Chicago has found itself at the epicenter of a dramatic showdown between local leaders and the federal government, as Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order on Monday, October 6, 2025, creating so-called “ICE-free zones” throughout the city. The move, which comes amid a surge in federal immigration enforcement under the Trump Administration, bars federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials from using city-owned properties—including parking lots, vacant lots, schools, libraries, and parks—for staging, processing, or operations. Unwilling private businesses are also protected under the order, with the city urging them to join the initiative.
“That means that city property and unwilling private businesses will no longer serve as grounds for these raids,” Johnson announced at a press conference at the Westside Justice Center, drawing applause from supporters. The executive order directs all city departments to implement the measures within five days and requires city employees to immediately report any violations. Signs will soon be posted on city properties, warning that the spaces may not be used for civil immigration enforcement. Johnson also called on local businesses and community organizations to adopt similar policies, aiming to create a “broad civic shield that limits the reach of harmful enforcement practices.”
The order is a direct response to the Trump Administration’s Operation Midway Blitz, a ramped-up immigration crackdown that began in early September. According to TIME, the operation has already led to more than 1,000 arrests across Illinois, with ICE targeting migrants without legal status and, in at least one case, conducting a “military style” raid on a Chicago apartment building. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claims the raids focus on individuals “involved in drug trafficking and distribution, weapons crimes and immigration violators,” yet local leaders and rights groups argue the net has caught many who pose no threat or have not been convicted of any crime.
The aggressive tactics have sparked outrage and fear among Chicago’s immigrant communities and beyond. Last week, ICE officers reportedly detained Chicago Alderperson Jessie Fuentes and used tear gas on residents during a raid, as reported by The Hill and The TRiiBE. Federal agents were also accused of placing a Black man in a chokehold near the Westside Justice Center and causing a car crash during a raid on a South Shore apartment complex and a homeless shelter in Bronzeville. Pastor Chris Harris of Bright Star Church described a recent incident at his church’s homeless shelter: “They came in, they handcuffed, detained, and took four residents. Let me be clear, they were not criminals. They were human beings, trying to survive, trying to heal and trying to find home, shelter. Our shelter is not harboring criminals.”
Johnson did not mince words about the federal government’s actions. “We have a rogue, reckless group of heavily armed mass individuals roaming throughout our city that are not accountable to the people of Chicago,” he said. He called for a full investigation into “all of the brutality” federal agents have conducted over the past week and demanded, “We need ICE out of our city.”
The city’s efforts to resist federal enforcement have not gone unnoticed—or unchallenged—by the Trump Administration. The White House condemned Johnson’s executive order in a statement, calling it “a disgusting betrayal of every law-abiding citizen” and accusing the mayor of “shielding the most depraved, violent criminal illegal aliens from justice.” The statement went further, describing the move as “a dangerous intensification of Democrats’ lunatic ‘sanctuary’ agenda where criminal illegals come before American citizens.”
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary at DHS, echoed these criticisms, stating, “His reckless policies not only endanger our law enforcement, but public safety. While he continues to release pedophiles, rapists, gang members, and murderers onto Chicago’s streets, our brave law enforcement will continue to risk their lives—without pay—to arrest these heinous criminals and make Chicago safe again.”
But Johnson, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, and their allies remain undeterred. In a joint press conference, Pritzker called the deployment of hundreds of National Guard troops to Chicago “an unconstitutional invasion” and accused President Trump of using service members as “political props and as pawns in his illegal effort to militarize our nation's cities.” Pritzker pointed to Chicago’s lowest homicide rate in 60 years and record employment levels as evidence that the city is not the “shooting disaster” Trump has often claimed. “The state of Illinois is going to use every lever at our disposal to resist this power grab and get Noem’s thugs the hell out of Chicago,” he declared, referencing both federal officials and the National Guard deployment.
Johnson, for his part, has urged Chicagoans to “push back against tyranny” through political organization and civic engagement. “This battle is going to take place in the courts and in our communities,” he said. The city and state have already filed a lawsuit seeking to block the National Guard deployment, calling it “patently unlawful.” While a federal judge declined to immediately halt the deployment, a hearing is scheduled for Thursday, October 9.
Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling added another layer to the city’s stance, clarifying that Chicago police do not arrest federal agents and that the department will consult with the city’s Department of Law regarding enforcement of the new executive order. “We do not arrest federal agents who are here to do their jobs,” Snelling said, but emphasized the department’s commitment to protecting Chicagoans and maintaining public safety. He also noted that the rules of engagement for the Chicago Police Department are more restrictive than those for federal agents, and that the city’s officers do not document federal agents’ actions during arrests or use of force—accountability for those actions, he said, falls to the federal agencies themselves.
Meanwhile, the city’s immigrant communities and their supporters have taken to the streets in protest. Demonstrations have erupted in and around Chicago, particularly near the ICE facility in Broadview, where on Saturday, October 4, a woman was shot by federal agents during a chaotic multi-car collision. DHS claims agents were “rammed by vehicles and boxed in by 10 cars,” and that they were forced to fire defensive shots at an armed individual, though local reports dispute whether the woman was armed at all.
Rev. Ciera Bates-Chamberlain, executive director at Live Free Illinois, described the atmosphere as “very scary,” telling TIME, “It is terrifying to know we have masked people running around our community. We don’t know if you got vigilantes or if you have federal agents coming after you.” She argued that the crackdown is counterproductive to addressing gun violence in the city, saying, “What we’ve seen is when you give back resources to the community that is most impacted by gun violence, you see amazing declines.”
With roughly 1.7 million immigrants residing in the Chicago metro area as of March 2025, according to the Vera Institute of Justice, the stakes are high for both the city’s residents and its leaders. As Johnson, Pritzker, and their supporters dig in for a protracted legal and political fight, the city’s streets remain tense, its communities mobilized, and the nation’s eyes fixed on Chicago as a battleground over the future of immigration enforcement and local autonomy.
