Tag: Workers

When reports surfaced over the weekend that mass deportations could potentially begin in the Chicago area Tuesday, Martin Ramos informed his boss that he was taking time off from work, stocked up on groceries and decided his kids would skip soccer practice this week.

Ramos — who emigrated from Guadalajara, Mexico, without the necessary work permits — spent the first full day of Donald Trump’s second presidency hunkered down with his family and trying to avoid being picked up by ICE agents. An arrest, he knows, would destroy everything he and his wife worked for and force their two boys into an uncertain future.

“We have to do everything possible to keep our children safe,” Ramos told the Tribune. “What will they do if we get deported?”

ICE agents did not show up at the Joliet factory where Ramos and his wife both work Tuesday, but the fear inflicted upon employees there was evident. A co-worker told Ramos that only 10 out of the typical 40 to 50 workers showed up.

In Little Village, one of Chicago’s largest Mexican immigrant communities, streets were mostly deserted and quiet. Tamale vendors, a hearty group used to braving all kinds of weather, weren’t lined up on the sidewalks. The hardware store parking lots, where day laborers search for work, also were largely empty.

The possibility of mass deportations has terrified some of the area’s roughly 400,000 undocumented immigrants, prompting many to skip work, keep their kids out of school and stay hidden until the promised raids end. Their trepidation only deepened Tuesday, when the Trump administration announced it would permit agents to make arrests at schools and churches.

“All we can do is take all precautions possible and stay home as long as we can,” Ramos said.

Trump’s inaugural address and the sweeping executive orders he signed afterward fulfill his campaign promise to be tough on immigration, even at the expense of long-standing principles.

The executive orders include plans to end birthright citizenship and deploy troops to enhance border security. The president also discontinued the U.S. Customs and Border Protection One app, which migrants had been using to schedule appointments with U.S. authorities and seek asylum, dashing the hopes of many prospective migrants in Mexico.

On Tuesday afternoon, the new administration officially rescinded the Biden administration’s guidelines that prevented immigration authorities from conducting arrests and raids in “sensitive” areas.

That means that ICE agents can now go inside churches and schools to detain people.

“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,” said a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson in a statement. “The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense.”

‘People are hiding’

The immigrant community was initially skeptical of Trump’s deportation threats, having faced similar tough talk from other administrations. But sentiment has changed over the last week, said Dolores Castañeda, a community leader and longtime resident of Little Village.

Sunday Mass at St. Agnes of Bohemia Catholic Church was unusually empty, she said. And she personally advised a group of street vendors based on the Southwest Side to stay home during the week until they learn how ICE will operate. Out of 13 street vendors, only one told her that she couldn’t stay home because she depends on the money she earns each day to feed her family and pay rent.

Most vendors declined to speak to the Tribune out of fear that they could be identified and targeted by federal immigration officials.

“People are hiding,” she said. “They call me and ask me what to do, but my hands are tied, I don’t think anyone knows what to do.”

Even though the raids have not materialized, Gov. JB Pritzker said Tuesday that his office heard that ICE will be targeting as many as 2,000 in the city of Chicago alone. Trump has said agents will only go after immigrants accused of crimes, but he has not defined which offenses would be subject to deportation.

“I don’t know whether they’ll effectuate that, or how,” Pritzker said, adding that immigration authorities had not communicated with his office.

Over the past month, community leaders and local officials have been hosting “Know Your Rights” workshops in various languages, giving presentations and handing out pamphlets about what to do if confronted by a police officer or immigration agent. Community members have gathered in public libraries, in plazas and on street corners to prepare.

Jennifer Aguilar, the executive director of the Little Village Chamber of Commerce, said the business group is expecting fear of immigration raids to affect businesses throughout the neighborhood.

Some small businesses in Little Village are keeping their doors closed this week, she said, though the majority have remained open. However, some people are going into work despite their fear because they simply can’t afford not to.

“It’s going to be an effect similar to the pandemic,” Aguilar said. “That’s what we’re predicting.”

A manager of a popular bar on the North Side, who requested that his name be withheld for his safety and that of his workers, said many of his employees had expressed concerns about the potential raids and at least one asked for the week off.

“We will not be able to operate without them,” the bar owner said. “They are an essential part of our business, but we understand their fear.”

Others in the restaurant industry in Chicago are experiencing a bigger impact, he said, because most of their employees are undocumented.

Economic impacts

There were 300,000 undocumented workers in Illinois in 2022, according to the Pew Research Center. At that time — the most recent year for which data is available — those workers made up 5% of the state’s labor force, just slightly above the national average of 4.8%.

The industry with the most undocumented workers in Illinois was manufacturing, according to Pew. The construction industry had the largest percentage of workers who were undocumented.

Business leaders in Illinois and elsewhere have raised alarm about the potential impacts of mass deportations on the economy.

Sam Toia, president of the Illinois Restaurant Association, said rumors Tuesday of immigration checks at Chicago restaurants were unsubstantiated. Still, workers were scared, and Toia had heard of some restaurant employees calling out of work, though he suggested some may have called out because of the extreme cold.

Toia stressed the need to expand work authorizations to more immigrants. He said he supports the deportation of violent criminals but warned of the impacts mass deportations would have on the economy.

“Trump ran on bringing inflation down,” Toia said. “If you’re going to do mass deportations, you will see inflation go through the roof.”

The threatened arrests could have an economic impact across many industries, said Rebecca Shi, CEO of the American Business Immigration Coalition. According to Shi, housing, food and health care have been major contributors to inflation in recent years. Mass deportations, she said, could cause a price surge.

“If law-abiding workers are caught in the raids, there would be ripple effects across the labor market driving upward prices for everyday Americans,” Shi said.

A study released last year by researchers at the Center for Migration Studies laid out ways in which mass deportations could have broad-ranging effects on the U.S. economy. Workers in the U.S. without legal permission contributed $96.7 billion in taxes in 2022, researchers found.

And because around 1.5 million households with at least one undocumented person have mortgages, the researchers said, mass deportations could lead to a significant number of defaults and “(threaten) the US housing market with destabilization.”

‘Mouths to feed’

Marcos Ceniceros, the executive director of the Warehouse Workers for Justice, said the organization has heard from workers who plan to skip work over the next few days.

But the decision to forgo a day or more or more of pay is one with a cost, he said.

“People need to work,” Ceniceros said. “They need to pay their bills and feed their families.”

A Home Depot parking lot in North Lawndale that is usually filled with day laborers looking for work was eerily quiet Tuesday morning. Just a few men stood on the sidewalk, wrapping their faces with scarves, their thumbs out to passing cars.

“There’s usually so many people, but no one came to look for work today. They’re all scared. … But for me, none of what Trump says matters when I have bills to pay and mouths to feed,” said Pedro, a 38-year-old undocumented father of three who came to Chicago from Michoacán, Mexico, three years ago.