13/
It’s awe-inspiring to be in a city where everyday people — especially those most vulnerable to violence from ICE — are standing up in massive, bold, courageous, and compassionate ways every day.

It’s an honor to witness and to be part of such a moment.

12/
Our leaders are speaking out, and they deserve immense credit and gratitude. But what’s happening now feels bigger: a groundswell of conscience, a movement moment.

11/
These aren’t people trained to resist fascism. They are neighbors learning together, improvising systems of protection and care as they go, and doing it with extraordinary courage.

10/
They’re moving info through massive rapid-response networks that now span the city — acting quickly, lawfully, and with deep care for one another. Organizing block by block and school by school to protect their communities.

9/
What keeps me hopeful is the extraordinary courage and coordination of everyday Chicagoans. Neighbors who see what’s happening and jump out of their cars, blowing whistles to alert others, documenting every moment, demanding to see warrants.

8/
In Albany Park, State Rep. Hoan Huynh was harassed and followed by armed agents who blocked his car, pointed a gun at his window, and tried to stop him from warning residents about their rights. He said he’d never experienced such intimidation and would not be silenced.

7/
Many of the people abducted were landscapers, and their abandoned equipment sat eerily on lawns to mark where they had been hard at work moments before.

6/
There were also federal agents stalking neighborhoods and abducting people across the North Side, including Rogers Park, harassing residents and following cars, while neighbors organized to check on one another and share real-time info about where the vans were headed.

5/
They stood calmly but firmly, asserting the men’s basic rights to safety and due process. When the crowd refused to back down, the agents fired tear gas into the block, scattering families and leaving people coughing and shaken on their own sidewalks.

4/
It didn’t stop there. In Lakeview yesterday, armed agents detained two construction workers on the porch of a home. Neighbors came running, filming, shouting for the men’s release, demanding to see a judicial warrant, and insisting the agents identify themselves.

3/
Tear gas drifted through the air near the Discount Mall, burning the eyes of bystanders and children walking home from school. The next day, agents returned to Little Village, again launching tear gas into a crowd of residents who gathered to protect their neighbors.

2/
A 16-year-old junior from Benito Juarez Community Academy, a U.S. citizen, was thrown to the ground and handcuffed while his classmates screamed. Two City of Chicago employees were also taken and later released.