inch, take a mile. When the Obama Administration let down Syria, Putin was more than happy to intervene there to prop up his ally Bashar al-Assad. The West’s decision to turn the other cheek after Putin annexed Crimea in 2014 may have also emboldened him to launch his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Putin scoring another summit with Trump is a diplomatic coup. So is Trump’s decision to renege on Tomahawks for Ukraine and swing back to Putin’s way of thinking.
A version of Occam’s razor—that the simplest explanation for a phenomenon is probably correct—applies here. If Trump continues to reward Putin and punish Kyiv, Putin will most likely further escalate in Ukraine and test the West.
There is still hope that Trump may swing back to Ukraine, and heeding Zelensky’s call for an additional 25 U.S. Patriot anti-missile batteries is a good start.
Those closest to the U.S. President should urge Trump to do more for Ukraine, and stress that his current strategy is making Putin look smarter and stronger than Trump’s America.
For a man who cares about optics, that may be Ukraine’s best hope.
Today was “No Kings!” Rally day, and unfortunately, I was unable to attend the rally, because I am leaving on my two-week trip today. Technically speaking, I could, but it was risky, since I was unsure how fast I would be able to get out of the Loop back to Rogers Park. I might have tried, if I had no other things to do today, but I had, and I had to see mom before departure, and if I told her that I was planning to arrive before 11, she would have a sleepless night. I know there were enough people there (Igor texted me that it was as many people as at the Women’s March in 2017, and judging by the Tribune photos, at least that!)
So now, sitting at the AA lounge at ORD, I wanted to write something that was on my mind for over a week. When “all this” started, I was horrified not only with what exactly started, but mainly with the fact that everyone seemed to be paralyzed with fear, and not protesting.
And finally, this spell was broken. I can’t tell how happy I am with people’s movement. Since I firmly believe that thoughts are material, I firmly believe that since so many people, including myself, were wishing for the court to rule in our favor against Trump, since so many people self-organized and watched out for their neighbors, this collective power of thoughts, wills and actions made the world turn around.
I’ve experienced it several times in my lifetime: if everyone stands up, no government can shut down this protest. The only time during my lifetime when it worked in Russia was in August 1991, when everyone got out on the streets, when people were unstoppable. The Communist Party activists were haphazardly burning the papers in Smolny, fearful of people banging on the gates.
Last time. The only time.
Trump is going to the upper courts, but so far, it’s a firm “no” on all levels. I know it’s not the end of it, but it’s more and more evident that he is in a war with the people, and nobody can win a war with the people, except temporarily.
Copying the pictures from the Tribune before I am completely disconnected from their website while being abroad. I look at these pictures, and my heart is filled with immense pride for my city. The best. The kindest. The warmest. The strongest.
Not only do we have a great governor in Illinois, we also have a great Attorney General (even though his office gives me a lot of grief with my non-profit registration):
We are still waiting to see the result of this power struggle, and I hear helicopters over Lake Michigan every evening.
The Mayor was not silent either, and that’s what we need these days: call it what it is, a war on Chicago, not “special operation.”
Mayor Brandon Johnson delivered forceful rhetoric Monday against what he dubbed President Donald Trump’s “war on Chicago,” but offered few concrete answers about how to stop it ahead of an expected deployment of hundreds of National Guard troops to the area in support of the federal government’s deportation campaign targeting the nation’s third-largest city.
Speaking at a news conference on the West Side in which he signed an executive order he said would deter U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Johnson told Chicagoans to stand together against the White House’s mounting threats of a military occupation.
His latest line in the sand came after weeks of roiling standoffs between federal immigration agents and protesters in Chicago and Broadview, where a suburban ICE facility has become ground zero for the local response against Trump’s “Operation Midway” deportation blitz.
“In the coming days and weeks, we may be pushed, if not forced, to take even more dramatic action if this administration continues to escalate and provoke our people,” Johnson told reporters. Pressed to elaborate, he said, “Everything. Everything, whatever is necessary to ensure that we’re protecting people.”
Yes, I am very well aware that many people live in real war zones, and it might be insulting to them to call the current Chicago situation “the war zone,” but there are too many episodes that feel a lot like it.
When Y visited me yesterday, we talked about the raids; I knew that she was very reluctant to travel across the city when things are so unstable. I asked her why she was afraid – after all, ICE is mainly going after Latinos, but she replied: Oh no, they take Black people as well!
Now, that I watched several news clips, I see what she meant!
I am unsure whether YouTube pieces are visible to people outside the US, but if they are, you would understand the public outrage. Also, here is a SunTimes article (this one should be available to non-subscribers).
When the ICE agents jump from the helicopter to the roof of the building to conduct arrests, I don’t know what else I can add to this picture.
Also, as it turned out, Trump did not deploy the National Guard to Chicago (it was very confusing on the evening news yesterday, so today’s update is that he wants, but the deployment is temporarily blocked by the Federal Court, so we are unsure what will happen next).
I spoke with Vlad and Dylan today; they are following the Chicago news and say they stay optimistic, trying to do the right things. They told me that National Guards actually do less harm than ICE, because they are professionally trained military people, while ICE personnel are extremely unprofessional, receive very little training, and just show off. And I second that.
The Chicago Threads are filled with messages of support for Chicago, and “stay strong!” and “there are more of us than them.” All of this gives me a lot of hope, and reassurence that we will win this fight.
Copying from Sunday Tribune, because th world shoul now.
Residents watch while Gregory Bovino, chief U.S. Border Patrol agent, second from left, and other federal officers finish their march along North Clark Street by the Newberry Library in Chicago’s Gold Coast on Sept. 28, 2025, as part of an immigration blitz show of force. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
By Adriana Pérez | adperez@chicagotribune.com | Chicago Tribune and Cam’ron Hardy | chardy@chicagotribune.com
UPDATED: September 29, 2025 at 10:34 AM CDT
Dozens of federal immigration agents were seen patrolling downtown Chicago Sunday afternoon.
Social media livestreams showed agents in front of Tribune Tower on North Michigan Avenue and in front of Millennium Park, detaining individuals. They also showed several U.S. Customs and Border Protection boats on the Chicago River.
The video of the agents walking in clusters downtown was recorded by lawyer Berto Aguayo, advising undocumented individuals to stay away and to be aware of their rights.
After sightings near Millennium Park and the Riverwalk downtown, the dozens of federal immigration agents — most of them wearing camouflage uniforms with U.S. Border Patrol patches — made their way up to the Gold Coast — a primarily white, affluent neighborhood — in the early afternoon, flanking the sidewalks of Clark Street.
Roughly 20 bystanders and passersby started following the officers, chanting “ICE, go home!” The agents stopped at the intersection with Oak Street. Several got in vans that drove away. For another 15 minutes, the crowd of protesters around them grew bigger, yelling “shame.”
A shrill whistle cut through the noise repeatedly.
Some of the civilians present confronted Gregory Bovino, the chief U.S. Border Patrol agent, who joined on the patrol.
When asked by the Tribune how many agents had been patrolling downtown Sunday, Bovino said, “a lot.”
Bovino declined to answer any additional questions from the Tribune. When he and the last of the agents drove away, protesters celebrated with applause and cheers. “The people, united, will never be defeated!” they intoned.
Present on Sunday was Enrique Espinoza, an attorney and member of the Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois, who said the agents’ presence downtown was performative.
Espinoza is an immigrant himself, hailing from Veracruz, Mexico.“Let’s be clear: This was a show. They wanted to get attention, and they got it,” he gestured toward the last remaining protesters as the crowd dispersed.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, could not immediately be reached for comment.
The move comes in the midst of what President Donald Trump’s ICE is calling its “Operation Midway Blitz,” which has sown fear throughout immigrant communities in Chicago and its suburbs. Officials escalated a promised surge in immigration enforcement in the area over the last two weeks, with arrests reported and federal agents sighted near local schools, courthouses and workplaces. ICE claimed last week it had made 550 arrests during the first two weeks of the mission.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said he was closely monitoring the situation in a post on X. “While Chicagoans and visitors are enjoying another gorgeous Sunday, they are being intimidated and threatened by masked federal agents flaunting automatic weapons for no apparent reason. This is another brazen provocation from the Trump administration that does nothing to make our city safer,” Johnson said.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker also posted on X Sunday afternoon, “This is not making anybody safer — it’s a show of intimidation, instilling fear in our communities and hurting our businesses,” he said. “We cannot normalize militarizing American cities and suburbs.”
By mid-afternoon Sunday, the intersection was cleared, traffic was flowing and things went back to normal — much like in the Loop, where after earlier sightings and reports of a couple of arrests, tourists strolled under the sun and took photos of the city, most of them none the wiser.
After the downtown display, immigrant rights advocates held a news conference alongside local and state officials, including U.S. Reps. Jesús “Chuy” García and Delia Ramírez, Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton and several aldermen. They did not have an exact number of arrests made.
Sunday’s downtown operation in broad daylight represented a “major escalation by the Trump administration,” said Veronica Castro, deputy director at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
Hers was a sentiment echoed by other speakers.
“Today, we witnessed the further militarization of ICE tactics in Chicago, as they showed up downtown to indiscriminately continue to profile against people just because of what they look like, their appearance,” García said. “This … is part of a nationwide effort by Trump and his administration to instill fear in people.” But, he said, “We want Trump and his aides to be clear: We will not take this lying down. You claim that you’re out to get the worst of the worst,” García said. “But we see time and time again that the people that you are apprehending and kidnapping and interrogating and terrorizing are hardworking people that make Chicago and Illinois a better place for everyone.”
Illinois state Sen. Graciela Guzmán said the administration is seeking to intimidate immigrants “by air, by water, by force, by any means possible” — alluding to the federal immigration agents, including Bovino, out in boats on the Chicago River on Sunday and Thursday, when they were first spotted.
“I want to remind folks at home that (at) every single level of government, here you have folks that deeply care about you,” Guzmán said. “We are doing everything in our power because you are our constituents. We love you, we will protect you.”
Early Sunday, a journalist for Unraveled Press, who was detained by federal agents, was released after being detained at a Broadview protest Saturday night.
A social media post late Saturday showed Steve Held being detained by federal agents.
After he was released early Sunday morning, Held described his experience of being detained on the social media app Blue Sky.
His first words were, “I’m out, I’m sore.”
Held saw four holding rooms while being detailed, he said, two small rooms being used to hold protesters and two larger rooms to hold ICE and Border Protection detainees. He also said he saw a man sitting in a room with gauze wrapped around his head, appearing to have a serious head wound.
The room he was held in “stank of sweat & pepper ball powder after just a few hours,” the post said. Another room, he said, “appeared dirty, filled with men dressed for labor, trying to get comfortable to sleep in chairs or on the cold floor in the cinder block room.”
When getting processed, he said he saw the faces of men that looked “heartbreaking.”
“We have never witnessed anything like what ICE has unleashed on our communities this week,” Unraveled Press posted on social media Sunday morning.
I don’t know what to say. There are so many people affected by this new executive order, especially all those who have just graduated. I talked to several people this morning, trying to tell them to stay calm and wait. Because I hope that this decision will be either reverted or a million exceptions will be added. Otherwise, it could be an economic collapse.
I have a little bit of breathing room today, after working non-stop and resolving different conference-related issues, and I want to go back to what happened a week ago.
To be honest, I am shocked by the lack of public attention to this incident. I wouldn’t expect a lot of international attention, but domestic silence alarms me. For those who haven’t heard what has happened: ICE officer stopped a car driven by a person they wanted to arrest. This person was in the US illegally (i.e., without a proper visa). He didn’t have any criminal charges on him, but he had several speeding tickets (as far as we can tell). When he was stopped and realized that he was going to be arrested, he tried to flee the scene. It’s hard to tell what exactly happened because the body cam recording was not released (and I am not sure whether it is available).
DHS claims that this person, Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, “dragged an officer a significant distance with his car.” There is no way to prove or object to this statement, but what we know for sure is that this ICE officer shot Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez dead. He shot an unarmed person with no criminal record.
If anybody wonders how the DHS reported on this incident, the link is here. I don’t know what else to add. I don’t know how we can have no respect for a person’s life. I don’t understand how anybody would dare to say “but he was here illegally…’
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