In their letter on Sept. 26 (“Be thankful to ICE”), Donald Trump administration officials Todd Lyons and Greg Bovino tell a story that simply does not align with reality. As local and state-based organizations leading the response to these attacks on our communities, we can confirm that there is nothing normal about the devastating impacts of the administration’s escalating immigration enforcement operation in Illinois.

The efforts of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (USCBP), to capture and abduct people in Illinois do not make our communities safe. Rather, these raids are an attack on immigrants and citizens alike. These operations violate both our deeply held values and constitutionally protected rights. Their joint operation has already resulted in the killing of Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, a father in Franklin Park. The DHS statement in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy does not align with video subsequently released via the Freedom of Information Act, so there is little reason to take them at their word on any aspect of their operation.

DHS would have the public believe they are protecting “law-abiding Americans” from waves of “immigrant crime.” Yet, they continue to peddle fear, scapegoating immigrant families to distract from the lawlessness of this administration and its failure to deliver on its promises to improve people’s standard of living. When DHS attacks our neighborhoods, they are not keeping anyone safe, only distracting voters by broadcasting our terror to the world.

What we have witnessed in Illinois is anything but “standard law enforcement practice.” DHS has turned federal facilities into militarized zones where peaceful demonstrators, including students, clergy and neighbors, are met with tear gas, rubber bullets and intimidation. Families seeking safety and opportunity have been met with assault, separation and even death. This is not law enforcement. It is state terror.

Immigrants are not outsiders. We are teachers, caregivers and small business owners, all people sustaining our communities. Our neighborhoods thrive because people of different backgrounds and shared values build together. When DHS targets our communities, it is not just immigrant families under siege but the very fabric of our society. True public safety is not achieved through raids and fear but through strong, connected communities where every family can live without persecution.

Illinois will continue to stand its ground and meet these attacks as a state united behind our shared belief that all people are deserving of dignity and respect.

— Lawrence Benito, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Chicago, and Erendira Rendon, Resurrection Project Immigrant Justice, Chicago

Statistics, not rhetoric

In response to the letter by Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyon and Border Patrol Chief Agent Greg Bovino: They state that rapists, murderers, pedophiles and dangerous criminals are off the streets.

Perhaps they can provide statistics proving this. What I saw was vendors, workers and family members snatched off the streets.

Facts, rather than rhetoric, would be nice.

— Marcey Berman, Chicago

On the side of the law

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are federal law enforcement officers. Despite what our governor and mayor say on a daily basis, they are not the enemy. The people who crossed our border illegally are the enemy. Every law-abiding citizen should be happy that ICE is doing its job, enforcing immigration laws.

Millions of dollars have been spent on immigrants through health care and education, money that could have been spent on our fellow citizens.

The only people creating an environment of fear are the Democratic politicians. It’s time for them to get on the side of law and order.

— Mike Kirchberg, Chicago

We need Congress to act

Illinois’ and Chicago’s sanctuary status limits local governments’ cooperation with federal immigration forces, as well as provides essential services to all residents, irrespective of immigration status. In principle, I applaud our local governments’ dedication and humanitarian posture. In principle, I recognize that our sanctuary status carries monetary costs borne by taxpayers in the millions.

Immigration reform and border security on a national level are needed. In 2024, a committee of U.S. senators worked in a bipartisan manner to draft legislation to address these issues, but their efforts were thwarted by then-candidate Donald Trump in order to afford him a campaign issue.

In this divisive political climate, I realize that my hope for congressional immigration reform may not be realistic. It is my hope, nonetheless.

A patchwork of local sanctuary laws, and indiscriminate round-ups by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, surely cannot stand and surely cannot be the answer.

— Ava Holly Berland, Chicago

Key to national success

Compliments to letter writer Joseph A. Murzanski for his sensible analysis of our immigration process (“Immigration reform,” Sep. 23):

First, he rightly corrects Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem’s misguided advice that immigrants should leave America only to return properly. That is supercilious thinking, impractical, wasteful and obsolete in today’s competitive world. As of some five years ago, it was reported that the process of obtaining citizenship can take as long as 10 years in extreme cases. Is that contingency even practical? Just to double the cost of starting over, which this would impose, makes it a nonstarter.

Not to mention, as Murzanski does, these immigrants sometimes possess skills our economy needs immediately to maintain our global leadership across the board. Without them to count on, our entire pace of new plant construction and industrial leadership could be derailed or delayed.

That kind of default could enable other industrialized nations to overtake and replace us as the go-to place for start-ups, which is what secures our global economic leadership, which in great part is the result of our free-wheeling economy built on initiative and inputs that don’t always exist elsewhere. So either we keep setting the pace or become followers. If we falter, that would be the unwanted consequence. The skills and work ethic of immigrants are a big part of that equation.

It was immigrants who enabled the USA to become the world leader during our Industrial Revolution and explosion of productivity some two lifetimes ago. It would be a giant step backward to give immigrants the cold shoulder today. It is they, not well-situated Americans, who possess the aptitude, ideas and eagerness to keep our frontiers of industry moving forward faster than those in nations vying for our top spot.

Like any sports team, we have to keep up the winning pace to stay on top. Immigrants help make that happen, whether they speak fluent American-style English.

Pray that our reformers keep that in mind. Our primacy is not necessarily a sure thing. As was so generations ago, immigrants contribute to our leadership and national success. Not to mention that each immigrant is also a consumer of U.S.-made goods and services.

— Ted Z. Manuel, Chicago

Let cities rule themselves

President Donald Trump has threatened to send the National Guard into Chicago and Baltimore. He says these cities are “hellholes” of crime. I have family and friends in Chicago. I have family working in Baltimore. What I hear from them is very different.

As Willie Wilson notes in his recent op-ed (“Illinois leaders protecting their own turf instead of constituents,” Sept. 25), though cases of firearm-related violence and deaths have been falling in Chicago in recent years, the numbers are still unacceptably high and disproportionately affect lower-income communities. Clearly, more remains to be done, both to protect citizens in these communities and to address the root causes of this violence.

This, however, doesn’t justify Trump’s threats to occupy Chicago or other American communities with federal troops. This is particularly true when, at the same time, he’s trying to foist more costs for education, emergency management, health care and food support on states and cities and, in so doing, makes it more difficult to address those root causes.

Management of American communities should be left to those who live there. America is not a police state. Trump will be severely judged by the American people, and by history, if he tries to make it one.

— Richard Leman, Honokaa, Hawaii

Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/28/letters-092825-ice-operations-immigration/