Friday, October 10, 2025

Immigration blitz hits Chicago

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This is America

Stories of justice and action across America

Fri Oct 10 2025

The federal government might be closed, but President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement blitz has come to Chicago, where locals say it is upending life.

Welcome back, This is America readers, I'm Phillip M. Bailey, chief political correspondent for USA TODAY.

The White House claims the crackdown is part of its wider campaign aimed at apprehending "the worst of the worst" who have come into the U.S. illegally, including Tren de Aragua gang members from Venezuela.

But Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker − who Trump has threatened with arrest − are calling it a dangerous power grab by the president as average residents allege ICE agents are making life untenable.

Among the scenes are a Mexican man fatally shot by immigration agents in the northwest suburbs; agents rappelling from Black Hawk helicopters to raid a South Side apartment building in the middle of the night; and federal officials deploying chemical agents on protesters, including the Rev. David Black, who leads First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, outside the local immigration enforcement facility. Trump also wants to flood hundreds of National Guard troops – 300 from Illinois and 200 from Texas – into the area, but a federal judge hit the pause button on Oct. 9 in a ruling that cast doubt on the Department of Homeland Security's claims about Chicago violence.

The Trump administration is going to appeal as it teases the idea of invoking the Insurrection Act to block legal efforts to counter his crackdown.

20251008_MICHAEL LORIA CHICAGO_THUMB.00_00_00_00.Still004.jpg

An ICE agent looks on as residents of Chicago's Brighton Park neighborhood confront law enforcement at a gas station after ICE agents allegedly detained an unidentified man riding in his car, in Chicago, Illinois.

OCTAVIO JONES/AFP via Getty Images

For more on what's happening with the Chicago blitz, check out USA TODAY Network's coverage:

•	Lawsuits piling up: Across the country, the Trump administration's National Guard deployments, whether in Chicago or Portland, are going to be tested in court as state leaders push back.
•	Soccer game relocated: One fallout of the immigration enforcement is a friendly soccer match between Argentina and Puerto Rico that was originally scheduled for Chicago was relocated to Florida.
•	Illegal crossings plummet: For Trump and his allies, however, the startling images that have alarmed many Americans are part of a plan that's working, considering the U.S. Border Patrol recorded roughly 238,000 migrant apprehensions in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, down from more than 1.5 million the year before.

Supreme Court weighs constitutionality of conversation therapy ban

Months after upholding a ban on gender-affirming care for minors, the Supreme Court is once again hearing arguments about LGBTQ+ rights that could have major ramifications on young people.

This week, the justices presided over a case out of Colorado , which in 2019 moved to prohibit licensed mental health workers from providing minors with "conversion therapy," which attempts to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity. The state argued those practices are harmful, and medical organizations such the American Psychological Association have also repudiated the practice.

But Kaley Chiles, a licensed counselor who said she practices from a Christian perspective, has a different view. She argues the state's law interferes with her ability to help clients "live a life consistent with their faith."

Justice Samuel Alito , an outspoken conservative voice, raised the issue of medical standards becoming politicized, saying Colorado is engaged in "blatant viewpoint discrimination," while the liberals on the high court questioned if the First Amendment applies given conversion therapy's poor record.

"If the doctor said you could lower your cholesterol by going out and eating dessert every meal, we would think that was not a good thing for a doctor to say," Justice Elena Kagan said. "We wouldn't say the First Amendment has something to do with this."

Thanks for reading! See you back next week with more stories of justice from across the country.