SSW 10.09.25

SOUTH

SIDE

WEEKLY

The South Side Weekly is an independent non-profit newspaper by and for the South Side of Chicago. We provide high-quality, critical arts and public interest coverage, and equip and develop journalists, artists, photographers, and mediamakers of all backgrounds.

Volume 12, Issue 19

Editor-in-Chief Jacqueline Serrato

Managing Editor Adam Przybyl

Investigations Editor Jim Daley

Immigration Project Editor Alma Campos

Senior Editors Martha Bayne Christopher Good Olivia Stovicek Jocelyn Martinez-Rosales

Community Builder Chima Ikoro

Public Meetings Editor Scott Pemberton

Interim Lead

Visuals Editor Shane Tolentino

Director of Fact Checking: Ellie Gilbert-Bair Fact Checkers: Bridget Craig Patrick Edwards Rubi Valentin

Layout Editor Tony Zralka

Publisher Malik Jackson

Office Manager Mary Leonard

Advertising Manager Susan Malone

The Weekly publishes online weekly and in print every other Thursday. We seek contributions from all over the city.

Send submissions, story ideas, comments, or questions to editor@southsideweekly.com or mail to:

South Side Weekly

6100 S. Blackstone Ave. Chicago, IL 60637

For advertising inquiries, please contact: Susan Malone (773) 358-3129 or email: malone@southsideweekly.com

For general inquiries, please call: (773) 643-8533

FROM THE EDITORS

President Donald Trump has declared war on Chicago.

The regime’s assault has grown in its size and intensity over recent weeks. In South Shore, federal agents swarmed an apartment building last week in an early morning raid where agents rappelled from helicopters and used concussion grenades (see page 9). In Franklin Park, they shot and killed a man during a traffic stop. In Broadview, the site of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility, federal agents shot journalists and nonviolent protesters in the face with pepper balls, beat and arrested people, and blanketed the surrounding area with tear gas.

Gas has become a favorite weapon of federal agents, who deploy it with shocking ease whenever they feel the least bit threatened. They’ve been filmed dropping canisters yards from a Logan Square elementary school, in the middle of a residential street in Brighton Park, and outside of a hospital in Humboldt Park. On Saturday, agents shot a woman multiple times because they alleged she deliberately hit their car with hers. (She survived, and was released by a judge pending trial.) During an impromptu protest at the site of the shooting, agents deployed gas without warning, sending dozens of Chicago police officers scattering along with demonstrators.

Immigrants are not the only targets. Trump’s agents have swept up American citizens and legal residents. They’ve hospitalized Americans who dared to confront them, and were filmed choking a Black man on the West Side.

Now, Trump is deploying Texas National Guard troops to Chicago in a brazen assault on our city and the Constitution. In a bizarre speech to the nation’s military generals last week, Trump attempted to justify the incursions by inventing an “invasion from within.” He has likewise conjured delusions about crime rates (which are at historic lows) and nonexistent “riots” to pretend there’s a need for federal intervention.

Let us be clear: The President of the United States is levying war against American cities and American citizens.

We cannot rely on the other branches of government to save us. In Congress, Republicans were unable to stave off a government shutdown despite controlling both houses. Their inability to govern is superseded only by their unwillingness to hold Trump accountable for any of the dizzying array of impeachable offenses he’s committed since January. Locally, judges have ruled against Trump and his agents over and over. But the Supreme Court, now packed with a corrupt conservative majority, is all too happy to permit Trump’s worst excesses.

It’s up to us.

As journalists, we will continue to operate with Justice Hugo Black’s landmark opinion on the First Amendment in mind: “The press was to serve the governed, not the governors.” Where major media companies capitulate, we will investigate and report.

Readers have another, equally important, role to play. The First Amendment also guarantees the right to peaceably assemble and seek redress of grievances. That’s not only a right, but a solemn responsibility—to yourselves, your neighbors and your country.

So: attend a No Kings rally on October 18. Report sightings of federal agents to rapid responders (tinyurl.com/ICIRRICE) and the press (tinyurl.com/ chicagojournalists). Connect with your neighbors, find a community defense workshop, and post know-your-rights signs (tinyurl.com/PrintKnowYourRights). Resist. Our democracy is at stake.

IN THIS ISSUE

a letter from the editor

Jacqueline Serrato transitions out of the editor-inchief position.

jacqueline serrato ................................. 4

letter of thanks for jackie

Board chair reflects on our editor-in-chief’s tenure. jill petty 5

federal agents storm south shore building

Families were woken by flashbangs and helicopters as hundreds of federal agents raided their homes. Days later, neighbors are still searching for the missing. josé abonce, maira khwaja, invisible institute, ................................................. 6

redada en apartamentos de south shore

Las familias fueron despertadas por granadas aturdidoras y helicópteros mientras cientos de agentes federales allanaron sus hogares. Días después, los vecinos siguen buscando a los desaparecidos. josé abonce, maira khwaja, invisible institute 9

la rosa noir debut at riot fest

A community program aims to bring local voices to Riot Fest’s stages, bridging DIY energy and neighborhood tension.

jesús

13

public meetings report

A recap of select open meetings at the local, county, and state level.

scott pemberton and documenters 19

arts organizations get creative after cuts

Like many arts organizations, 773 Dance Project was hit with a new obstacle after President Trump took office: Its federal NEA grant was rescinded. davon clark 20

south side sports roundup

The latest results and news from the Chicago sports world.

malachi hayes ....................................... 24

‘all these people ain’t making this stuff up!’

State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke’s Conviction Integrity Unit hasn’t exonerated anyone in her 10 months on the job, and she has done little to confront more than a dozen coercion allegations against a former Chicago police detective and his partners. dan hinkel, injustice watch 26

A letter from the editor

Dear readers,

It is with gratitude and affection that I’m announcing my transition from the editor-in-chief position. It has been an honor to witness the transformation of the South Side Weekly over the last five years. When I joined the team in late 2019, the newspaper was almost entirely volunteer-run, operating with few resources and a zeal for truthful storytelling. We have only grown from there.

Among my main tasks was to keep my finger on the pulse of the community and to recruit contributing writers from the neighborhoods. My proudest moments as EIC were not winning journalism awards for our investigative work, although that was beautiful and affirming, but it was each time we were able to scout and nurture a South Sider who had a story to tell and who just needed someone to have their back or a nudge to let their creativity flow.

As a teaching paper, it was an accomplishment to allow someone their first byline.

Our wariness of traditional media in Chicago—which often dismissed, criminalized or reinforced preconceived notions of our side of the city—allowed us to approach newsmaking with fresh eyes. Part of the Weekly’s philosophy was the need to put events in historical context, to hold power accountable, and to center the experiences of the people affected the most.

Nobody was prepared for what 2020 would throw our way. Yet we covered those moments of crisis with nuance and empathy. We made editorial decisions that were innovative for the time, such as concealing the identities of protesters, not publishing mugshots, and never running with the version of law enforcement alone.

I greatly admire our fact-checking infrastructure, which was already in place when I arrived and is unmatched in the city. And the Weekly’s collaborative nature allowed us to partner with other publications before it was popular.

Our being “in the trenches” has made the Weekly a welcoming place for the labor movement, for housing organizers, for abolitionists, for immigrants, and for budding artists. Although we may have been viewed as a ragtag organization, our editorial leadership was and continues to be highly organized, discerning and intentional.

I leave my role in the midst of another crisis. These are not ordinary times, as our human and Constitutional rights are trampled on as I write this. Our sense of democracy appears to be dismantling before our eyes while the country inches closer to authoritarianism. This places a great amount of pressure on us reporters and editors, whose role is to sift through the noise against a national propaganda machine—and ensure our physical safety and mental wellbeing.

I want to thank the editors and mast for believing in and working toward a common vision. I want to thank the reporters who accepted or challenged my edits. I want to thank you, readers, for reading us and coming back for more. Time and time again I’m reminded of something I learned here: only we got us.

However, I’m not leaving for good, as I will remain in the Weekly’s orbit providing some level of editing, reporting, and special projects’ support. I urge you to continue reading our pages and to subscribe or donate when you can.

Sincerely,

Jacqueline Serrato

A letter from the Board

Departing Editor-in-Chief Jackie Serrato joined South Side Weekly at a pivotal time for the paper and for our organization.

Back in 2019, the Weekly was only a few years out from exiting a meaningful and somewhat unlikely quasiincubation at the University of Chicago. Started by enterprising, windmill-tilting students and graduates in the late 2000s as a University-based project, the Weekly was feisty, resourceful, and proudly punched up.

Powered by the labor and ingenuity of writers, editors, and photographers who were nearly all volunteers, the Weekly broadly covered politics; art and culture; and battles for equitable housing, employment, education, and health care. Week in and week out, the paper engaged the challenges—and the rewards—of living on the South Side.

Yet, while the Weekly was “for the community,” as evidenced by its coverage and mission, it was not always seen as being "in" or "of" the community. Before joining SSW, Serrato ran La Villita Chicago, a bilingual webpage in Little Village, and freelanced for several local outlets, including The Chicago Reporter and Hoy, the Spanishlanguage version of the Chicago Tribune. She recalls walking into some of her earliest Weekly meetings and noting that "there were many committed U of C-affiliated people around, students and graduates. But I didn't see a lot of Latino or Black people in the space."

Fortunately for us, one of Jackie's legacies is our current masthead, which features numerous reporters and editors of color, including several Black and Latino alums of SSW's section editor program. Jackie envisioned the section editor program and piloted it in 2021, to train strong writers to become strong editors. “One of the problems I identified as I sought to diversify the newsroom was the lack of Black and Brown editors, period,” she said. “Having been an early-career reporter in other newsrooms, I was aware of the roadblocks that white editors often place on reporters of color.”

So, to say that the paper has benefited from Jackie's vision would be a vast understatement. The Weekly has been transformed by intentional, consistent outreach to South Siders—whose voices and talents have been marginalized or excluded—and it has changed for the better. A related development: SSW no longer relies on unpaid labor. Since 2023, support from individuals and foundations has enabled us to pay all of our contributors, a change that honors labor and supports equity.

And throughout the years, the paper has continued to produce high-quality journalism with Jackie at the helm. Soon after the official end of the COVID-19 pandemic, I was able to join the South Side Weekly table at the Peter Lisagor Awards, an annual event named after the Chicago Daily News' Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington bureau chief. I was thrilled to attend this fancy, big dinner—my first in a couple of years!—but by the end of the night, I was also hoarse from laughter and yelling. Beating much bigger and better-financed outlets, that evening the Weekly took home five Lisagors. A thrill!

As we look ahead, we're delighted that Adam Przybyl, who has served as Managing Editor since 2022, has taken on the role of interim Editor-in-Chief for the Weekly. We're in very good hands. And we will announce details about our search for a new Editor-in-Chief in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, we will continue to benefit from Jackie's wisdom and counsel in her new role as Editor Emeritus. We're lucky to have her ear.

Gracias, dear Editor.

Jill Petty Board Chair SSW NFP

Feds Storm South Shore Apartments

Families were woken by flashbangs and helicopters as hundreds of federal agents raided their homes. Days later, neighbors are still searching for the missing.

BY MAIRA KHWAJA, JOSÉ ABONCE

Residents of a South Shore apartment building were jolted awake late at night last week when nearly 300 federal agents, backed by helicopters and flashbang grenades, stormed their homes in a massive immigration raid.

A video posted to social media by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) portrayed the raid at 7500 S. South Shore as a military-style operation to capture young brown men. In reality, federal agents detained nearly every resident of the 130-unit building—including children and babies—placing them in zip ties and separating them by race into vans for more than two hours early Tuesday morning.

In video footage from NewsNation, whose camera crew was invited to join the raid, masked agents are shown surrounding the building wearing green uniforms, with vests and yellow lettering spelling out “U.S. Customs and Border Patrol”.

Some officers pointed handguns equipped with tactical lights at the building; others held long rifles and wore helmets equipped with cameras and lights. Helicopters hovered in the sky, and agents on the ground threw flashbang grenades. Hastily awakened residents were only given a few seconds to open before agents broke doors down and forced their way inside, according to recordings by residents witnessing the raid.

In the NewsNation footage, agents appear to cut and damage a fence on Chicago Public Schools (CPS) property before using it as an entryway to detain people and move them into the school lot, which became an impromptu parking and staging area for the immigration operation.

In an interview with NewsNation, U.S. Chief Patrol Agent Gregory Bovino said that U.S. citizens were also detained during the raid due to safety reasons, saying “we generally don’t determine alienage while in

the building,” adding, “no rights have been violated today.”

Masked agents made people line up outside the building, where they asked each resident their name and country of origin before lifting their shirt to check for tattoos. They proceeded to ask people if they had documents that proved they resided in the U.S. legally. One by one, building residents, including Black U.S. citizens, were loaded into vans where they were questioned further.

According to a DHS statement, thirtyseven people were arrested, including four children. As of this reporting, neighbors have still not been able to locate all the people who were arrested.

Neighbors reported that the raid began around 12:30am and lasted until about 4:00am on Tuesday morning. Videos posted on the Citizen app show that Chicago Police Department (CPD) officers were nearby,

which the department later confirmed in a statement to the Weekly. Residents who spoke to the Weekly said they saw CPD officers blocking traffic near the building hours before the raid began.

An Invisible Institute reporter arrived at the building around noon Tuesday, hours after the raid. Entering through the open front doors, she found no residents inside.

The building had the appearance of longstanding neglect. The rancid odor of mold blended with the stink of rotting garbage and urine. Water leaked almost everywhere, and extension cords snaked along the halls and into apartments where residents had been siphoning electricity. A three-person cleaning crew mopped up standing water in the first floor hallway.

The elevator was broken; the stairwell had a putrid smell. Upstairs, the stench got stronger. Every door was kicked down or ripped from its hinges, leaving freshly

splintered wood in the doorjambs. Inside, mattresses were flipped over, clothing and toys were scattered, and lamps were knocked over.

Back outside, an NBC reporter spoke with a resident who said he’d been detained for two hours. Behind the building, two workers were tossing belongings in the trash. A giant teddy bear lay in the dumpster.

Veronica Castro, deputy director for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR), described what her team saw when they arrived at about 1:00pm on Tuesday.

“The condition of the building was really, really difficult to see,” she said. “It wasn’t being serviced. There were water and electrical issues and doors that were kicked in, and to the point where you couldn’t tell whether that was from the enforcement incident that had happened earlier that day, or if that’s the way that it was. We saw cribs and decorations for birthdays that were just left there by the folks that were taken in the middle of the night.”

The building was purchased by Wisconsin-based investor Trinity Flood in January 2020, according to Cook County records. On October 1, the day after the raid, a judge reviewed an emergency motion from Wells Fargo seeking to appoint Matthew Tarshis of Frontline Real Estate Partners as the property’s receiver.

Flood purchased three multifamily properties in South Shore in 2020. The neighborhood, which had the highest number of eviction filings in Chicago from 2015-2019 according to the Law Center for Better Housing, has seen a rise in outside real estate investors since the 2017 announcement of the Obama Presidential Center’s construction in the neighboring Jackson Park.

Wells Fargo Bank foreclosed on the building in mid-2024, bringing a $27

million lawsuit against Flood for missed loan payments. In late 2024, the City began closing its largest migrant shelters and, through state funding assistance distributed via Catholic Charities and moving support from New Life Church, relocated many families to buildings such as this one.

The Real Deal, an online real estate news outlet, reported that City inspectors visited the building two weeks before the raid. Ald. Greg Mitchell (7th Ward) did not return the Weekly’s request for comment.

President Donald Trump’s administration has intensified immigration enforcement in Democrat-led cities with sanctuary laws like Chicago, carrying out operations that have grown increasingly militarized in scope and execution.

“The same administration that bussed them here is the same administration that is hunting them down to deport them,” said Castro, referring to Texas Gov. Greg Abbot, a Republican who sent thousands of migrants who were granted asylum by the federal government to Chicago in 2023. “There is a pretty large pocket of Venezuelans in the South Shore area. Many of them were applying for some kind of adjustment of status, whether it was asylum or other things .... They were trying to adjust through the guidelines set by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services [USCIS].”

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on October 1 that it had arrested more than 800 people since the launch of Operation Midway Blitz on September 8. It is not clear how many of those people had a criminal record or a signed judicial warrant, and how many were swept up in random detentions and car stops. According to Syracuse University’s data transparency project TRAC, which publishes federal enforcement statistics, 71.5 percent of the people currently in immigration detention have no criminal history.

In a motion filed in March, and a federal court notice filed in September, the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Illinois accused ICE and DHS of violating a consent decree on warrantless immigration stops when they detained and arrested dozens of people, including U.S. citizens, during recent immigration enforcement actions in Chicago.

“There has always been a fear that, because...the government had their information and because they were receiving support, that they could be targeted by this administration,” Castro said. “That fear was realized when [the federal agents] showed up looking for folks.”

Eboni Watson, a neighborhood resident who filmed the hours-long raid of the apartment building, told the Weekly she had just gone to bed and closed her eyes when she heard a loud ‘bang’, followed by the distinct buzzing of drones, a sound she had come to recognize after noticing them hovering near her home for the past three or four weeks.

A moment later, Watson’s phone lit up with a notification from the Citizen app that said there’d been a car accident outside. The buzzing grew louder. She grabbed the phone and got out of bed to look out the window.

Agents were everywhere: some were running down the street while others jumped out of Budget rental vehicles. Above the building across the street, agents rappelled from helicopters. Watson counted the flashing lights of nearly ten hovering drones, and saw men on rooftops farther down the block.

Also awoken by the commotion, some of Watson’s neighbors had gathered in their yard. They were soon approached by masked militarized police. At that point, Watson

that it can direct traffic and police protesters near immigration activity for public safety reasons.

In a statement, a CPD spokesperson said they responded to the scene after federal authorities notified them they had detained one person on an active criminal warrant there. The police arrested the person, a fortysix-year-old man. “To be clear, the Chicago Police Department only responded to the scene for criminal enforcement related to the offender's active criminal warrant,” the statement said. “We did not participate in or assist with any immigration enforcement.” It added that CPD acts “in accordance with… the Welcoming City Ordinance.”

As Watson questioned agents about warrants and the legality of their raid, neighbors pleaded with her to be quiet for her own safety. She refused to back down.

went outside, where she saw agents had flooded the entire block and surrounding area.

“You could see guys with FBI, ATF, DEA jackets and vests on,” she said. “You could see plainclothes officers. You could see Chicago [police] was out there blocking off traffic, redirecting traffic, helping them—and they are not even supposed to coordinate with them.” Chicago’s Welcoming City Ordinance prohibits CPD from assisting ICE with immigration arrests, but the department has maintained

“You claim you have warrants, but do you have a warrant to seize the entire building?” she asked the agents. “Do you have warrants to detain the entire building?” According to Watson, two federal agents told her that they were taking all detainees’ photos to check them against databases for visas or warrants.

When Watson walked around the block to capture footage of the ongoing raid, she noticed federal agents were using the parking lots of Excel South Shore Academy—a CPS contractor school— to load residents into vans. In them, Watson saw Black U.S. citizens, women, and children. Grabbed from their beds, they hadn’t been allowed to dress themselves before they were zip-tied and brought down to the waiting vans.

t Powell Elementary, located directly across the street from the raid, children share a similar fear. A source who requested anonymity because they work at Powell described the predominantly Black school as welcoming to new arrivals. While there are language barriers, he said the children support each

In the weeks leading up to the raid, the source and other employees saw what looked like federal agents parked in cars and trucks near the school. It made them worried about the students’ safety while walking home. Some kids have said they are “scared of walking home and getting grabbed on the way,” they said, adding that

since the CPS Safe Passage program lost funding, the school only has one crossing guard on 75th Street.

They said that out of the seventy-five English language learner (ELL) students at the predominantly Black school, sixty were not in attendance the day after the raid. At least two students at the school lived in the building that was raided, and at the time of this reporting, the school has not been able to get in touch with them.

In a statement, a CPS spokesperson said the district does not share immigration status or cooperate with ICE. They did not, however, answer questions about attendance at Powell after the raid.

A letter the administration of Powell Elementary addressed to the community the day after the raid said, “as a reminder, our school and CPS WILL NOT coordinate with federal representatives, and we WILL NOT allow ICE agents or any other federal representatives access to our school unless they produce a criminal judicial warrant signed by a federal judge.”

Board of Education Member Yesenia Lopez (Dist. 7B) told the Weekly that while contracted option schools like Excel come up with their own policies outside of CPS, she would be following up to find out the status of charter and option schools’ policies regarding ICE.

Castro, of ICIRR, encourages families to make “preparedness packets” to leave behind if they’re detained, including instructions for guardianship and power

of attorney if they have children, and a Department of Homeland Security privacy waiver (“ICE Form 60-001”) which allows someone to make a congressional inquiry to locate them within the detention system on their behalf.

Since the raid, Watson said she and her neighbors have only seen a few people return to the apartment building at 7500 South Shore. She said she thinks the Black people who didn’t have warrants were released, but she’s seen very few immigrants. Castro said she has heard that a couple of people were released on ankle monitors. “They went back to the building, but it was already boarded up.”

Block Club Chicago reported on Thursday that residents who were released were starting to return to the building and pick up the damage.

“The ones that are getting out are coming home to no home,” Watson said. According to her, after the raid occurred, building management stole or threw out residents belongings, including visas and important documents.

ICIRR is still trying to determine the identities of all the people detained in the raid. Castro said that the organization usually can do that by following up with family members or loved ones. “In this

choking a Black man on the West Side and conducted a raid outside a homeless shelter in Bronzeville on Wednesday. They shot and wounded a woman on Friday, hospitalized at least two people over the weekend, handcuffed a Chicago alderperson, and dispersed tear gas and pepper balls in confrontations with Chicagoans across the city all week.

“It’s not only affecting the immigrant community,” said Castro. “We are all at risk. [These federal agents are] making Chicago a more dangerous place.”

Everyone is scared, Watson said. “That [raid] gave so many people PTSD.”

She added that federal agents are no longer targeting only immigrants.

“No,” she said. “They are snatching up anybody.” ¬

Maira Khwaja is a reporter at the Invisible Institute.

instance, there was nobody left to work with,” she said. The only detainee name they’re sure of is that of a person who passed their Venezuelan passport to a neighbor as they were being taken away.

By the end of last week, other highprofile incidents involving federal agents had knocked the raid at 7500 S. South Shore from headlines. Agents were seen

José Abonce is a freelance reporter who focuses on immigration, public safety, politics, and race. He is the Senior Program Manager with the Policing Project, an apprentice with The Investigative Project on Race and Equity, and a recent New York University Arthur L. Carter School of Journalism graduate

Redada en apartamentos de South Shore

Las familias fueron despertadas por granadas aturdidoras y helicópteros mientras cientos de agentes federales allanaron sus hogares. Días después, los vecinos siguen buscando a los desaparecidos.

POR MAIRA KHWAJA, INVISIBLE INSTITUTE, JOSÉ ABONCE TRADUCIDO POR GISELA OROZCO

La semana pasada, los residentes de un edificio de apartamentos en South Shore se despertaron sobresaltados cuando casi 300 agentes federales, respaldados por helicópteros y granadas aturdidoras, irrumpieron en sus hogares en una redada masiva de inmigración.

Un video publicado en redes sociales por el Departamento de Seguridad Nacional (DHS) describió la redada en el 7500 S. South Shore como una operación de estilo militar para capturar a jóvenes morenos. En realidad, la madrugada del martes los agentes federales detuvieron a todos los residentes del edificio de 130 unidades, incluyendo a bebés y niños, colocándolos en correas y separándolos por raza en camionetas durante más de dos horas.

En un video de NewsNation, cuyo equipo de camarógrafos fue invitado a unirse a la redada, se muestra a agentes enmascarados con uniformes verdes, chalecos y letras amarillas que forman las palabras “U.S. Customs and Border Patrol” rodeando el edificio.

Algunos oficiales apuntaron al edificio con pistolas equipadas con linternas tácticas; otros portaban rifles largos y llevaban cascos equipados con cámaras y linternas. Helicópteros sobrevolaban el cielo y los agentes en tierra lanzaban granadas aturdidoras. Los residentes, que se despertaron repentinamente, sólo tuvieron unos segundos para abrir antes de que los agentes derribaran las puertas y entraran a la fuerza, según grabaciones de residentes que presenciaron la redada.

En las imágenes de NewsNation, los agentes parecen cortar y dañar una valla en una propiedad de las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago (CPS) antes de

usarla como entrada para detener a las personas y trasladarlas al estacionamiento de la escuela, que se convirtió en un área de estacionamiento y preparación improvisada para el operativo de inmigración.

En una entrevista con NewsNation, el agente jefe de la Patrulla Fronteriza, Gregory Bovino, declaró que ciudadanos estadounidenses también fueron detenidos durante la redada por razones de seguridad. “Generalmente no determinamos si son extranjeros dentro del edificio”, y añadió que “hoy no se ha violado ningún derecho”.

Agentes enmascarados hicieron que la gente se formara en fila frente al edificio, donde les preguntaron a cada

redada comenzó a eso de las 12:30 a.m. y se prolongó hasta aproximadamente las 4:00 del martes. Los videos publicados en la aplicación Citizen muestran que oficiales del Departamento de Policía de Chicago (CPD) se encontraban cerca, lo cual el departamento confirmó posteriormente en un comunicado al Weekly. Los residentes que hablaron con el Weekly dijeron haber visto a agentes del CPD bloqueando el tráfico cerca del edificio horas antes de que comenzara la redada.

Una reportera del Invisible Institute llegó al edificio a eso del mediodía del martes, horas después de la redada. Al entrar por las puertas principales abiertas, no encontró a ningún residente adentro.

“Todos estamos en riesgo [Estos agentes federales] están haciendo de Chicago un lugar más peligroso”.- Verónica Castro

residente su nombre y país de origen antes de levantarles la camisa para revisar si tenían tatuajes. Después procedieron a preguntarles si tenían documentos que acreditaran su residencia legal en Estados Unidos. Uno a uno, los residentes del edificio, incluyendo ciudadanos estadounidenses afroamericanos, fueron subidos a camionetas donde fueron interrogados más detalladamente.

Según un comunicado del DHS, treinta y siete personas fueron arrestadas, incluidos cuatro niños. Al momento de este informe, los vecinos aún no han podido localizar a todos los arrestados.

Los vecinos informaron que la

El edificio parecía haber estado abandonado durante mucho tiempo. El olor rancio a moho se mezclaba con el hedor a basura podrida y orina. Había fugas de agua casi por todas partes, y los cables de extensión serpenteaban por los pasillos y entraban en los apartamentos donde los residentes habían estado desviando la electricidad. Un equipo de limpieza de tres personas limpió el agua estancada en el pasillo del primer piso.

El ascensor estaba averiado; la escalera tenía un olor a podrido. Arriba, el hedor se intensificaba. Todas las puertas fueron derribadas o arrancadas de sus bisagras, dejando madera recién astillada

en los marcos. En el interior había colchones volteados, ropa y juguetes esparcidos y lámparas tiradas. De regreso al exterior, un reportero de NBC habló con un residente que dijo haber estado detenido durante dos horas. Detrás del edificio, dos trabajadores tiraban sus pertenencias a la basura. Un oso de peluche gigante estaba en el contenedor.

Verónica Castro, subdirectora de la Coalición de Illinois por los Derechos de los Inmigrantes y Refugiados (ICIRR), describió lo que vio su equipo cuando llegaron a eso de la 1:00 p.m. del martes.

“El estado del edificio era realmente difícil de ver”, contó. “No tenía servicio. Había problemas de agua y electricidad, y las puertas estaban derribadas a patadas, hasta el punto de que era imposible saber si se debía al incidente policial ocurrido ese mismo día o si era así. Vimos cunas y adornos de cumpleaños que la gente había dejado allí y que se los llevaron en plena noche”.

El edificio fue comprado por Trinity Flood, inversionista con sede en Wisconsin, en enero de 2020, según los registros del Condado de Cook. El 1 de octubre, al día siguiente del allanamiento, un juez revisó una moción de emergencia de Wells Fargo que buscaba nombrar a Matthew Tarshis, de Frontline Real Estate Partners, como administrador judicial de la propiedad.

En 2020 Flood compró tres propiedades multifamiliares en South Shore. El vecindario, que registró el mayor número de solicitudes de desalojo en Chicago entre 2015 y 2019, según el Centro Legal para una Mejor Vivienda, ha experimentado un aumento en la cantidad de inversores inmobiliarios

externos desde el anuncio en 2017 de la construcción del Centro Presidencial Obama en el vecino Jackson Park.

A mediados de 2024, Wells Fargo Bank ejecutó la hipoteca del edificio, interponiendo una demanda de $27 millones contra Flood por incumplimiento de pago de préstamos. A finales de 2024, la Municipalidad comenzó a cerrar sus albergues para migrantes más grandes y, gracias a la asistencia financiera estatal distribuida a través de Caridades Católicas y al apoyo para mudanzas de la Iglesia Nueva Vida, reubicó a muchas familias en edificios como este.

Al día siguiente de la redada, el 1 de octubre, un juez consideró una orden de emergencia de Wells Fargo para designar a Frontline Real Estate Partners como administrador judicial del edificio. The Real Deal, medio de noticias inmobiliarias, informó que los inspectores de la ciudad visitaron el edificio dos semanas antes de la redada. El concejal Greg Mitchell (7º Distrito) no respondió a la solicitud de comentarios del Weekly

La administración del presidente Donald Trump ha intensificado la aplicación de las leyes de inmigración en ciudades lideradas por demócratas con leyes santuario como Chicago, realizando operaciones cuyo alcance y ejecución se han vuelto cada vez más militarizados.

“La misma administración que los trajo en autobús hasta aquí es la misma que los está persiguiendo para deportarlos”, dijo Castro, refiriéndose al gobernador de Texas, Greg Abbot, republicano que envió a miles de migrantes a Chicago, a quienes el gobierno federal concedió asilo, en 2023.

“Hay una gran cantidad de venezolanos en el área de South Shore. Muchos de ellos solicitaban algún tipo de arreglo de estatus, ya sea asilo u otras medidas... Intentaban arreglar su estatus siguiendo las directrices establecidas por el Servicio de Ciudadanía e Inmigración de Estados Unidos (USCIS)”.

El 1 de octubre, el DHS declaró que arrestó a más de 800 personas desde el lanzamiento del “Operativo Midway Blitz” el 8 de septiembre. Se desconoce cuántas de estas personas tenían

antecedentes penales o una orden judicial firmada, ni cuántas fueron detenidas en detenciones aleatorias y controles de vehículos. Según TRAC, proyecto de transparencia de datos de la Universidad de Syracuse, que publica estadísticas federales sobre la aplicación de la ley, el 71.5% de las personas que se encuentran actualmente en detención migratoria no tienen antecedentes penales.

En una moción presentada en marzo y una notificación judicial federal presentada en septiembre, el Centro Nacional de Justicia para Inmigrantes (NIJC) y la Unión Americana de Libertades Civiles (ACLU) de Illinois acusaron al Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas (ICE) y al DHS de violar un decreto de consentimiento sobre detenciones migratorias sin orden judicial al detener y arrestar a docenas de personas, incluidos ciudadanos estadounidenses, durante recientes operativos de control migratorio en Chicago.

"Siempre ha existido el temor de que, debido a que el gobierno tenía su información y a que recibían apoyo, pudieran ser objeto de persecución por parte de esta administración", declaró Castro.

Ese miedo se hizo realidad cuando [los agentes federales] aparecieron buscando gente.

Eboni Watson, vecina que grabó la

Explosivos) y la DEA (Administración para el Control de Drogas)”, contó. Se veían agentes vestidos de civil. Se veía a oficiales de la Policía de Chicago bloqueando el tráfico, redirigiéndolo, ayudándolos, y ni siquiera se supone que deban coordinarse con ellos.

La Ordenanza de Ciudad Acogedora de Chicago prohíbe al CPD colaborar con ICE en los arrestos por inmigración, pero el departamento ha mantenido que puede dirigir el tráfico y vigilar a los manifestantes cerca de la actividad migratoria por razones de seguridad pública.

redada que duró varias horas en el edificio de apartamentos, declaró al Weekly que acababa de acostarse y cerró los ojos cuando oyó un fuerte estruendo, seguido del zumbido característico de drones, un sonido que había llegado a reconocer tras notarlos sobrevolando su casa durante las últimas tres o cuatro semanas.

Un momento después, el teléfono de Watson se iluminó con una notificación de la aplicación Citizen que decía que había habido un accidente automovilístico afuera. El zumbido se hizo más fuerte. Agarró el teléfono y se levantó de la cama para mirar por la ventana.

Había agentes por todas partes: algunos corrían por la calle mientras otros saltaban de vehículos de alquiler de Budget. Sobre el edificio de enfrente, agentes descendían en rápel desde helicópteros. Watson contó las luces intermitentes de casi diez drones y vio hombres en los techos más abajo en la cuadra.

También despertados por la conmoción, algunos vecinos de Watson se habían reunido en su patio. Pronto se les acercaron policías militarizados enmascarados. En ese momento, Watson salió, donde vio que los agentes habían invadido toda la cuadra y sus alrededores.

"Se veían hombres con chaquetas y chalecos del FBI (Buró Federal de Investigaciones), la ATF (Agencia de Alcohol, Tabaco, Armas de Fuego y

En un comunicado, un portavoz del CPD afirmó que acudieron al lugar de los hechos después de que las autoridades federales les notificaran la detención de una persona con una orden de arresto vigente. La policía arrestó a un hombre de cuarenta y seis años de edad. “Para ser claros, el Departamento de Policía de Chicago sólo acudió al lugar de los hechos para cumplir con las leyes penales relacionadas con la orden de arresto vigente del delincuente”, se indica en el comunicado. "No participamos ni colaboramos en la aplicación de las leyes de inmigración". Añadió que el CPD actúa "de conformidad con... la Ordenanza de la Ciudad Acogedora".

Mientras Watson interrogaba a los agentes sobre las órdenes de arresto y la legalidad de la redada, los vecinos le rogaban que guardara silencio por su propia seguridad. Ella se negó a ceder.

“¿Ustedes afirman tener órdenes de arresto, pero tienen una orden para confiscar todo el edificio?”, le preguntó a los agentes. “¿Tienen órdenes de arresto para todo el edificio?". Según Watson, dos agentes federales le informaron que estaban tomando fotos de todos los detenidos para compararlas con bases de datos de visas u órdenes de arresto. Cuando Watson dio la vuelta a la cuadra para grabar la redada, notó que agentes federales usaban los estacionamientos de Excel South Shore Academy, escuela contratista de CPS, para subir a los residentes a las camionetas. En ellas, Watson vio a ciudadanos estadounidenses negros, mujeres y niños. Los sacaron de sus camas y no les permitieron vestirse antes de atarlos con correas y llevarlos a las camionetas que los esperaban.

En la Primaria Powell, ubicada justo enfrente de la redada, los niños comparten un temor similar. Una fuente, que solicitó el anonimato porque trabaja en Powell, describió la escuela, de mayoría negra, como una escuela acogedora para los recién llegados. Si bien existen barreras lingüísticas, afirmó que los niños se apoyan mutuamente.

En las semanas previas a la redada, la fuente y otros empleados vieron lo que parecían agentes federales estacionados en autos y camionetas cerca de la escuela. Esto les preocupó por la seguridad de los estudiantes mientras caminaban a casa.

Algunos niños han dicho tener “miedo de caminar a casa y que los agarren en el camino”, dijeron, y agregaron que desde que el programa de Paso Seguro de CPS perdió fondos, la escuela solo tiene un guardia de cruce en 75th St..

Dijeron que de los setenta y cinco estudiantes de inglés (ELL) en la escuela, de mayoría negra, sesenta no asistieron al día siguiente de la redada. Al menos dos estudiantes de la escuela vivían en el edificio allanado y, al momento de este informe, la escuela no había podido contactarlos. En un comunicado, un portavoz de CPS afirmó que el distrito no comparte estatus migratorio ni coopera con ICE. Sin embargo, no respondieron preguntas sobre la asistencia a Powell después de la redada.

Al día siguiente de la redada, una carta dirigida a la comunidad por la

Castro comentó que ha oído que un par de personas fueron liberadas con grilletes electrónicos. “Regresaron al edificio, pero ya estaba tapiado”.

El jueves, Block Club Chicago informó que los residentes liberados estaban comenzando a regresar al edificio y a reparar los daños.

“Quienes están saliendo regresan a casa y no tienen hogar”, agregó Watson. Según ella, después de la redada, la administración del edificio robó o tiró las pertenencias de los residentes, incluyendo visas y documentos importantes.

realizaron una redada frente a un albergue para personas sin hogar en Bronzeville. Dispararon e hirieron a una mujer el viernes, hospitalizaron al menos a dos personas durante el fin de semana, esposaron a un concejal de Chicago y durante toda la semana, dispersaron gas lacrimógeno y gas pimienta en enfrentamientos con residentes de Chicago por toda la ciudad.

“No sólo afecta a la comunidad inmigrante”, destacó Castro. “Todos estamos en riesgo. [Estos agentes federales] están haciendo de Chicago un lugar más peligroso”.

administración de la Primaria Powell decía: “Como recordatorio, nuestra escuela y CPS NO cooperarán con representantes federales, y NO permitiremos el acceso de agentes de ICE ni de ningún otro representante federal a nuestra escuela a menos que presenten una orden judicial penal firmada por un juez federal”.

Yesenia López (Dist. 7B), miembro de la Junta de Educación, declaró al Weekly que, si bien las escuelas con opción de contrato, como Excel, desarrollan sus propias políticas al margen de CPS, se encargará de investigar el estado de las políticas de las escuelas chárter y con opción de contrato con respecto a ICE.

Castro, de ICIRR, alienta a las familias a elaborar sus “paquetes de preparación” para dejar en caso de detención, incluyendo instrucciones para la tutela y un poder notarial si tienen hijos, y una exención de privacidad del Departamento de Seguridad Nacional (“Formulario ICE 60-001”) que permite que alguien solicite una consulta al Congreso para localizarlos dentro del sistema de detención en su nombre.

Desde la redada, Watson dijo que ella y sus vecinos sólo han visto a unas pocas personas regresar al edificio de apartamentos ubicado en el 7500 South Shore. Comentó que cree que las personas negras que no tenían órdenes de arresto fueron liberadas, pero que ha visto a muy pocos inmigrantes.

ICIRR todavía está tratando de determinar la identidad de todas las personas detenidas en la redada. Castro dijo que la organización generalmente puede hacerlo haciendo seguimiento a familiares o seres queridos. “En este caso, no quedaba nadie con quien trabajar”, dijo. El único nombre del detenido del que están seguros es el de una persona que le entregó su pasaporte venezolano a un vecino mientras se lo llevaban.

A finales de la semana pasada, otros incidentes de alto perfil que involucraron a agentes federales habían sacado de los titulares la redada en 7500 S. South Shore. Se vio a agentes estrangulando a un hombre negro en el lado oeste y el miércoles

“Todos están asustados”, destacó Watson. "Esa [redada] provocó trastorno de estrés postraumático a mucha gente”.

Añadió que los agentes federales ya no se centran sólo en los inmigrantes.

“No”, destacó. “Están deteniendo a cualquiera”. ¬

Maira Khwaja es periodista con el Invisible Institute. Anteriormente, reportó sobre el patrón de allanamientos de viviendas de la Policía de Chicago para el Weekly.

José Abonce es un reportero independiente del Weekly que se especializa en los temas de inmigración, seguridad pública, política y cuestiones raciales.

La Rosa Noir Debut at Riot Fest

A community program aims to bring local voices to Riot Fest’s stages, bridging DIY energy and neighborhood tension.

BY JESÚS FLORES

Well past midnight on a warm August night, drinks were being poured as a group of friends shouted over old Latin music records. Among the group of local musicians, photographers, and other artists was Yeshi Regalado, the frontwoman for local band La Rosa Noir. She was not only celebrating her birthday but also the news that in a couple of weeks, La Rosa Noir would be opening Riot Fest.

The day they got the news had been busy. La Rosa Noir had applied to play Riot Fest back in May, and months later, they finally got the green light. “Yeshi was literally hunting down each bandmate to make sure we could play it,” said Christian Ovalle, the band’s drummer.

Riot Fest, a three-day punk rock

music festival held annually at the end of September, is one of the largest independent music festivals in the world (Lollapalooza, Chicago’s biggest summer music fest, is owned by Live Nation). The festival, which has undergone changes over its twenty years, moved to Douglass Park in 2015. There, Riot Fest faced pushback from some members of the predominantly Black and Latino communities that surround the park. Residents complained of traffic jams and noise pollution, as well as losing access to entire areas of the park for multiple weeks, only for those areas to be left in disrepair.

In 2023, Riot Fest launched Beyond the Fest to try to ease relationships with its neighbors. Part of the program includes giving local artists from the surrounding

neighborhoods the opportunity to play at Riot Fest. This year, La Rosa Noir was one of those artists.

While it was only Regalado’s birthday, this was a wish come true for everyone. “It's like every musician's dream to eventually play a festival to this scale,” Regalado said. Ovalle added that the band might meet musicians backstage who they’d grown up listening to.

La Rosa Noir grew out of the DIY scene with their blend of surf, indie rock, and Latin rhythms. Since forming in 2018, they have played in local venues such as the Empty Bottle, music festivals like Taste of Chicago, and have opened for artists like The Red Pears. The band’s current lineup consists of Regalado as lead vocals and rhythm guitarist, Jannese Espino on lead

guitar, Ovalle on drums, and Zach Riedler on bass.

Riot Fest’s Community Bands program pays the local artists who play at the festival, and says they also provide the artists with exposure through marketing, networking opportunities, social media promotion, and scheduled interviews. The idea is to get smaller bands to play on a mainstage in front of a big crowd, alongside well-known artists. Ideally, with the right blend of talent, timing, and exposure, one of these bands might make it big. Community bands from past years have included the indie band Future Nobodies, hip-hop artist 1300cadoe, metal band ALENIA, hardcore group Through n Through, and multi-genre artist VII. La Rosa Noir applied for the spot in May.

Riedler was the one who originally gave the push for the band to apply.

of our assets together,” Regalado said. The band assembled an electronic press kit (EPK), featuring video links to their best performances, interviews, and top songs. The EPK “answers every question that they could ever have,” Regalado said. The band submitted their application and waited.

“I forgot all about it,” Ovalle said. “I think we all did.”

Back at the bar that August night, the bandmates made their way among tables filled with friends, telling them the news that they would be playing Riot Fest over more cocktails. They were understandably a little nervous, but excited. “We're playing on the biggest stage we've ever played on. And I am trying not to lose my mind over that,” Regalado said, laughing.

While there is still a ways to go for Riot Fest to be fully embraced by the communities of North Lawndale and Little Village, it does seem like the festival has made a genuine effort to support the neighborhood and local

“If you're not into rock music or festivals, you're gonna hate Riot Fest being in your neighborhood,” Regalado said. “But if you love rock music and you love festivals,

Having grown up listening to alternative, punk, and emo, “All you wanna

Riot Fest will give the band, it also gives them the opportunity to rub elbows with some of the biggest names in rock, rap, and alternative music.

make it,” Ovalle said.

Despite some nerves, the band was

“We're playing on the biggest stage we've ever played on. And I am trying not to lose my mind over that,” - Yeshi Regalado

do is feel chosen and accepted, and I feel like this is one of those key moments where our existence is validated,” she added.

Despite having performed at the Taste of Chicago and at a tribute Selena concert at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, for the band, this feels different.

“I feel like maybe more people listen to us,” Ovalle said.

unfazed. Battle-hardened through years of performing and countless rehearsals, they knew they were ready.

La Rosa Noir kicked off Riot Fest strongly. Despite being one of the first bands to play, dedicated fans were waiting before La Rosa’s set started. The crowd that gathered worked its way to the barrier fence to get as close as possible once the

performance started. Curious festivalgoers who wandered by were drawn in by the

With an eight-track set, La Rosa Noir kicked things off with “Mamacita” from their 2023 Arellano album. La Rosa continued with staple tracks from that same project like “Silk + Blade” and “Pax.” They spoiled listeners with a debut performance of their latest track, “Heart On My Sleeve,” released last month.

Then La Rosa Noir had a surprise guest, Fransciso Garcia, the lead singer of the local punk band Los Skins, to help perform “Chicano Stomp.” The crowd exploded, singing and dancing along. The band hopes to release more new music soon as they continue to hone their craft.

“Follow your gut feeling, follow that intuition, and don't stop going after it— because the minute you do, you're straying away from yourself,” Regalado said. ”Big beautiful things can come from following your intuition.” ¬

Jesús Flores is a journalist from the Southeast Side of Chicago.

BY ALMA CAMPOS

In recent weeks, residents of Chicago and its suburbs have been subjected to the Trump administration’s “Midway Blitz,” an attempt at enacting a mass deportation agenda. Hundreds of federal agents from ICE and other agencies have detained, harassed, and terrorized residents of Chicagoland through traffic stops, tear gas, nighttime raids, and even shootings. As ICE and federal agents face protesters and resistance, Trump aims to add National Guard troops to the mix in coming days.

At the start of this operation, South Side Weekly created this guide with input from attorneys and community organizations to explain key protections under the law, how families can prepare, what to expect in the first hour after being detained by ICE, and where to find community and legal support. This guide does not constitute legal advice.

Prepare in advance by organizing important paperwork and setting up a child care plan

Laura Cholula Chang, a senior know your rights attorney at the National Immigration Justice Center (NIJC), said families worried about detention or deportation should prepare a safety plan and keep key documents in a secure, accessible place.

“Make sure a trusted emergency contact knows where these documents are stored and has access to them,” she advised. These may include passports, birth and marriage certificates, immigration filings, tax returns, leases, or school and medical records. It’s best to have both physical and digital copies of each document.

Chang also advised parents and caregivers to consider planning for childcare in case they are detained. “Parents can create a legal guardianship, which allows a designated adult to make decisions about a child’s education, healthcare, and daily needs,” she said. Families may also set up a power of attorney to allow a trusted person to handle certain financial or property matters. For broader authority, guardianships are an option, but Cholula Chang said they can be harder to end, so it’s best to seek legal advice before moving forward.

Knowing and exercising your rights

Federal law provides certain protections during encounters with immigration agents and other law enforcement officers. These rights apply to everyone, regardless of immigration status, such as the right to remain silent and not answer questions about where you were born or your immigration status.

ICE cannot enter a home without a valid warrant signed by a judge, and individuals have the right to examine that warrant to confirm it includes their name, address, and a judge’s signature. The right to legal counsel also applies. Clearly stating, “I want to speak to an attorney,” is a critical protection. Individuals may refuse searches and are advised not to sign any documents without first receiving legal advice.

Don’t sign anything

According to Diana Rashid, a managing attorney with the NIJC Detention Project, ICE officials sometimes ask people to sign voluntary departure papers, which state that they will leave the U.S. on their own

rather than face deportation.

“But what many don’t realize is that signing this form means giving up the right to fight their case,” Rashid said. As a result, some detainees unknowingly waive their right to a hearing or agree to deportation. Don’t sign anything.

Keeping children safe

For parents and caregivers, the risks of detention extend beyond their own case. A sudden arrest can leave children vulnerable. Parents are encouraged to prepare a safety plan in case of detention to ensure their children are protected. Cholula Chang advises parents to have their children memorize the name and phone number of a trusted emergency contact, family member or guardian and be reassured that they will be cared for if the parent is taken into custody.

Completing a Short-Term Guardian form in advance allows a trusted adult to legally care for the children. If it has not been completed beforehand, Cholula Chang said it can still be arranged from detention. If the chosen guardian lives far

away, the plan should also include a nearby trusted person such as a neighbor or family friend who can stay with the children until the designated guardian arrives.

Resources are available to support families in this planning. The Family Preparedness Package by Organized Communities Against Deportations (OCAD) includes Illinois-specific forms, and the NIJC offers guidance on guardianships and powers of attorney for families in Illinois and Indiana.

ICE interaction strategy: first hour with ICE

(Advice adapted from immigration attorney Pedro Chavez, via TikTok)

Immigration attorney Pedro Chavez explained that ICE agents are trained to control and extend conversations until they get someone to admit they are undocumented. He warned that agents often work in pairs and may bully or pressure you into talking.

He advised that the most important thing to remember: do not engage in conversation. Instead, commit to calmly repeating the same phrase: “I don’t have to talk to you; can I leave?” Chavez stressed that once ICE starts questioning, people should assume they could be processed for up to an hour (though usually less) and advised to stay consistent and not answer any questions.

Chavez suggested repeating the phrase until ICE either allows the individual to leave or ends the questioning. The more a person speaks, the greater the risk that agents will use those words against them.

Encounters can feel long, frustrating, and intimidating, but mental preparation and remaining silent while asserting rights are among the strongest protections available, he said.

How to get a hold of someone who was detained

NIJC advises that if you know someone is detained by ICE, you should start by getting their nine-digit A-Number (A#) from ICE or past immigration documents. With it, you can find them through ICE’s detainee locator or by calling the detention facility, to arrange visits and phone calls.

IMMIGRATION

Loved ones can report the arrest to Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR)’s Family Support Hotline at 1-855-435-7693, gather any immigration or criminal documents, and check court dates using the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) portal or 1-800-898-7180.

It’s also important to seek legal help quickly from groups like NIJC, Midwest Immigration Defenders Alliance (MIDA), Immigration Advocates Network, or other recognized organizations and attorney directories.

Where do people go after ICE arrests them?

After an ICE arrest in the Chicago area, people are first taken to a processing facility in Broadview, a suburb a few miles west of the city, which functions as a shortterm intake site rather than a detention facility. From there, many are transferred to county jails or detention centers under ICE contracts, most often in Wisconsin, Indiana, or Kentucky, though some end up as far away as Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, or Louisiana.

These transfers are unpredictable and leave families struggling to find their loved ones. Organizers told the Weekly that many of the calls they receive come from relatives who don’t know where someone has been taken or what to do next.

Bail and legal costs

Xanat Sobrevilla, an organizer with OCAD, urges families to have an attorney handle bond requests rather than trying to do it themselves, since a lawyer can present the case strategically and reduce risks. Additionally, not everyone is eligible: people with prior removal orders, recent border crossings, or certain criminal convictions— especially those classified as “aggravated felonies”—are subject to mandatory detention and cannot be granted bond.

Local legal aid groups like NIJC and ICIRR provide free or low-cost legal help, bond support, referrals, and assistance for people in ICE custody. The Midwest Immigration Bond Fund (MIBF), based in Chicago, also posts immigration bonds for detained individuals in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Kentucky, with families able to apply online.

Safely recording and supporting during

an ICE encounter

In Illinois, community members have the legal right to film or photograph law enforcement officers, including ICE agents, in public spaces or on their own private property, Chang explained. This right applies to all law enforcement and cannot be restricted unless an officer presents a judicial warrant to search or seize a device. Even if instructed to stop, you can continue recording.

“Acting collectively through trained rapid response networks strengthens community safety, prevents misinformation, and fosters solidarity,” Cholula Chang said.

To document safely, Cholula Chang advises people recording should begin as soon as possible and continue until the encounter ends. Horizontal (also known as “landscape”) video is recommended, with the device kept visible while the videographer narrates details such as time, location, and nearby streets. The focus should remain on agents’ actions, including badge numbers, license plates, and vehicle identifiers. Important instructions or statements should be repeated aloud to ensure clarity in the recording. Chang said at least an arm’s length distance must be maintained, and officers’ directions to step back should be followed while calmly affirming the right to film.

Additionally, when supporting those affected, photos or videos should not be shared publicly without permission from individuals or their families, as this may put them at risk, Cholula Chang said. Instead, evidence should be securely submitted to trusted organizations such as ICIRR or an ICIRR-affiliated rapid response team through the Family Support Hotline at 1-855-435-7693.

You can also submit videos of use of force, detentions, stop-and-frisk, or traffic stops carried out by federal agents in Chicago through this form. The information will be shared with a group of journalists in Chicago who are working to gather and verify these cases.

We will not share any video publicly without your permission. We are a group of journalists from different newsrooms in Chicago, and one of us will follow up with you.

Once shared, files should be deleted from personal devices or unsecured platforms to protect privacy and security.

Common mistakes that can harm a case

Cholula Chang said that many of the mistakes that harm immigration cases come from misinformation or lack of preparation. Relying on notary publics (notarios) for legal advice or unqualified advisors, failing to make a safety plan, or giving information to ICE instead of staying silent can all create serious problems.

Missing court dates, ignoring voluntary departure orders, or presenting false documents can also lead to removal and long-term bars on relief. To protect a case, she said it’s essential to know your rights, stay prepared, and get help from qualified legal professionals.

Recap:

• Keep documents safe: Store passports, birth and marriage certificates, immigration filings, tax returns, leases, and school or medical records in a secure place. Make sure a trusted contact knows how to access them.

• Plan for children: Prepare a childcare plan, complete a Short-Term Guardian Form if possible, and ensure children know the name and phone number of a trusted adult.

• Know your legal rights: The Constitution ensures everyone, regardless of immigration status, the right to remain silent, refuse searches, and request an attorney. ICE cannot enter anyone’s home without a warrant signed by a judge.

• Do not sign papers: Voluntary departure and other documents should never be signed without legal advice.

• Stay calm with ICE and other law enforcement: Encounters may feel intimidating, but calmly repeating rights and avoiding unnecessary conversation offers strong protection.

• Locate detained loved ones: Use ICE’s detainee locator, call detention facilities directly, or report arrests to ICIRR’s Family Support Hotline at 1-855-435-7693.

• Seek legal and bond support: Assistance is available through NIJC, MIDA, and MIBF.

• Document safely: In Illinois, it is legal to film or photograph ICE and other law enforcement in public or on private property. Focus on details such as the location, time, and what people are saying without interfering.

Resources:

• Avoid common mistakes: Relying on unqualified advisors, missing hearings, or presenting false information can severely harm a case. Preparation and legal guidance are critical.

ICIRR Family Support Hotline

Multilingual assistance, rapid-response referrals.

Phone: 1-855-435-7693

Website: icirr.org

EOIR Automated Case Information

Check immigration court dates using A-Number or by phone.

Phone: 1-800-898-7180

Website: EOIR Portal

National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) Free/low-cost representation, legal clinics, guardianship and power of attorney guidance.

Phone: (773) 672-6599 (Tuesdays 11 a.m.–2 p.m.)

Website: immigrantjustice.org

Organized Communities Against Deportations (OCAD)

Family Preparedness Package (Illinoisspecific forms).

Website: organizedcommunities.org

Immigration Advocates Network

National legal service directory.

Website: immigrationadvocates.org

American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) – Lawyer Directory Find private immigration attorneys nationwide.

Website: aila.org

Midwest Immigration Bond Fund (MIBF) Community bond fund for immigrants detained in IL, IN, WI, KY. Apply online, typical response in 2–3 days. Based in Chicago.

Website: mibfc.org

Pedro Chavez, Immigration Attorney (TikTok)

Know Your Rights content, including strategies for encounters with ICE.

Website: pedrochavezimmigration.com

Guía de seguridad frente a ICE

Organice sus documentos importantes, elabore un plan de cuidado para sus niños y recuerde ejercer su derecho a guardar silencio.

POR ALMA CAMPOS

En las últimas semanas, comunidades de Chicago y sus suburbios han vivido los efectos de la llamada “Operación Midway Blitz”, una ofensiva de la administración Trump que busca acelerar deportaciones masivas. Cientos de agentes federales de ICE y otras agencias han irrumpido en vecindarios del área metropolitana de Chicago, deteniendo, hostigando y atemorizando a residentes por medio de retenes, gases lacrimógenos, redadas nocturnas e incluso tiroteos. Mientras enfrentan protestas y actos de resistencia, Trump prepara el despliegue de tropas de la Guardia Nacional en los próximos días.

Ante esta realidad, South Side Weekly preparó esta guía con el apoyo de abogadas, abogados y organizaciones comunitarias para ayudarte a conocer tus derechos, prepararte ante una posible detención, saber qué esperar durante la primera hora después de ser detenido por ICE y acceder a redes de apoyo legal y comunitario.

Prepárate con anticipación organizando documentos importantes y estableciendo un plan de cuidado para niños

Laura Cholula Chang, abogada principal de la organización, National Immigration Justice Center (NIJC), señaló que las familias preocupadas por una posible detención o deportación deben preparar un plan de seguridad y mantener documentos clave en un lugar seguro y accesible.

“Es importante que una persona de confianza sepa dónde se guardan esos documentos y tenga acceso a ellos”, recomendó. Estos pueden incluir pasaportes, actas de nacimiento y matrimonio, trámites migratorios, declaraciones de impuestos, contratos de arrendamiento o registros escolares y médicos. Lo mejor es tener copias físicas y digitales de cada documento.

Cholula Chang también aconsejó a madres, padres y cuidadores considerar un plan de cuidado infantil en caso de ser detenidos. “Los padres pueden establecer una tutela legal que permita a un adulto

designado tomar decisiones sobre la educación, la salud y las necesidades diarias del menor”, dijo. Las familias también pueden otorgar un poder notarial para que una persona de confianza maneje ciertos asuntos financieros o de propiedad. Para una autoridad más amplia, la tutela es otra opción, aunque —advirtió Cholula Chang— puede ser más difícil de revocar, por lo que conviene buscar asesoría legal antes de avanzar. [Más información en: Mantener a los niños seguros]

Conoce y ejerce sus derechos

La ley federal ofrece ciertas protecciones durante encuentros con agentes de inmigración y otras autoridades. Estos derechos aplican para todas las personas, sin importar tu estatus migratorio, como el derecho a permanecer en silencio y no responder preguntas sobre el lugar de nacimiento o su situación migratoria.

ICE no puede entrar a un hogar sin una orden judicial válida firmada por un juez, y las personas tienen derecho a examinar esa orden para confirmar que incluya su nombre, dirección y la firma del juez. También aplica el derecho a contar con representación legal. Decir claramente “Quiero hablar con un abogado” es una protección fundamental. Además, las personas pueden negarse a los registros y se recomienda no firmar ningún documento sin antes recibir asesoría legal.

No firmes nada

Según Diana Rashid, abogada supervisora del proyecto de detención del NIJC, en ocasiones los agentes de ICE piden a las personas firmar documentos de salida voluntaria, los cuales indican que se irán del país por su cuenta en lugar de enfrentar un proceso de deportación.

“Lo que muchos no saben es que firmar este formulario significa renunciar al derecho de pelear por su caso”, explicó Rashid. Como resultado, algunas personas detenidas, sin saberlo, ceden su derecho a

una audiencia o aceptan la deportación. No firmes ningún documento.

Mantén a los niños seguros

Para madres, padres y cuidadores, los riesgos de la detención van más allá de su propio caso. Un arresto repentino puede dejar a los niños en situación de vulnerabilidad. Se recomienda a los padres preparar un plan de seguridad en caso de detención para garantizar la protección de sus hijos. La abogada Cholula Chang aconseja que los menores memoricen el nombre y número de teléfono de un contacto de emergencia, familiar o tutor de confianza, y que tengan la certeza de que estarán cuidados si el padre o madre es detenido.

Completar con anticipación un formulario de Tutoría Temporal permite que un adulto de confianza pueda cuidar legalmente de los niños. Si no se llena antes de la detención, todavía se puede gestionar desde el centro de detención. Si el tutor designado vive lejos, el plan debe incluir también a una persona de confianza cercana —como un vecino o amigo de la familia— que pueda quedarse con los niños hasta que llegue el tutor designado.

Existen recursos disponibles para apoyar a las familias en esta planificación. El paquete de preparación familiar de la organización Comunidades Organizadas Contra las Deportaciones (OCAD) incluye formularios específicos para Illinois, y el NIJC ofrece orientación sobre tutorías y poderes notariales para familias en Illinois e Indiana.

Estrategia de interacción con ICE: la primera hora con ICE

(Consejos adaptados del abogado de inmigración Pedro Chavez, vía TikTok) El abogado de inmigración Pedro Chavez explicó que los agentes de ICE están entrenados para controlar y alargar las conversaciones hasta que la persona admita que está indocumentada. Advirtió que a menudo trabajan en pareja y pueden

intimidar o presionar para que alguien hable.

Señaló que lo más importante es no entablar conversación. En su lugar, hay que comprometerse a repetir con calma la misma frase: “No tengo que hablar con usted; ¿puedo irme?” Chavez recalcó que una vez que ICE empieza a hacer preguntas, la persona debe asumir que podría quedar bajo proceso por hasta una hora (aunque normalmente es menos), y aconsejó mantenerse firme y no responder nada.

Chavez recomendó repetir la frase hasta que ICE permita a la persona retirarse o dé por terminada la entrevista. Cuanto más hable la persona, mayor es el riesgo de que los agentes usen esas palabras en su contra. Estos encuentros pueden sentirse largos, frustrantes e intimidantes, pero la preparación mental y el silencio, junto con la afirmación de los propios derechos, son de las protecciones más fuertes disponibles, dijo.

Cómo localizar a alguien que fue detenido

El National Immigration Justice League recomienda que si sabes que alguien fue detenido por ICE, el primer paso es obtener su número de extranjero de nueve dígitos (A-Number o A#), ya sea a través de ICE o de documentos migratorios anteriores. Con ese número es posible localizarlo en el buscador de personas detenidas de ICE o llamando directamente al centro de detención para coordinar visitas y llamadas telefónicas.

Los seres queridos pueden reportar el arresto a la Línea de Apoyo Familiar de la Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) al 1-855435-7693, reunir cualquier documento migratorio o penal, y verificar las fechas de corte a través del portal de la Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) o al 1-800-898-7180.

También es importante buscar ayuda legal rápidamente de organizaciones como NIJC, Midwest Immigration Defense

Alliance, Immigration Advocates Network, u otros directorios y organizaciones reconocidas de abogados.

¿A dónde llevan a las personas después de un arresto de ICE?

Después de un arresto de ICE en el área de Chicago, las personas son llevadas primero a un centro de procesamiento en Broadview, un suburbio a unas millas al oeste de la ciudad, que funciona como un sitio de admisión temporal y no como un centro de detención. Desde allí, muchas personas son trasladadas a cárceles de condado o centros de detención bajo contrato con ICE, con mayor frecuencia en Wisconsin, Indiana o Kentucky, aunque algunas terminan tan lejos como Misuri, Kansas, Oklahoma o Luisiana.

Estos traslados son impredecibles y dejan a las familias con dificultades para localizar a sus seres queridos. Los organizadores les contaron al Weekly que muchas de las llamadas que reciben provienen de familiares que no saben a dónde fue llevada una persona ni qué pasos seguir.

Fianzas y costos legales

Xanat Sobrevilla, organizadora de OCAD, aconseja a las familias a que un abogado se encargue de las solicitudes de fianza en lugar de intentar hacerlo por su cuenta, ya que un abogado puede presentar el caso estratégicamente y reducir riesgos. Además, no todas las personas califican: quienes tienen órdenes previas de deportación, cruces recientes en la frontera o ciertas condenas penales —especialmente las clasificadas como “delitos agravados”— están sujetos a detención obligatoria y no pueden recibir fianza.

Grupos locales de asistencia legal como NIJC, ICIRR y Chicago Legal Aid for Detained Immigrants (CLADI) ofrecen ayuda legal gratuita o de bajo costo, apoyo con fianzas, referencias y acompañamiento a personas bajo custodia de ICE. El Midwest Immigration Bond Fund (MIBF), con sede en Chicago, también cubre fianzas de inmigración para personas detenidas en Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin y Kentucky, y las familias pueden solicitar apoyo en línea.

Grabar y apoyar de manera segura durante un encuentro con ICE

En Illinois, los miembros de la comunidad tienen el derecho legal de filmar o

fotografiar a agentes del orden, incluidos agentes de ICE, en espacios públicos o en propiedad privada, explicó la abogada Cholula Chang. Este derecho aplica a todas las agencias de seguridad y no puede ser restringido a menos que un oficial presente una orden judicial para registrar o confiscar el dispositivo. Incluso si se les ordena detenerse, la grabación puede continuar.

“Actuar colectivamente a través de redes de respuesta rápida capacitadas fortalece la seguridad comunitaria, previene la desinformación y fomenta la solidaridad”, dijo Cholula Chang.

Para documentar de forma segura, Cholula Chang recomienda comenzar a grabar lo antes posible y continuar hasta que termine el encuentro. Se aconseja grabar en formato horizontal, mantener el dispositivo visible y narrar detalles como hora, ubicación y calles cercanas. El enfoque debe permanecer en las acciones de los agentes, incluyendo los números de placa, placas y características de los vehículos. Instrucciones o declaraciones importantes deben repetirse en voz alta para garantizar claridad en la grabación. Según Chang, es necesario mantener al menos una distancia de un brazo y, si los oficiales ordenan retroceder, se debe cumplir mientras se afirma con calma el derecho a filmar.

Además, al apoyar a las personas afectadas, no se deben compartir fotos o videos públicamente sin permiso de las personas o sus familias, ya que esto puede ponerlas en riesgo, señaló Cholula Chang. En su lugar, la evidencia debe enviarse de manera segura a organizaciones de confianza como ICIRR o a un equipo de respuesta rápida afiliado a ICIRR a través de la Línea de Apoyo Familiar al 1-855-435-7693.

También puede enviar videos sobre uso de la fuerza, detenciones, revisiones corporales o paradas de tránsito realizadas por agentes federales en Chicago a través de este formulario. La información será compartida con un grupo de periodistas en Chicago que estamos trabajando en recopilar y verificar estos casos. No compartiremos ningún video públicamente sin su autorización. Somos un grupo de periodistas de distintos medios en Chicago, y uno de nosotros se pondrá en contacto con usted.

Errores comunes que pueden dañar un caso

La abogada Cholula Chang explicó que muchos de los errores que afectan los

casos de inmigración provienen de la desinformación o de la falta de preparación. Confiar en notarios o asesores no calificados, no hacer un plan de seguridad o dar información a ICE en lugar de guardar silencio pueden generar problemas graves.

Faltar a las audiencias en la corte, ignorar órdenes de salida voluntaria o presentar documentos falsos también puede resultar en una deportación y en prohibiciones de largo plazo para obtener alivio migratorio. Para proteger un caso, señaló que es fundamental conocer los derechos, mantenerse preparado y buscar ayuda de profesionales legales calificados.

Resumen:

• Mantén tus documentos seguros: Guarda pasaportes, actas de nacimiento y matrimonio, trámites migratorios, declaraciones de impuestos, contratos de arrendamiento y registros escolares o médicos en un lugar seguro. Asegúrate de que una persona de confianza sepa cómo acceder a ellos.

• Planifica para los niños: Prepara un plan de cuidado infantil, completa un formulario de Tutoría Temporal si es posible y asegúrate de que los menores sepan el nombre y número de teléfono de un adulto de confianza.

• Conoce tus derechos legales: La Constitución garantiza a todas las personas, sin importar su estatus migratorio, el derecho a permanecer en silencio, negarse a registros y pedir un abogado. ICE no puede entrar a un hogar sin una orden firmada por un juez.

• No firmes papeles: Nunca firmes una salida voluntaria u otros documentos sin asesoría legal.

• Mantén la calma con ICE y otras autoridades: Aunque los encuentros pueden ser intimidantes, repetir los derechos con calma y evitar conversaciones innecesarias ofrece una fuerte protección.

• Ubica a sus seres queridos detenidos: Usa el buscador de detenidos de ICE, llama directamente a los centros de detención o reporta los arrestos a la Línea de Apoyo Familiar de ICIRR al 1-855-435-7693.

• Busca apoyo legal y para fianzas: Hay asistencia disponible a través de NIJC, CLADI y MIBF.

• Documenta de manera segura: En Illinois es legal grabar o fotografiar a ICE y otras autoridades en espacios públicos o en propiedad privada. Concéntrate en

detalles como la ubicación, los vehículos y las acciones de los agentes, sin interferir.

• Evita errores comunes: Confiar en asesores no calificados, faltar a corte o presentar información falsa puede dañar gravemente un caso. La preparación y la asesoría legal son fundamentales.

Línea de Apoyo Familiar de ICIRR Asistencia multilingüe, referencias de respuesta rápida.

Teléfono: 1-855-435-7693

Sitio web: icirr.org

EOIR Información Automatizada de Casos

Verifica fechas en la corte de inmigración usando el número A o por teléfono.

Teléfono: 1-800-898-7180

Sitio web: Portal EOIR

National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) Representación gratuita o de bajo costo, clínicas legales, orientación sobre tutela y poderes notariales.

Teléfono: (773) 672-6599 (martes 11 a.m.–2 p.m.)

Sitio web: immigrantjustice.org

Organized Communities Against Deportations (OCAD) Paquete de Preparación Familiar (formularios específicos de Illinois). Sitio web: organizedcommunities.org

Immigration Advocates Network Directorio nacional de servicios legales. Sitio web: immigrationadvocates.org

American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) – Directorio de Abogados

Encuentra abogados privados de inmigración a nivel nacional. Sitio web: aila.org

Midwest Immigration Bond Fund (MIBF) Fondo comunitario de fianzas para inmigrantes detenidos en IL, IN, WI, KY. Solicita en línea, tiempo de respuesta típico de 2–3 días. Con sede en Chicago. Sitio web: mibfc.org

Pedro Chavez, abogado de inmigración (TikTok)

Contenido de “Conozca sus Derechos”, incluyendo estrategias para encuentros con ICE.

Sitio web: pedrochavezimmigration.com

Public Meetings Report

illustration by Holley Appold/South Side Weekly

A recap of select open meetings at the local, county, and state level.

BY SCOTT PEMBERTON AND DOCUMENTERS

August 25

At its meeting, the Chicago Council on Mental Health Equity (CCMHE) heard a report on how the city’s public health department has focused on reducing homicides and opioid overdoses over the summer. The CDPH’s interim deputy commissioner, Miao Jenny Hua, MD, presented the report. The CCMHE evaluates the city's mental health and substance-use policies, training and crisis intervention methods, which include emergency calls concerning mental health crises. It is co-chaired by the Mayor’s Office and the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH.) CDPH’s Healthy Chicago 2025 Strategy focuses on reducing the life expectancy gap between Black and non-Black Chicagoans, Hua said. Homicide and opioid overdoses are two causes of death that contribute most to the disparity. The department implemented an incident command system in the summers of 2024 and 2025 to identify priority reduction areas. To track performance, it looked at whether citywide and priority areas’ reduction rates were similar, and tracked the overall reduction rate, Hua said. Compared to 2024, this year’s opioid overdose emergency medical responses between January and July dropped twenty-two percent citywide and twenty-three percent on the West Side. Homicides citywide decreased by thirty percent (to 237 from 374) and to 144 from 226 in priority areas between 2023 and 2025, Hua said.

September 9

At its meeting the Chicago Community Development Commission green-lit negotiations with the Pullman Hotel Group, LLC, for what would be the Far South Side’s first new hotel in four decades. With the blessing of Council Member Anthony Beale (9th Ward) and other stakeholders, the city’s Department of Planning and Development has the goahead to negotiate a redevelopment deal for property at 11030 S. Doty Ave. Billed as the first nationally branded hotel in Pullman, the proposed 101-room facility would include a business center, exercise room, indoor pool, and a market store or gift shop. Cost is estimated to be $30.9 and funded by several sources, including a TIF loan of $2.8 million and other city-funded grants. With groundbreaking planned for later this year, completion would take fifteen to eighteen months. Tax Increment Financing (TIF) dollars come from taxes on designated areas reserved for revitalization and redevelopment projects.

September 11

At its meeting the Chicago Commission on Landmarks designated the Original Providence Baptist Church, 515 North Pine Avenue, a Chicago landmark. The church was founded in 1863 in large part by formerly enslaved people who arrived in Chicago via the Underground Railroad. A designated Chicago landmark must meet two of seven criteria. The church qualified through being a critical part of the city’s heritage, having “significant person identification,” and being “important architecture.” The church’s first pastor, the Rev. Thomas L. Johnson, for example, oversaw the completion of the church’s first building, later serving as a missionary in Africa with his wife, and wrote the book 28 Years a Slave. The church was strongly shaped by urban renewal, politics, and activism, including the NAACP. A regular meeting of the Permit Review Committee followed the Commission’s session.

September 12

At its meeting, amid an ever-changing landscape of federal immigration operations, the Chicago City Council Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights offered general statements about protecting the rights of Chicagoans as its members try to understand

federal actions in other U.S. cities. Concerns about detentions and deportation threats intensified here as ICE mounted “Operation Midway Blitz,” announced in a press release three days before the Committee’s meeting. Members urged Chicagoans to educate and prepare themselves for the continued presence of federal agents and increased immigration enforcement. Ed Yohnka, director of communications and public policy at the Illinois ACLU, explained to the Committee how some litigation in Los Angeles could have implications for Chicago, saying the escalation in military enforcement in Los Angeles primarily focused on Black and Brown communities. Raids that have targeted public areas have generated multiple lawsuits. The Los Angeles Press Club and other groups filed a lawsuit claiming Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officers violated First Amendment protections when they attacked journalists, protesters, and legal observers documenting actions by federal authorities. Officials claimed the protesters were violent. “They can say that all they want, but it’s protected by the First Amendment,” Yohnka said. The ACLU is monitoring federal behavior on the ground in Chicago, he said, and “will not hesitate to go ahead and file litigation that challenges” inappropriate actions.

September 22

“It appears we’ve been wasting time, energy, and money to do a whole lot of nothing here in the city of Chicago as it relates to lead service line replacement,” said Council Member Raymond Lopez (15th Ward) at a meeting of the City Council Committee on Environmental Protection and Energy. The meeting included a hearing called by Council Member Gilbert Villegas (36th Ward) to determine why the city’s water department has informed only seven percent of residents of the danger posed by lead service lines supplying water to their residences. About nine hundred thousand Chicago renters, landlords, and homeowners with residences built before 1986 are at risk of being exposed to lead-contaminated drinking water. Chicago has the most lead service lines in the country (an estimated 412,000), and city officials don’t plan to finish replacing them all until 2076, ninety years after a national ban outlawed lead service lines in 1986. Under questioning from Committee members, Patrick Schwer, director of water quality for the city’s water department, said full compliance with federal and state law would require mailing 900,000 individual letters and cost $10 million. That money would be better spent on replacing lines, he said. The Committee noted that the city hasn’t yet spent most of the money allocated. The Committee also affirmed its commitment to the goals of the Paris Agreement, an international treaty with a goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

September 25

At a one-hour meeting, the Community Commission for Safety and Accountability allowed extra time for public comment on the Chicago Police Department budget but heard only three comments, just one about the budget. The first commenter urged the Commission to find a new leader who supports Mayor Brandon Johnson’s traffic-stop policy and resistance to ICE. The second referred to slain CPD officer Krystal Rivera, 36, who was accidentally shot and killed by a fellow officer in June, and called for increased police accountability. A third reminded the Commission of its obligation to establish a budget for the department that is fair for the community and enables CPD to uphold its motto, “We Serve & Protect.”

A new president is to be elected at the Commission’s October meeting. Two members were nominated at this meeting: Vice President Remel Terry and Commissioner Abierre Minor. The Commission is also seeking a new head of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, which is responsible for investigating police misconduct. Vice President Terry reported that Commission members have interviewed subject matter experts to inform their search.

A representative from the Mayor’s Office of Public Safety reviewed the Welcoming City Ordinance, which prohibits police from cooperating with federal officers in immigration enforcement. The City has not been formally notified about federal deployments, but it does receive updates from local and state authorities. Commissioners asked several questions. From Aaron Gottlieb: When do police have to cooperate with ICE? Answer: CPD may not intervene or assist without a court order, including provide private information. Abierre Minor: How will the city know about National Guard deployment? Answer: Reports from community partners about sightings. Angel Rubi Navarijo: How does the city protect private citizen information? Answer: The Welcoming City Ordinance is designed to protect Chicago residents, regardless of citizen or immigration status, and prohibits city officials from sharing information deemed sensitive.

This information was collected and curated by the Weekly in large part using reporting from City Bureau’s Documenters at documenters.org.

Arts Organizations Get Creative After Cuts

Grant-funded groups are collaborating to serve their communities despite sweeping cuts to federal arts funding.

BY DAVON CLARK

Acareer of dancing throughout the city and across the country taught Tyler Thompson how exclusive the craft could be. But Thompson, who started dancing as a child at the South Side’s Mayfair Performing Company, emerged well prepared to choreograph her own ensemble that includes her community.

“I was thinking about the limitations of poverty, and how everything you need to have a healthy and happy life is behind a paywall,” Thompson said. “I didn’t want what I produced to also be behind a paywall... so I set up the 773 Dance Project, where all of our shows would be donation based, and we would exclusively perform in neighborhoods on the South and West Sides of the city, so that we were in the areas where they don’t get a lot of dance programming.”

After years of grassroot fundraising efforts and dance education partnerships, 773 Dance Project is now housed in Woodlawn inside of a church full of community-based organizations, paying its dancers to rehearse twice a week and perform in several shows a year. In January, it was even selected as a recipient of a 2025 National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Grant. But like many arts organizations, after President Donald Trump took office, 773 Dance Project was hit with a new obstacle: it was informed that its NEA funding was being rescinded, abruptly removing thousands of dollars from its budget.

Out of the eighty NEA grants that were originally presented to Chicagoans

during the last week of Biden’s presidency, at least thirteen went to organizations based on the South Side, with many also going to citywide efforts that have a wide South Side footprint. Amid a tumult of changes to NEA programs and grant cuts, and as tension remains high between the City of Chicago and the White House, federally supported art organizations across the city must reassess how to continue their work without relying on support from Trump’s NEA.

South Side organizations have drawn on a history of ingenuity and resilience, collaborating with each other and leaning on community support to find ways to respond.

773 Dance Project lost its grant during an escalating series of threats to federal arts funding. Roughly two weeks into Trump’s second term, amid a wave of anti-DEI policy changes from his administration, the NEA discontinued the Challenge America program, which

supported small projects in underserved communities. Days later, it announced new rules prohibiting grant applicants from operating programs “promoting ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (DEI) that violate any applicable federal antidiscrimination laws” or from using federal funds to promote what it referred to as “gender ideology.” Then, in May, it simply began terminating grants and rescinding grant offers. In order to now receive funding from the NEA, the notices indicated, organizations must prove that their project increases AI literacy for the public, highlights minority-serving colleges and universities, supports the health and well-being of people and communities, or celebrates next year’s 250th anniversary of the Declaration of

With the $10,000 NEA grant, Thompson and her dance company were going to revive A Bronzeville , a South Side take on the classic Christmastime ballet that ran in the 2010s at the Harold Washington Cultural Center. Thompson’s childhood friend and co-executive artistic director, Pauline Mosley, was taught by the show’s creator, who was excited by the prospect of its resurgence. While some organizations have applied for the next year’s round of NEA funding under the new guidelines and some have decided not to, the Challenge America grant that 773 Dance Project received was canceled entirely, meaning they would have to apply for funding from the NEA’s more general Grants for Arts Projects program

instead.

Enthusiasm is still strong to bring the show back, even though 773 Dance Project’s team isn’t relying on getting the federal funding again. They are confident that collaboration with community and industry partners will keep it alive.

“We still want to do [A Bronzeville Nutcracker]; we just are thinking about other ways [to] still get it done,” Thompson said. Kia Smith of South Chicago Dance Theater, a mentor to Thompson and Mosley, has been helping them brainstorm. “She’s been like, ‘All right, so... how are we doing your Bronzeville Nutcracker? Let’s figure it out!” Thompson said. “It’s definitely still gonna happen. It just might happen next year.”

Two bus rides away in South Chicago, another organization hit by the cuts, SkyART, had been receiving NEA grants for thirteen years until its funding was rescinded this year. Its programming, much of which developed organically from day-to-day interactions with the families of their attendees and observing their needs, promotes creativity within youth as a skill. The produce from its Artist’s Garden is used to make meals for its Family Table Program, which provides nutritious snacks and meals for its SkyWAY and Project 3rd Space programs. Federal funding was a significant support for SkyART’s general programming—its withdrawn NEA grant had been for $40,000—though not consequential enough to impact any daily operations for participants.

Jalen Taylor, SkyART’s Director of Development, appreciated the collaborative approach by members of Arts Alliance Illinois, which developed a “Federal Rapid Response” package with resources for new funding and community responses for art organizations affected by the sweeping changes to NEA funding.

“I’ve sat on several calls with different organizations impacted by the NEA funding where we’re trying to figure out how to support one another,” Taylor said. “The community has been great during this transition, which I feel keeps the momentum up as we’re all trying to do our own individual missions. We’re all still here trying to navigate the changes

that are happening.”

Those changes are inseparable from the rest of the president’s agenda. On his first day, Trump issued executive orders that attempted to establish a false gender binary and eliminated programming related to diversity, equity, and inclusion;

Taylor said. “This is your safe space to be able to kind of take a pause or take a break from that.”

Leading up to the July 17 deadline for Grants for Arts Projects applications for fiscal year 2026, many 2025 recipients struggled with recouping their current

“We need to continue to imagine, and we need to continue to advocate for arts and creativity because it's crucial for our survival.”

– Jalen Taylor, SkyART Director of Development

both have been specifically mentioned to fiscal year 2025 Grants for Arts Projects grant winners across the country. Many of SkyART’s 1,500 annual participants are local to its South Chicago home and new West Garfield Park location. For SkyART, it’s easy to see how for its families, the impact of federal policy changes and funding cuts goes far beyond art programming.

“We know what’s happening within the households of the constituents that are being impacted by all of the things happening just even outside of this,”

federal support next year. It was one of many local nonprofits that leaned on their communities this spring to cover deficits caused by not being able to rely on federal funding. HPAC’s NEA grant supported its exhibitions, residencies, and professional development programs, and they will all continue as planned. Co-Executive Director Jen Tremblay Chambers is grateful for the art center’s financial security.

“For Hyde Park Art Center, we’re in the position where [$50,000] is impactful, but it’s not existential to our organization. One of the things that we want to be really clear about is that the decision not to apply for NEA was the best decision for us, but this kind of loss of funding is putting art leaders in impossible situations,” Chambers said. “What decision is right for Hyde Park Art Center isn’t necessarily going to be the right decision for another nonprofit. People are doing the best they can to make sure that their programs can run and their communities continue to be supported.”

After the art center lost its support from the NEA, which until that point had been perennially growing, it had a record-breaking Spring Appeal fundraiser, powered by its strong stance on maintaining inclusive values at the historic contemporary arts hub. In addition to NEA funding issues, the fundraiser highlighted the Hyde Park Art Center’s groundbreaking commitment to a contribute-what-you-can model.

losses while considering whether to continue applying for NEA funding. Organizations have different levels of dependency on these federal grants, which can determine whether it’s worth the trouble of reapplying despite the programs’ shifts or preferable to seek funding through different avenues.

In addition to dealing with a canceled NEA grant for 2025, the Hyde Park Art Center expressly decided that it would not compromise its mission in order to comply with anti-equity executive orders, and thus would not seek

Chambers wants people to remember the value that arts and arts organizations bring to communities while art leaders are making difficult decisions about the futures of their local programming: “If someone’s been positively impacted by Hyde Park Art Center, or another organization, or if people are inspired by the work that we do, we hope that people will show up, participate, contribute, and be a part of that solution.”

But it’s not only larger organizations that are forgoing this year’s NEA application cycle. As a two-friend operation, the 773 Dance Project team is not sure if they’re best served by applying again when their energy can go more actively towards increasing access to

dance.

“We are very spread thin. We do this full-time and we are not paid full-time salary… so everything that we spend time doing has to be worth our time,” Thompson said. “It’s this debate: do I even want to spend my time doing this when I know this administration is not trustworthy? They may decide, ‘We’re scrapping the whole Grants for Arts [Projects] program, we don’t want to give any money to the arts.’ Anything can happen.”

Over the summer, 773 Dance Project eventually did appeal its grant revocation. The NEA accepted its appeal, as it adhered to two of the new stipulations: empowering houses of worship to serve communities, and helping Americans become healthier.

Despite the uncertainty, among the bevy of recent federal orders, laws, and policies that are changing how lives are lived, 773 Dance Project, Hyde Park Art Center, and SkyART join art organizations everywhere as they strive to maintain a seamless routine of programming for their communities. The Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) is also helping fill the gaps with its Arts Relief Fund, offering grants up to $25,000

for organizations that lost their federal funding—another testament to Chicago’s dedication to the arts and humanities.

SkyART was founded almost twenty-five years ago by an art therapist as an effort to use creative outlets as a resource for South Chicago residents, and Taylor, the director of development, still affirms the power that comes from creativity.

“We need to continue to imagine, and we need to continue to advocate for arts and creativity because it’s crucial for our survival. It’s the way that we got here and it’s the way that we’ll end,” she said. “There’s nothing that you touch, see, feel, or experience that wasn’t created by somebody. If we continue to honor that principle, at the end of the day, we’ll continue to press forward as a community.” ¬

Davon Clark is a Philadelphia-raised artist based in Chicago who uses investigative journalism practices in his camerawork and poetry. His work looks to fill in the gaps left behind in coverage of the worlds that he lives in. He currently serves as the communications manager at Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation in Back of the Yards.

ARTS & WELLNESS PROGRAMS FOR ADULTS

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October 1 | 10:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m.

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Mondays–Thursdays | 9:30 a.m.–2:00 p.m.

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New Covenant Missionary Baptist Church | 754 E. 77th Street

BY MALACHI HAYES

Welcome to the South Side Sports Roundup! Check back every month for the latest news and updates on everything South Side sports fans need to know.

Bears Seek Strong Emergence from Bye Week

While preseason high hopes haven’t entirely been dashed, it’s been a rocky start to the tenure of coach Ben Johnson and his new-look Chicago Bears offense. The team will enter their game next Monday night with an even 2-2 record after a narrow escape from disaster against the Las Vegas Raiders on September 28.

The Monsters of the Midway were on the verge of falling to 1-3 on the season, all but a death knell for any fledgling playoff hopes, when a blocked Raiders field goal attempt with 38 seconds remaining preserved a 25-24 win. Calling it a “huge character win” for the team, Johnson has made no bones about the team’s need for substantial improvement.

“The most important thing that we’re looking at as a staff and as players is: how do we get better with some of our fundamentals?” Johnson said to media members after last week’s game. “We’re not shedding blocks to the degree we’d like to yet, or at least as consistently as we’d like to yet. And we're not making tackles in space as well as we’re capable of. We did enough live tackling over the course of training camp, I thought we’d be a little further along in that regard in the first four games. [We’re] still a work in progress.”

The team’s previous win inspired considerably more confidence and saw second-year quarterback Caleb Williams earn NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors for tossing 298 yards and four touchdowns in a dominant 31-14 win against the Dallas Cowboys. Williams enters Week 6 with 927 total passing yards and eight touchdowns to just two

interceptions as he continues his quest to become the first Bears quarterback to ever cross the threshold of 4000 yards or 30 touchdown passes in a season. While Johnson has cited a need for improvement in the team’s rushing offense and defense, Williams is largely living up to most measured expectations.

The Bears play on Monday Night Football next week against the Washington Commanders as they seek to avenge perhaps their most infamous loss in recent memory. Chicago had what would have been their fifth victory of the 2024 campaign all but sealed away when a seemingly-impossible Hail Mary pass from Washington QB Jayden Daniels found the endzone as time expired, sparking a 10game Bears losing streak and becoming perhaps the defining moment of former coach Matt Eberflus’s tenure with the team. At 3-2 and coming off a surprise run to last year’s NFC Championship game, this year’s Commanders squad will be an excellent litmus test for whether Johnson’s new-look Bears are ready for prime time or not.

Sox Enter Offseason With Optimism Despite 102 Losses

For most MLB teams, losing 102 games could hardly be more than a pure nadir; a catastrophic failure of a season almost certain to lead to high-level firings, organizational overhaul, and broad existential self-reflection.

On the South Side, that’s not quite the case. The White Sox final record of 60-102 marked their third consecutive hundredloss campaign, and the third-most losses in their 125-year history. It also marked a 19win improvement over their record-setting 121-loss effort in 2024 and included a crop of promising performances and rookie debuts offering a glimpse at what a better future for the team could contain.

Few Sox rookies in recent memory have left a mark as strong as 23-year-old shortstop Colson Montgomery, whose 21 home runs after July 21 ranked second in all of baseball, or 25-year-old starter Shane Smith, who paced Sox pitchers with 29 starts, 146 innings, and a 3.81 ERA.

Catchers Kyle Teel and Edgar Quero are likely to receive a smattering of downballot Rookie of the Year votes. After struggling early in their careers, infielders Lenyn Sosa and Miguel Vargas looked the part of average big leaguers in 2025, the former leading the offense with 22 home runs and the latter with 50 extra-base hits.

The team also announced numerous coaching changes as the season wrapped up. Longtime pitching coach Ethan Katz, who just completed his fifth season with the team, will not return in 2026, nor will four other members of the coaching staff as manager Will Venable and GM Chris Getz will reshape the team’s makeup in their own image as they enter their second and third full seasons at the helm, respectively. A new era has begun in South Side baseball, but how long it will take to bear fruit remains to be seen.

Question Marks Abound For Directionless Sky Team

Expectations for the White Sox were low from the outset, but the same can’t be said for the Chicago Sky, who concluded arguably the worst season in the history of the franchise with a four-game losing streak last month. Their 10-34 record was tied for the worst in the 13-team WNBA, and having already traded the rights to their next draft pick, no immediate help is on the way.

Needless to say, fans are uneasy. When asked where he felt the team’s issues began, South Shore native and longtime fan Jalen Jackson pointed the finger at “leadership,” calling back to the organization’s surprising decision to dismiss head coach Teresa Weatherspoon following the 2024 season, mere months after hiring her with much fanfare. A year later, the franchise is even worse off than before, though unlike his predecessor, coach Tyler Marsh will receive at least one more year to steer things in the

right direction.

“I don’t know how they fix it besides finding veteran leadership on the court or changing the culture overall from above,” Jackson told the Weekly. “Right now they have no real direction… just playing basketball game by game and relying on Angel [Reese] to bail them out.”

Despite a slow start, the 23-year-old Reese had a strong follow-up to a recordsetting rookie season, increasing her scoring average to a team-high 14.7 points per game while also leading the Sky with 3.7 assists per contest. With rumblings already being felt that Reese may choose to take her talents elsewhere if the Sky can’t put a more competitive team on the floor soon, the clock is ticking for Marsh and lead executive Jeff Pagliocca to turn things around before yet another rebuild becomes necessary.

High School Football Heating Up

With the start of the school year comes the start of high school sports, with a number of South Side teams leading the way across the city and state in search of CPS and IHSA titles. Led by Head Coach and former NIU Huskies star Jordan Lynch, the Mt. Carmel Caravan sit atop the statewide rankings of longtime Chicago Sun Times High School sports guru Michael O’Brien. They seek their fourth consecutive Class 7-A state championship.

In the public league, the South Side is host to three of the four undefeated squads remaining at the highest level of competition, as the Kenwood Broncos— making a run at their third consecutive City Championship appearance—are duking it out with the Morgan Park Mustangs and King Jaguars for Metro Conference supremacy. With a 5-1 overall record and a city-best 222 points scored, Kenwood has a slight edge on the other two, though Morgan Park’s recent victory in a huge clash with defending city champions Whitney Young could be a bellwether for future results.

Malachi Hayes is a Bridgeport-based writer and South Side native.

‘All These People Ain’t Making This Stuff Up!’

State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke’s Conviction Integrity Unit hasn’t exonerated anyone in her 10 months on the job, and she has done little to confront more than a dozen coercion allegations against a former Chicago police detective and his partners.

BY DAN HINKEL, INJUSTICE WATCH

This story is a collaboration between Injustice Watch and Bolts, a nonprofit publication that covers criminal justice and voting rights in local governments. Injustice Watch is a nonprofit newsroom in Chicago that investigates issues of equity and justice in the Cook County court system.

Renwick Wells and Mickey Mason say Chicago police detectives bullied witnesses into falsely blaming them for murder.

Claims of police abuse are all too common in the Cook County courts. But Wells and Mason have an uncommon piece of evidence from an unusual source: a 77page report commissioned by prosecutors themselves, citing more than a dozen cases where witnesses or defendants allege that one of those detectives, Brian Forberg, or his partners did the same thing to them.

Snowballing claims of coercion by specific Chicago detectives have historically signaled wrongful convictions waiting to be revealed. Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke, however, has shown no sign she plans to act on the bracing report ordered up by her predecessor, Kim Foxx. Instead, Burke—10 months into her first term—has continued to handle cases involving Forberg one by one in court, rather than systematically investigating their glaring similarities.

majority of those had relatively minor drug convictions linked to a police officer who went to prison for corruption. At the same time, the CIU had overlooked at least 21 people who were later exonerated of murder.

Nearly a year in, Burke has made the unit even less likely to address prosecutors’ past mistakes. She has not replaced several staffers who left at the end of Foxx’s term, with the team of attorneys now half the size it once was. And while experts say a group reviewing convictions needs lawyers with defense experience, the CIU has gone from few to none. Burke has also tightened rules to exclude more people from raising their innocence claims to prosecutors.

The result? The unit has not exonerated anyone in a year.

Thelma Reed, Mason’s cousin, said she believes he will eventually be exonerated and freed from prison. But she doesn’t think prosecutors are taking his innocence claim seriously.

“They’re not interested,” she said. “I think he’s a number. He’s a statistic at this point. And he’s not looked at as an individual person or somebody’s loved one or family.”

Defense lawyers and family members of imprisoned men argue Burke owes them a more in-depth review or an independent investigation, given the close ties between the accused detectives and the state’s attorney’s office. Forberg’s late wife was a prosecutor in the office’s unit tasked with evaluating innocence claims. And John Foster, a sometimes-partner of Forberg’s who is now a commander of detectives, is also married to a former assistant state’s attorney.

Burke’s approach to the Forberg cases is emblematic of the ways her office has weakened the already broken system for freeing the innocent in Cook County, which leads the nation in known wrongful convictions.

The office’s main vehicle for righting wrongful convictions is the Conviction Integrity Unit, also known as the CIU, a group of prosecutors who are supposed to honestly appraise their colleagues’ work. Earlier this year, an Injustice Watch investigation found the group has a mixed record. While the Foxx administration credited it with clearing more people than any similar group nationwide, the

“Given the history of the criminal legal system in Chicago, that’s a serious disappointment,” said Barry Scheck, cofounder of the national Innocence Project and an advocate for conviction integrity units. “Does anybody seriously believe that the police force and the district attorney’s office have improved so incredibly, so markedly, that the system is virtually running perfectly? It makes no sense.”

Despite its celebrated record of exonerating more people than any comparable unit nationwide, an Injustice Watch investigation found 21 people who were denied relief by the group before flawed evidence later led to their exonerations.

Burke has also removed protections that civil rights advocates say could prevent wrongful convictions. She has allowed

police to charge some gun crimes without review by a prosecutor, and she has pared back her office’s lists of police with serious credibility issues.

Burke’s approach to innocence claims has not come as a surprise to either her supporters or critics. She ran a toughon-crime campaign, was endorsed by the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police, and gave few details during the race about her plans to address wrongful convictions—even after reporting revealed she had prosecuted a boy for murder who was later exonerated. She told reporters at the time her views on juvenile justice had “evolved.”

Daniel Kirk, a Burke supporter who was second-in-command to former State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez, said he’s been happy with the new state’s attorney’s approach to case review.

“I haven’t seen anything that would strike me as a reluctance or stubbornness to do the right thing on these cases,” he said.

ultimately serve the interests of justice by bringing greater consistency and regulation to the process,” she wrote.

Burke addressed the issue publicly in January at the Union League Club of Chicago, when she pledged to review the work of potentially abusive police.

“You are always going to have a bad apple,” she said. “Those cases need to be evaluated to see, was this a legitimate conviction?”

Scandal builds around detectives

Until six years ago, Forberg attracted little attention beyond news clips reporting that he was one of the department’s top recipients of overtime—he took home nearly $138,000 in overtime pay in 2015, more than any other officer.

Burke declined to answer detailed questions for this story, but sent a statement

Burke has declined Injustice Watch interview requests since the month before she took office. Her office has continued to deny Injustice Watch complete records of the CIU’s actions, first requested under Foxx. The organization is suing for that data.

saying she needs to ensure the conviction review process is “consistent, fair, and available to all defendants.”

“While this approach will look different than my predecessor’s, it will

Then, in 2019, the Illinois appellate court put a spotlight on him when a ruling against Kevin Jackson—imprisoned for a 2001 murder—included a dissent from Illinois Appellate Court Judge Mary L. Mikva saying the case had “all the hallmarks” of a wrongful conviction. Mikva noted other allegations of coercion by Forberg and Foster.

After that, Jackson’s attorneys started hearing similar claims from other lawyers, people in prison, and their loved ones. In 2020, Injustice Watch reported on the case of Rico Clark, who said in court records that Forberg and another partner had coerced witnesses into framing him for a 2006 murder.

In the following years, activists led by Jasmine Smith, a childhood friend of Clark’s, would show up at the Cook County criminal courthouse and public events protesting for the release of men who said Forberg railroaded them.

In 2022, Jackson’s lawyers publicized Forberg’s marriage to Kirsten Ann Olson, a former prosecutor in the CIU, which had denied Jackson twice. Foxx responded to the potential conflict by hiring attorneys Thomas Geraghty and Robert Owen as special assistant state’s attorneys to look into Jackson’s case. Foxx declined to comment for this story.

Her appointment of the two men was unusual. Special prosecutors are often veterans of state or federal prosecutors’ offices, appointed by judges to make court appearances and file motions in cases where the office has a conflict. But Geraghty and Owen are longtime defense lawyers affiliated with Northwestern University’s law school, a frequent foe of prosecutors in innocence claims. And rather than appearing in court, they wrote a wide-ranging report criticizing police and prosecutors for their handling of the case and concluding there was “an unacceptably high likelihood” that the witness statements were coerced.

The appellate court threw out the conviction, and Jackson went free in late 2024.

But Geraghty and Owen didn’t stop at Jackson’s case.

They cited 13 other cases in which Forberg and detectives working with him, including Foster, were alleged to have used a wide repertoire of pressure tactics. Witnesses said the detectives threatened to keep them from their kids or charge them with crimes, or simply told them who to blame.

A particularly jarring allegation in the report comes from Derrick Hatchett, whose 2004 murder confession was thrown out by a judge after Hatchett alleged officers beat him, breaking his hand and splitting his lip, before he claims Forberg

investigators sustained the allegations and recommended a 30-day suspension.

Presented with the report, prosecutors under Foxx opted not to retry Jackson but kept fighting other cases cited in it. Under Burke, prosecutors have continued to defend convictions tied to Forberg and denied allegations of a pattern of abuse.

‘All these people ain’t making this stuff up!’

As wide-ranging as the report was, it didn’t detail the whole universe of allegations against Forberg and his partners.

An Injustice Watch review of thousands of pages of appeals court rulings, police reports, and news stories found 10 more cases involving Forberg that included an allegation of some form of coercion, for a total of 24. The allegations largely mirror those in the prosecutor’s office report in saying that detectives threatened, pressured, or told witnesses who to blame.

petitions seeking freedom based on the claim that Forberg and Foster pressured witnesses in ways that mirror other cases. One of the witnesses who spoke with detectives just after the shooting testified at trial that she lied to escape a drug charge and because police paid her. Another witness said in an affidavit that he went along with the story police wanted because they arrested him for having a gun and said he’d go free if he cooperated. The third witness wrote in an affidavit that he lied after police threatened to charge him with the murder.

It is difficult to tell from court records which detectives questioned which witnesses, but Foster is listed as the primary detective on police reports and testified that he questioned witnesses, while Forberg is named in several reports as helping with the investigation.

and another officer told him to expect more of the same if he didn’t crack.

The report detailed another case in which a witness alleged Forberg pressured her during the course of more than 40 hours in detention into identifying a murder suspect, who was later cleared when an autopsy determined the victim likely took his own life. Forberg was also one of eight officers accused in a lawsuit of taking false witness statements against a man who spent eight years in prison before he was exonerated by DNA evidence in 2010. Lawyers for the officers denied the allegations. That man won a $3.4 million settlement.

Geraghty and Owen included the caveat that none of the allegations amounted to a formal court finding of wrongdoing by Forberg or others. But they included them in their report because they “strikingly resemble” the claims in Jackson’s case.

The report also noted that the witnesses and defendant in Jackson’s case were Black, making it “particularly relevant” that Foster, Forberg’s partner in the case, was dismissed from the Drug Enforcement Administration academy in 1998 while on leave from the Chicago Police Department after yelling a racial slur during a class session. When he returned to the department, internal affairs

The cases may not account for every complaint, as it is virtually impossible to search every mention of a few specific detectives over three decades of court records.

The defendants in all 24 cases are Black. Eighteen remain in prison.

Two of the men who weren’t in the report prosecutors commissioned are Wells and Mason, who were convicted of killing 19-year-old Terry Morris in a car after he’d been selling marijuana in the West Englewood neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side in December 2003.

The case was open for five years before Foster reported that a key witness identified Wells and Mason and others corroborated him. At trial, another man who was in the car during the shooting placed Mason at the scene but said he wasn’t a shooter, and he said he didn’t see Wells at all. All three witnesses who allegedly identified the men as the shooters recanted at trial and gave confounding testimony—one said he didn’t remember speaking with authorities and another denied even testifying at the grand jury.

Former Cook County Associate Judge Marcus R. Salone found Mason and Wells guilty. Appeals judges later found the original witness accounts persuasive enough to sustain the convictions.

Salone handed both men 45-year sentences, and they stand to be in prison until 2053.

Now, lawyers for the men have filed

Prosecutors have yet to respond to the court filings. Burke declined to comment on pending cases.

Family members and attorneys for Wells and Mason hope prosecutors or the courts will be swayed by the similarities between their cases and those in the report prosecutors commissioned.

“All these people ain’t making this stuff up!” said Gwendolyn Wells, Renwick’s mother. “There has to be some truth to it. You’re taking all these different people from different areas—all of them are not making this up.”

Defense lawyers and advocates gave various opinions about how Burke should handle the spate of allegations against Forberg and his partners, ranging from a more thorough review to handling of the cases by an outside official such as Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul. His office previously declined to take over one Forberg-related case, and he declined a request for an interview.

As the controversy around Forberg has built, he has quietly remained in law enforcement. He retired from the Chicago Police Department in late 2023, but within months was rehired by the department as a criminal intelligence research specialist. A spokesperson for CPD did not answer questions about his return to the department, but Forberg described his duties in public records as “analyze case/ incident patterns/work cold fugitive cases.”

The Chicago Office of Public Safety Administration heavily redacted Forberg’s

filed a federal lawsuit against Forberg and Foster, as well as the CIU prosecutors who denied his innocence claim.

In recent months, an informal group of criminal defense and civil lawyers has been reviewing other prosecutions involving Forberg.

Neither Forberg nor Foster could be reached for comment. A police department spokesperson declined to make either man or Superintendent Larry Snelling available for an interview.

Foster remains a commander of

detectives on the Northwest Side, but the department faces increasing pressure to remove him. Spurred by activists, at least one police district council has taken a symbolic “no confidence” vote on Foster’s leadership. Those activists in July flooded a public meeting on an unrelated topic featuring Foster, and he sat by as a line of speakers came to the microphone to

Smith, the activist who has been at the forefront of protests over Forberg and his partners, pointed at Jackson in the crowd at the Kosciuszko Park fieldhouse and asked Foster, “Do you remember that man, right

“He did 23 years and four months in (prison) for a crime that he did not commit, by the hands of this commander and his

As Burke has taken a business-asusual approach to the gathering storm of Forberg cases, she has also weakened her office’s already broken system for reviewing the universe of innocence claims and allegations of wrongdoing and error by other officers.

Anita Alvarez founded the CIU in 2012 as part of a national trend inspired by waves of wrongful convictions, which are frequently overlooked by appeals courts more focused on procedural soundness than evidence of innocence. But prosecutors

RE VO LU TION (S )

BY ZA YD AY ERS DOHR N

MUSI C AN D LY RI CS BY TO M MORE LL O DIRECT ED BY ST EV E H. BR OA DN AX III

When soldier and aspiring musician Hampton W eems comes home fr om A fghanistan, he finds the South Side of Chicago is also occupied territor y—and he’s acciden tally joined the r esistance. This all new r adical musical even t fr om Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Tom Mor ello (Rage Against the Machine, Audiosla ve and Th e Nigh twatchman) and Chicago’s own Z ayd A yers Dohrn pulses with punk, hip hop and metal, and celebr ates the cour age that inspir es us—acr oss gener ations—to demand a better world.

ST AR T S OCTOBE R 4

reviewing their own colleagues’ work has proven an awkward solution, nationally and in Cook County.

Injustice Watch’s investigation in February found the CIU routinely denied people with strong innocence claims. While the group cleared 248 people under Foxx— more than any group nationwide—226 of them were convicted of relatively minor crimes tied to the same former sergeant, Ronald Watts, who went to prison after leading a team found to have planted drugs and extorted people for years.

Burke took over the office, promising stability in the CIU, saying in January, “Nothing has changed. We are continuing our Conviction Integrity Unit.”

Things did, in fact, change.

Exonerations have gone from infrequent to nonexistent. Exonerations by the CIU went from a high of 113 in 2022—mostly related to the same police corruption scandal—to three in 2023, and one in 2024, according to figures released at the end of Foxx’s term. The last exoneration, under Foxx in September 2024, was relatively minor—a man cleared of a felony drug possession case built by another officer who went to federal prison for leading a robbery ring.

Staff attrition that began under Foxx has deepened. The state’s attorney’s office provided incomplete and contradictory records on CIU staffing, but Injustice Watch pieced together documents to show that, as of late 2021, the unit had six attorneys and a DNA specialist. Near the end of Foxx’s term, it had at least four lawyers and a DNA specialist, their records show. Now it has three lawyers.

By comparison, the well-regarded conviction integrity unit in Brooklyn had eight lawyers as of September, a spokesperson said. The group in the Manhattan district attorney’s office, as of this summer, had five lawyers and two vacancies, along with more than a halfdozen other staffers, a spokesperson said. Both those groups are in prosecutor’s offices smaller than Cook County’s.

Jon Loevy, whose civil rights firm routinely wins multimillion-dollar verdicts for exonerated men, suggested that the CIU might be accomplishing what prosecutors want from it.

“That is a tremendously underresourced project if your goal is to make sure that innocent people aren’t in prison,”

he said. “If it’s to slow-walk investigations, then it’s perfect.”

(Disclosure: Loevy’s firm represents Injustice Watch in open records lawsuits, including against the state’s attorney’s office.)

Continuing another longstanding problem of the group, all three of its attorneys—including its director, Iris Ferosie—are career Cook County prosecutors. Experts recommend conviction review units include people with defense experience, to limit bias and gain perspective from a defendant’s side. While that has always been in short supply in Cook County, under Foxx, the group for two years was led by a former defense lawyer, and a handful of other attorneys had experience outside the office.

Burke has also solidified and expanded a rule forcing people to choose between reviews by the CIU and pressing their case in court. That guideline was frequently invoked under Foxx, but there were highprofile exceptions—including Jackson’s case—allowed to proceed on both tracks.

A rule change was recommended by Burke’s transition team, whose subcommittee on the CIU was co-chaired by former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, an outspoken critic of Foxx’s handling of wrongful convictions. A report from the transition team called for Burke to “clarify” the rule, and the CIU’s website now says it won’t consider cases during federal or state challenges, “or any litigation of any kind.” Lightfoot declined to comment through a

painstaking investigations following an airline crash. The idea is to take a “nonblaming” approach to understanding what happened and fix the underlying problems, said John Hollway, senior advisor at the Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice at the University of Pennsylvania law school. Hollway advises law enforcement agencies through these reviews.

“We’ve been saying for a long time that we think that the next sort of CIU 2.0 is that a CIU is actually the leader of, the implementer of best practices and education about best practices, and the driver for that is learning from the errors of the cases that they’re reviewing,” he said.

spokesperson.

It remains to be seen how Burke’s prosecutors will apply the rule, but experts said it could discourage people from making innocence claims to prosecutors and prevent prosecutors who see a strong innocence claim in court from referring it to the CIU. Defense lawyers said it’s another reason not to use the CIU.

“It’s a black box that’s just, ‘Trust us, we’re going to look at the case,’” said Karl Leonard, an attorney with the Exoneration Project. “And then what will almost invariably happen is they will decline to do anything and make sure that the judge you end up in front of knows that they declined to do anything.”

For the prior eight years, righting wrongful convictions was a frequently stated priority of the Foxx administration— even when reality didn’t always match the promise. Things appear to have changed.

“It’s like anything else in a prosecutor’s office. Elections have consequences, and office priorities have consequences,” said Brandon Garrett, a Duke University law professor who has studied CIUs.

Asked how Cook County can fix its system for determining whether the people it has imprisoned are innocent, one solution experts and defense lawyers suggested is simple: a CIU, but better. That would involve adding staff, including those with outside perspectives.

Others advocate for “sentinel event reviews”—examinations of wrongful convictions that mirror the kind of

Garrett, the Duke University professor, noted another possibility would be an independent system set up outside prosecutors’ offices. That’s been done in North Carolina, though he said its statewide innocence inquiry commission has not lived up to its potential because of a lack of resources and “reluctance to be proactive” in investigating cases.

“If it was an independent commission that was really well funded and had lots of power, then maybe it could be really effective,” Garrett said.

In a system that has allowed thousands of wrongful convictions, prosecutors need to remain curious about their potential mistakes, said Ronald Safer, a former federal prosecutor who has represented people claiming innocence but has no ties to the Forberg cases.

“The prosecutor’s office is there to do justice,” he said. ”And, my goodness, if you have reason to believe that your office was used by rogue police officers to convict the innocent, why wouldn’t you investigate?” ¬

Bolts is a digital publication that covers the nuts and bolts of power and political change, from the local up.

Injustice Watch is a Chicago-based nonprofit journalism organization that examines issues of equity and justice in the court system.