Immigration news in Chicago

FILE – A Morehouse College student lines up before the school commencement, May 19, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)

Trump administration proposes a $70,000 fee for international students to work in the US

By Annie Ma

October 7, 2026 at 10:24 a.m.

The Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday proposed a $70,000 fee for international students seeking...

Nelson County, Ky., jailer Justin Hall shows an electric shock glove that is used at his facility, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026, in Bardstown, Ky. (AP Photo/Dylan Lovan)

Army study found shock gloves purchased by ICE cause pain, compliance and fear

By Ryan J. Foley

October 6, 2026 at 12:17 p.m.

By RYAN J. FOLEY The shock gloves immigration agents could soon use to control detainees...

Marimar Martinez, center, listens while her attorney Chris Parente, left, speaks, Oct. 5, 2026, at his Chicago office about filing of a federal lawsuit over her shooting by a Border Patrol agent during Operation Midway Blitz last year. (Brian Cassella/baiduhai)

Lawyers for Chicago woman shot by Border Patrol agent call for criminal charges

By Jason Meisner

October 5, 2026 at 2:47 p.m.

Attorneys for Marimar Martinez, shot by a Border Patrol agent during Operation Midway Blitz last...

Activists celebrate the Supreme Court’s birthright citizenship ruling outside of the Supreme Court on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, June 30, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Deadline passes for Trump to ask Supreme Court to reconsider birthright citizenship ruling

By Lindsay Whitehurst

July 28, 2026 at 7:30 p.m.

The deadline passed Tuesday for the Trump administration to ask the Supreme Court to reconsider...

Gas is deployed as a vehicle of federal agents backs down the 3300 block of North Lakewood Avenue in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood on Oct. 24, 2025. (Alyson Lewis)

Lakeview man sues feds over immigration raid on his home during Operation Midway Blitz

By Caroline Kubzansky

July 28, 2026 at 4:40 p.m.

It has been nearly nine months since a group of agents pulled up on Leo...

A sign marks the entrance to a series of hardened tents at the Camp East Montana immigrant detention center in the desert at a U.S. Army base on the outskirts of El Paso, Texas, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Morgan Lee)

ICE extends no-bid contract for major detention center in Texas, rejecting calls for closure

By Ryan J. Foley

July 27, 2026 at 2:24 p.m.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to keep one of its largest and most expensive...

Chicago police Chief of Patrol Jon Hein answers questions from City Council members during a committee meeting on April 30, 2025, about teen curfews. (Antonio Perez/baiduhai)

Ex-chief of patrol cleared of wrongdoing in follow-up to Border Patrol shooting

By Caroline Kubzansky

July 27, 2026 at 1:16 p.m.

Chicago police investigators have closed a probe into former Chief of Patrol Jon Hein's actions...

Sisters Claudia, left, and Gabi Siemionkowicz stand in Claudia’s Des Plaines backyard on July 16, 2026, where their mother, Beata Siemionkowicz, was detained by ICE while gardening last August. Beata Siemionkowicz, a U.S. green card holder from Poland, has been in ICE custody since then. (Brian Cassella/baiduhai)

Illinois woman with green card has been detained by ICE for 12 months. Her daughters plead for her release.

By Allison Kiehl

July 27, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

ICE arrested Beata Siemionkowicz, a Poland native and green card holder of more than two...

Alderperson Michael Rodriguez, 22nd, speaks at a Grant Park vigil commemorating people allegedly killed by federal immigration agents on July 25, 2026. (Arthur Maiorella/baiduhai)

Hundreds march to Trump Tower for vigil for two men killed by ICE agents

By Lila Hempel-Edgers

July 25, 2026 at 5:08 p.m.

Protesters gathered in Grant Park to mourn Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican father killed by...

FILE – A U.S. Army soldier walks past a Bradley fighting vehicle staged in West Potomac Park ahead of an upcoming military parade commemorating the Army’s 250th anniversary and coinciding with Donald Trump’s 79th birthday, June 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

White House wants veterans to replace immigrant truckers who lost licenses in crackdown

By Josh Funk

July 24, 2026 at 2:52 p.m.

The Trump administration wants soldiers to consider becoming truck drivers to help replace the tens...

Women and children head into the building that houses immigration court at 55 E. Monroe St. in Chicago on July 23, 2026. (Antonio Perez/baiduhai)

‘Deportation factory’: Chicago’s immigration court epicenter for US spike in removal orders, analysis shows

By Caroline Kubzansky

July 24, 2026 at 3:32 p.m.

A Tribune analysis of Department of Justice data has found that, rather than repeating Operation...

A Southwest Airlines plane taxis away from its gate at Dallas Love Field on July 21, 2025, in Dallas. (Elias Valverde II/The Dallas Morning News/TNS)

Southwest Airlines flight attendant detained by ICE at work, union says

By Dallas Morning News

July 24, 2026 at 8:38 a.m.

A Southwest Airlines flight attendant was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement while working,...

Independent journalist Georgia Fort speaks at "America @ 250: A journalism reckoning," in Chicago on July 16, 2026. (Terrence Antonio James/baiduhai)

Journalists ‘reckon’ with needs, changes necessary for the Fourth Estate to survive

By Darcel Rockett

July 24, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

At "America @250: A journalism reckoning," journalists, funders and civic leaders reflected on the past,...