SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
All this week, Chicago residents have been on edge, bracing for the Trump administration to deploy the National Guard and escalate immigration enforcement in the city. Although President Trump has been broadly critical of crime in Chicago, so far, federal efforts in the city have focused on immigration. Adriana Cardona-Maguigad of member station WBEZ in Chicago has been reporting on what is happening there and joins us. Thanks for being on the program.
ADRIANA CARDONA-MAGUIGAD, BYLINE: Hi, Scott.
DETROW: President Trump has been pretty clear about what he wants to do in Chicago - right? - increase immigration enforcement and deportations. What have you seen so far this week?
CARDONA-MAGUIGAD: Yeah, city officials said they've learned there could be some couple hundred federal agents arriving sometime soon at a naval base in north suburban Chicago. But we don't know exactly how many have arrived yet. My colleagues spoke with officials who asked to remain anonymous because they did not have permission to speak on the record and said the agents who are there have been practicing crowd control tactics with shields and flashbang grenades. This enforcement is expected to last for at least six weeks. And as it stands though, we haven't seen any presence of the National Guard.
DETROW: All of this is happening during National Hispanic Heritage Month. It's a month where there are many Mexican independence festivities in Chicago. How are people feeling about the celebrations?
CARDONA-MAGUIGAD: Yeah, there are mixed feelings. Some people are fearful, and others aren't, mainly because they're citizens. There are several parades. Three major ones are scheduled this month, the first tomorrow in a neighborhood called Pilsen. That's a mostly Mexican immigrant community here. And some elected officials and community leaders are asking residents not to let fear stop them from honoring their culture.
Today, they held a press conference in Little Village, another mainly Mexican immigrant community, to announce that a larger Mexican independence parade scheduled for next weekend won't be canceled. Jennifer Aguilar is with the Little Village Chamber of Commerce.
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JENNIFER AGUILAR: For more than five decades, this parade has shown the pride, the strength and the resilience of our community. This year's theme, pride and power, our strength, our legacy, reminds us that we are job creators, innovators and community builders.
CARDONA-MAGUIGAD: Aguilar goes on to say that they're doing what they can to ensure the safety of participants.
DETROW: Yeah.
CARDONA-MAGUIGAD: However, another two-day festival, El Grito, also scheduled for next weekend, was postponed. Organizers of the event said state and city officials recommended that because of the possibility of immigration arrests.
DETROW: How are people dealing with all this uncertainty?
CARDONA-MAGUIGAD: Well, the immigrants who are most vulnerable because of their status are afraid to go to work, send their kids to school or go grocery shopping. The tension and anxiety is real for them and their families. Some people are making tough decisions. Do I stop working for more than a month, or do I send my kids to school?
Meanwhile, residents who are U.S. citizens have been organizing on the ground to help immigrants. I'm seeing food distribution drives, carpooling initiatives. There are community rapid response groups on high alert. People are volunteering their time to patrol the neighborhood, take video and sound the alarm if, they spot federal agents wanting to make arrests in their communities.
Some of those volunteers are prepared to step in and, you know - and document when people are being, you know, arrested. A lot of training sessions about people's rights and what to do if they are faced with these federal agents.
DETROW: That's Adriana Cardona-Maguigad, who covers immigration for WBEZ. Thanks so much.
CARDONA-MAGUIGAD: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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