Note: Student names in this article have been omitted to protect anonymity.
A mother’s arms are now empty. A father’s chair at the dinner table is vacant. Children's lives are changed forever. The ICE raids happening in our backyard are not justice. They are not constitutional. They are not essential for safety. They are state-sanctioned terror shrouded as law.
In recent weeks, Chicago’s communities have been shaken by a series of presidential orders. Our city, once a haven for refugees to find safety from their countries of origin, is now under constant fear of persecution from ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents.
These shockwaves reflect a continuation of the federal government’s immigration agenda. Maintaining his stance on immigration from his first term, President Donald Trump issued multiple executive orders targeting the perceived citizenship status of individuals, such as “Operation Midway Blitz.” These orders, in conjunction with the U.S. Supreme Court case Kristi Noem v. Pedro Vasquez Pedromo, introduce harsher law enforcement in major U.S. cities against Latino populations and allow racial profiling as a reasonable basis for detainment and incarceration under the assumption of immigration status. This ruling also authorizes and encourages stops and searches to be made by “the type of work one does,” as well as profiling based on “speaking Spanish or speaking English with an accent,” prompting immigration officers to patrol bus stops, car washes, and agricultural sites.
These orders infringe on constitutional rights under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. The Fourth Amendment protects Americans from unwarranted search and seizure, which would prevent ICE agents from hovering around workplaces and targeting people based on their speech and appearance. The Fourteenth Amendment, under the due protection clause, prohibits states from depriving someone of their “life, liberty, or property” without being presented in front of a judge and serving a case. By creating detention centers for immigrants to be held for indefinite amounts of time and deported without trial, these rights are directly violated.
Furthermore, the Justice Department violates its own practices. The department itself stated in 2023, “Accordingly, this Guidance prohibits consideration of a person’s race, ethnicity … [f]urther, it prohibits the use of generalized assumptions or stereotypes about individuals or groups bearing these characteristics as a basis for law enforcement decision-making.”
Racial profiling is becoming standard practice in law enforcement, and it should be a blaring wake-up call for all of America. By normalizing racial profiling, the government not only takes away immigrants’ rights but also erodes the principles that are supposed to protect and serve all citizens. American citizens could be arrested simply for being Latino, with no other basis or proof of immigration status.
One high school junior said, “My parents even said to start speaking English outside the house, like we had to do in the last Trump presidency. It’s completely ridiculous that I can’t speak my own language because of the color of my skin and the ethnicity I appear as.” The student, who was born in Puerto Rico, lives in Los Angeles, another city targeted by ICE.
The dangerous policies being implemented do not exist solely on paper. They tear through everyday lives, leaving Latino communities unstable and afraid. People are forced to put their lives on hold, not show up to work, and lie low out of unease. Deportations shatter families overnight. Children left in fear, partners taken away, and relatives or friends left to deal with the aftermath. Beyond the immediate heartbreak, studies from the American Immigration Council show that the deportation of a parent or family member increases the risk of mental health issues and substance abuse. The emotional trauma that deportation leaves on affected communities is irreparable and unjustifiable.
One high school senior who immigrated from Mexico to the U.S. when she was 2 years old experiences these fears firsthand.
“You never really know what could happen,” she said. “My mom can’t really go out. She goes to work and then comes home. I get the groceries now instead of her, and I always have to be attentive.”
While families live under a haze of fear, supporters of these policies may argue that immigrants should just come to the United States legally. I deeply urge them to try to understand just how expensive and strenuous the process can be. An aspiring citizen must fill out multiple forms that cost hundreds of dollars before starting the official immigration process, and an immigration lawyer then costs thousands. On top of that, the process itself can take many years to grant green-card status to those in need, requiring constant interviews and court appointments. This lengthy process means that a person is still at risk of deportation if they overstay a visa in the United States while awaiting approval, or if they crossed the U.S. border unauthorized. Even after they are green-card approved, they still risk their citizen status being revoked if they get into legal trouble.
“I got my green card sophomore year, and we filed for it at the end of eighth grade,” the student said. “However, we were told we would get it much earlier. I would say it is definitely hard to get [immigration] status, because it's not something you can just go ahead and find, or have easy access to. I'm a green-card holder, but I can't be a citizen until I'm 21. I think age is a big part of it, because it honestly disrupts everything.”
One high school senior and second-generation immigrant whose family owns a popular Mexican restaurant franchise in Chicago witnessed a similar fear from one of her family’s employees.
“[The employee] has to carry his [immigration] papers in a Ziploc baggie taped to his chest, because it has happened where [ICE agents] have tried to stop him, and he doesn’t speak enough English,” she said. “He’s scared on a day-to-day basis.”
Aside from the inconsistent legal aspects of these new policies, the current administration’s dehumanization of Hispanic immigrants is deeply disturbing. The mere language used by the Department of Homeland Security is incredibly shameful, with terms such as “illegal aliens” having become routine. These instances isolate entire demographics and push the administration’s xenophobic agenda. The word “alien” categorizes people as foreign objects, and coupling it with the word “illegal” reduces human beings to their immigration status. The official White House social media accounts have also been posting AI-generated images of ICE agents arresting migrants.
She said, “I hate when they use terms like ‘alien,’ or when people just don’t like immigrants and portray them as evil or cruel and full of bad intentions. In reality, there’s crime literally anywhere and everywhere.”
Perhaps the most alarming institutionalized form of dehumanization is “Alligator Alcatraz,” a center located 45 miles away from Miami that costs the United States $450 million annually to maintain. Surrounded by alligators, the facility holds detained migrants for indefinite amounts of time with no access to the outside world.
There is no due process—this is brutality.
To put these practices into place is to weaponize fear, turning everyday life for not only immigrants, but entire Hispanic populations into torment. Humans cannot be made into political laughing stocks. They are my closest friends, their mothers and fathers, and most of all, human beings whose basic dignity and respect are stolen from them under the facade of “enforcement.”
Any leader who encourages or allows these horrific acts to transpire is complicit in terrorizing entire communities and betraying the groups that built our country to be what it is today.
These policies not only affect people outside of your universe of obligation—they affect students learning at our school and teachers who educate at Latin.
One high school junior said, “I think that you should start looking at people through a humanitarian view, other than a lens of hatred and discrimination, and see people as more than just a perfect idea of how your America should be.”
Luckily, the city of Chicago has been fighting back for its Hispanic community. The IMRR (Office of Immigrant, Migrant, and Refugee Rights) has been handing out “Know Your Rights” pamphlets, including helpful resources and step-by-step instructions on what to do when faced with a confrontation with an ICE agent. Mayor Brandon Johnson has also given the Chicago Police Department officers an order not to aid or give support to the ICE agents with immigration issues.
People’s lives are not a matter of one’s personal politics. These policies do not care which way you voted. This is a humanitarian crisis. What is happening in Chicago and across the country is not law enforcement, it is cruelty. And cruelty should never be policy.
A father and first-generation immigrant said, “As a family man, I can say that I can’t change other people’s opinions and actions, but I can change the way that I raise my children, and the love that I give to them. That's what’s being put out to the world on my end, and I wish everybody thought that way.”
