"We are not a violent city": Chicago residents confront ICE agents - neighborhood by neighborhood

Immigration agents' tear gas grenades rattled and then exploded on the concrete, enveloping the block in a cloud of thick white gas. The dozen or so residents on the scene only began to shout louder.

This is what Reuters writes today in the article "We are not a violent city: Chicago residents confront ICE agents - neighborhood by neighborhood."

ICE is the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a federal agency operating within the Department of Homeland Security, and was established in 2003 after the September 11 terrorist attacks.

ICE's mission is to enforce immigration laws and protect national security. This includes: detecting and arresting aliens who are in the United States without authorization, deporting individuals who have violated immigration laws, combating human trafficking, smuggling, and smuggling, combating employment and identity fraud, and investigating international crime, money laundering, cybercrime, and smuggling.

"We don't want you here!" Ray Lindenberg shouted. The 32-year-old, who works in marketing, ran out of her apartment when she heard the sharp whistle of the police. "Get out of our neighborhood!"

A squad of agents showed up in Lakeview last month, an upscale neighborhood filled with dog parks, medical spas and vegan restaurants, jumping a gate to catch up with a construction worker, who they then handcuffed and shoved into a vehicle.

When Courtney Conway, a forty-two-year-old Chicago resident, heard about the pursuit through Facebook groups and message chains, she got on her bike and joined the protesters.

"We are not a violent city. This is not a war zone, and I think these people are terrorizing us and trying to provoke us. We want them to go. We want them to stop kidnapping our neighbors," Conway said.

Formation of the "Defense Zone"

Chicago, a city of 2,7 million, has long been known for its patchwork of tightly knit neighborhoods. And since the city became the center of U.S. President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown in September, those neighborhoods have mobilized against the agency's actions, sometimes literally - neighborhood by neighborhood, Reuters writes.

This hyper-local initiative, organized through dozens of social media groups, helped establish a kind of "defense zone" that, activists say, slowed down immigration agents and, in some cases, forced them to retreat without arrest.

When asked for comment, Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), said: "Our officers are highly trained and, despite the riots, the release of their information, and physical attacks, they have demonstrated professionalism. They are not afraid of loud noises or whistles."

Since the beginning of September, more than 3.000 people have been detained in Chicago, according to DHS data.

On Facebook groups and in chats via the Signal app, tens of thousands of residents share information daily about the last known locations of immigration agents, the neighborhoods targeted that day, and, most importantly, the license plates, makes, and models of the rental vehicles used by the agents, which change frequently.

Some Facebook groups for "tracking ICE agents" in Chicago have up to 50.000 members.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents, who patrol the streets in unmarked cars, are followed almost daily by drivers honking their horns and cyclists blowing their whistles.

In some neighborhoods, clashes between CBP and ICE agents and protesters have become increasingly tense.

According to Reuters records, immigration agents have used tear gas in at least five neighborhoods over the past month, crashed a car into another vehicle in one, arrested protesters who followed them, used tasers during violent arrests, pointed guns at citizens and shot two people - one of whom died.

The Cook County Department of Public Health said it does not keep records of injuries sustained during clashes with federal agents, and five city hospitals contacted by Reuters said they did not treat protesters.

Last month, U.S. District Judge Sarah Ellis ordered agents to wear body cameras and issue two warnings to protesters before using tear gas, in a case filed against them by protesters, clergy and journalists.

Helicopter surveillance groups

Hours after the Lakeview standoff, dozens of parents lined up outside a school in Bucktown — another northern neighborhood popular with families and young professionals — after hearing that ICE and border agents were nearby. Some parents set up a makeshift checkpoint next to the school to check cars for agents.

And in Little Village, one of the city's largest Latino neighborhoods, businesses and residents locked their doors after activists warned them of approaching ICE and border vehicles, and at one point surrounded them to prevent arrests.

"The community defended the neighborhood today," said Baltazar Enriquez, president of the Little Village Community Council.

Some protesters have specialized in tracking Black Hawk helicopters, which agents use to monitor neighborhoods - these helicopters do not show up on flight-tracking apps and often signal raids.

One Sunday morning, attorney and former prosecutor Brian Kolp ran out of his house in his pajamas when word spread that masked immigration agents in the Old Irving Park neighborhood had grabbed a worker and a protester and forced them into a car. Other residents came out dressed as if it were Halloween.

"People were shouting, there was complete chaos," Kolp said.

Shortly afterwards, he added, the agents threw tear gas into the street and left.