At a Northwest Side GOP event two months ago, President Trump-appointed ‘border czar’ Tom Homan announced that he would “start right here in Chicago” to carry out mass deportations, to a remix of the song “Bad to the Bone.” Since the inauguration, both Chicago and the state of Illinois have seen Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids on immigrant communities. As a result, some of the Windy City’s once vibrant immigrant communities have nearly vanished.
It is no surprise that Chicago is being targeted by Homan due to its 18% immigrant population and status as a sanctuary city. Since 1985, the city has restricted assistance and involvement with federal immigration agencies. Illinois has its own statewide policy called the Way Forward Act. Democratic Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker have openly criticized Trump and have refused to implement his policies. They have maintained commitments to protect individuals from deportation, with Johnson spearheading the ‘Know Your Rights’ campaign. In turn, Homan stated at the Northwest Side GOP event that “Chicago is in trouble because your mayor sucks and your governor sucks.”
However, there has always been a need for immigrant labor to support the American economy. In fact, a study done by the first Trump Administration showed that while refugee programs require a shorter-term cost, it has a much greater net positive result for the economy in the long term. Over a 10-year period from 2005 to 2014, refugees provided a revenue of $269.1 billion dollars. The Trump administration attempted to bury the report in 2016, but it was later leaked to the New York Times. As for Trump’s second term, newly confirmed Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has removed deportation protections for 600,000 Venezuelan refugees.
College of DuPage Sociology Professor Robert Moorehead explains that there is a strategy behind the plans of the Trump administration.
“There’s economic benefit in dividing and conquering. I can get you to not blame [employers] for your low wages, but blame immigrants for your low wages. Toni Morrison says racism is a distraction,” said Moorehead. “We actually need more people coming in; we’ve had shortages of labor and are having fewer kids. Rather, we just blame them. There is no correlation between immigration and crime; if anything, immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than the native-born.”
Despite evidence to the contrary, Trump has continued to target immigrant populations for causing domestic problems. In December of 2023, Trump had tweeted on his Truth Social social media platform that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country.” At a presidential debate in 2024, Trump said Haitian immigrants were “eating the dogs and eating the cats” in Springfield, Ohio. The town’s officials repeatedly said they could find no evidence of this ever occurring. This led to a slew of over 30 bomb threats against schools and hospitals in the town. Vice President J.D. Vance continued propagating these false rumors, stating: “If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do.”
Professor Moorehead said that false allegations are a way to unfairly vilify immigrants.
“The intended effect is white supremacy, to say the thing out loud. It’s part of a long-running thread in American history of identifying an ‘other’ and blaming that other for whatever problems, even if the problems are not real,” said Moorehead.
This scapegoating has applied to various groups throughout American history.
“Often, that revolves around race, even though our understandings of race have changed,” says Moorehead. “One hundred years ago, America didn’t want Eastern Europeans here and saw them as not quite white and culturally inferior, and passed immigration restrictions limiting them.”
On inauguration day, Trump signed executive order 14160, which challenges the Citizenship Clause of the 14th amendment. Under the order, children who are born to temporary residents or undocumented parents would not have U.S. citizenship. A federal judge blocked the executive order and attorney generals from 22 states have sued against it. However, if it reaches a largely conservative and Trump-nominated Supreme Court, it could be upheld.
However, that is not the only effort by the Trump administration to dispel immigrants. “Operation Safeguard” has been designated to target undocumented immigrants involved in violent crime. However, the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee rights is suing ICE and Homan for arresting law-abiding individuals without a warrant, which is a violation of existing laws. In a CNN interview with Dana Bash, Homan himself stated that the operation would “inevitably” lead to “collateral arrests.”
As for the COD community, it is unknown whether our own college or communities will be subject to ICE raids. Chicago suburbs like Waukegan and Elgin have recently had raids. Trump has authorized ICE authorities to target churches and schools and Hamon has backed this policy.
“I just keep wondering about how many students aren’t here [at COD]. How many students aren’t registered and going into hiding. This environment of fear it instills in people,” says Moorehead.
All students and community members should be aware of their rights in case they are confronted by ICE agents. Students can visit the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights for more information on how to respond. If you see ICE activity or need immediate assistance, you can call the ICIRR’s 24-hour hotline at 855-435-7693.
