July 8, 2025
“Every Single Day I Pray”: Young People Protest ICE in Chicago
By Nic Wong
Thousands of protesters marched in Chicago against Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in their city and President Trump’s deployment of troops in Los Angeles.
On a concrete brick of Federal Plaza in Chicago, a protester wrote “Fuck ICE” in black ink. A few others quickly followed suit. Next to them, hundreds gathered in the street holding flags representing Mexico, the United States, Palestine, and many other South American nations.
It wasn’t just the deployment of 2,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to a largely peaceful protest in Los Angeles that galvanized people to hit the streets on Tuesday June 10; it’s also the reality that, in Chicago, many young people know someone directly affected by recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. “My parents are still undocumented,” Laura, 21, from the South Side told The Nation. “Thank God we are in the process of getting them papers, but with everything going on, every single day I pray for them—that I am able to see them again.… it’s a constant fear. That’s why I showed up.”
