A DePaul student bottled his own drinks and sold them to follow classmates. Now he’s building an agua fresca empire. blockclubchi.co/46v3DW2

A culture at risk: Chicago’s street vendors quietly disappear during ICE surge With legal protections rolled back by Supreme Court, most vendors face uncertainty as agents can now target based on race, language, or type of work. My latest w/ @zareensyed www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/21/c...

Chicago's street vendors carry a cultural legacy that's slowly shrinking away from familiar city corners in the middle of the current ICE surge. "What they do is a dying art, born of love.” ✍️ An important story with @lauranrodriguez.bsky.social

Street vendors quietly disappear during ICE surge. “People don’t really go out anymore. They’re scared of ICE. We’re scared too, but we have no other choice.”

A culture at risk: Some Chicago street vendors quietly disappear from familiar corners during ICE surge. On the ground reporting @chicagotribune.com @lauranrodriguez.bsky.social @zareensyed.bsky.social t.co/Ngn42kEAPt

On their youngest son’s 10th birthday, federal immigration agents detained a couple who immigrated from Mexico and have lived in Cicero for 18 years, family and lawyers said Tuesday.

Our latest: I spoke to the family of the flower vendor arrested in Archer Heights last Sunday. He has become the face of Trump’s immigration crackdown in Chicago. The father was deported to Mexico within 72 hours. No criminal history. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/12/f...

A flower vendor arrested by federal immigration agents last weekend in Chicago’s Archer Heights neighborhood is now back in Mexico. “He doesn’t understand how all of this happened. We don’t either.” 📝 @lauranrodriguez.bsky.social and @adrianaperez.bsky.social

“It’s really everyone — not just noncitizens or undocumented people — who are in danger of having their liberty violated in this kind of mass deportation machinery,” said Cody Wofsy, the deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project. (Published March)

A conservative social media personality with a history of confrontations over immigration has returned to Chicago and is riding along with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers as they make arrests. trib.al/yT7dFLP

Federal immigration agents were seemingly forced to retreat from a roofing job site in Rochester, NY, after being confronted by more than 100 protesters The workers stayed on the roof and agents drove away in a Border Patrol SUV on four flat tires, which had been slashed

Advocates to immigrants in Chicago as ICE raids loom: Carry your green card, stay home if possible. In Little Village, community members have whistles to alert one another of federal agents. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/04/i...

I remember sitting in the Tribune newsroom and a murmur built to a low roar of animated conversation and sarcastic laughter as it was announced that our parent company was changing its name to Tronc. Unnecessary work ceased for the day. I hope MS NOW journalists experience that strange camaraderie.

After mounting pressure from advocates and elected officials, ICE granted Jose Gregorio Gonzalez temporary humanitarian parole so that they could proceed with the transplant.

In Illinois, immigrant rights advocates are urging Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul to investigate the Broadview ICE facility’s ownership structure and contractual agreements with federal immigration authorities.

My latest: Immigrants held for days without beds or showers at Broadview processing center despite a 12-hour limit. Data show the federal agency has routinely violated ICE’s internal guidelines, sometimes keeping people there for up to 6 days. W/ Joe Mahr www.chicagotribune.com/2025/08/03/d...

"We are not just fighting for him anymore. We're fighting for everyone who was taken like this," said Eduardo Orozco, son of NIJC Client Abel Orozco, who is fighting his warrantless arrest in our lawsuit. 📰 🖊️ @lauranrodriguez.bsky.social @chicagotribune.com: www.chicagotribune.com/2025/07/14/c...

You may have seen reports about the release of Venezuelans the Trump administration sent to a Salvadoran prison and called "the worst of the worst." But when we set out to learn more about them, that's not what we found. 🧵

Swastikas were spray-painted on several buildings in Little Village over the weekend, and one building was tagged a second time with a pro-immigration enforcement statement, community members said.

At least 12 children in the Waukegan area — all unaccompanied minors from Mexico — received sudden deportation letters from the Department of Homeland Security last month, according to advocates.

My latest: Chicago-area children get deportation letters: Leave or ‘the federal government will find you’ Immigration advocates warn that a growing number of unaccompanied minors are now receiving letters from DHS ending their humanitarian parole. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/07/20/t...

A federal judge’s upcoming decision could significantly influence how ICE conducts operations in the Chicago area moving forward. Plaintiffs argue that ICE agents violated the constitutional rights of at least 25 people, including one U.S. citizen. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/07/14/c...

I spoke w/ the father of the 4-year-old boy who was killed by his mother. This is a heartbreaking story, not just of loss, but of the deep love a mother had for her children —a love that muy have been overwhelmed by untreated mental health struggles. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/07/10/f...

ICE took her mother in Chicago. Now a 6-year-old is left without a guardian or a legal path to reunite in Honduras. A story about the children left behind by deportations—and the lack of infrastructure to care for them in the U.S or for reunification. My latest w/ @nellsalzman.bsky.social

6-year-old Gaby's mom was detained by ICE on June 4 outside an ICE office in downtown Chicago. The young girl's mom missed her daughter's graduation. w / @lauranrodriguez.bsky.social photos / Antonio Perez www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/22/i...

ICE took her mother. Now, a 6-year-old is left without a guardian or legal path back to reunite in Honduras. Story of the times from @nellsalzman.bsky.social @lauranrodriguez.bsky.social www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/22/i...

ICE detained three U.S. citizens protesting outside a Chicago immigration court Monday. DHS says one protester assaulted an officer. Witnesses say agents made arrests without agents identifying themselves. ‘They’re kidnapping our people.’ www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/18/i...

My latest: ‘What are they hiding?’: Illinois Democrats denied entry into ICE processing center in visit Wednesday Concerns about the conditions in which immigrants are held—sometimes for more than a day—have raised questions about the facility. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/18/i...

ICE detained three U.S. citizens protesting outside a Chicago immigration court Monday. DHS says one protester assaulted an officer. Witnesses say agents made arrests without identifying themselves. ‘They’re kidnapping our people,’ a witness told me. Story: www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/18/i...

Aggressive and targeted ICE raids in workplaces will begin this week in Chicago, according to Johnson’s Chief of Staff, Cristina Pacione-Zayas. “They plan to do raids as we saw in Los Angeles…” she said. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/11/c...

There are few things more American than baseball. But at the White Sox’s Mexican Heritage Night at Rate Field, it was something more layered, more defiant and deeply moving. 📝 @lauranrodriguez.bsky.social 📷 @jkimpictures.bsky.social www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/07/p...

From the Editorial Board: This is the danger of a fundamentally performative president, a leader for whom the political benefits of calling in the National Guard outranks the far greater risks, which is that such a decision destabilizes a city and forces everyone into ever more extreme positions.

While ICE agents can note in their database if someone they’ve investigated turns out to be a citizen, they are not required to do so. As a result, records are often wrong and left uncorrected even after agents have been told of a mistake. (Published March 2025)

There are few things more American than baseball. But at the White Sox’s Mexican Heritage Night at Rate Field, it was something more layered, more defiant and deeply moving. 📝 @lauranrodriguez.bsky.social 📷 @jkimpictures.bsky.social www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/07/p...

@lauranrodriguez.bsky.social Thank you for your moving article on Wsox Mexican Day. I’m neither Mexican or a Sox fan, but grateful for your moving words. Also nice to see something good happen in that stadium too.

A fantastic column by @lauranrodriguez.bsky.social. I don’t think the White Sox realize how easily they could capture so many ready-made fans in this city with a little love (and winning) and neighborhood support/investment.

The crowd at Mexican Heritage Night at Rate Field were all there to watch baseball and to celebrate their culture despite the newfound fear sparked by immigration crackdowns in the city of Chicago and its surroundings.

At Sox Mexican heritage night game, pride and community despite immigration crackdowns in Chicago and across the country. An unspoken night of resilience for many. Read my latest column. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/07/p...

My latest: A Honduran mother and about 20 others arrested in Chicago were still at the ICE processing center in Broadview Friday AM. They had been sleeping on the floor and sitting around on the few chairs available, she told her lawyers. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/06/i...

Breaking news: The Supreme Court unanimously blocked the Mexican government from proceeding with an unusual lawsuit that sought to hold major U.S. firearms manufacturers accountable for gun violence in that country.

UPDATE: More than 20 immigrants were detained yesterday, according to advocates working with some of the affected families. An ICE spokesperson said that “those arrested had executable final orders of removal by an immigration judge and had not complied with that order.”

In another sign of escalating tension over President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, community organizers, protesters and several Chicago aldermen clashed with federal agents Wednesday as they detained immigrants outside a U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement office on the Near South Side.

Read the full story of how community organizers, protesters and several Chicago aldermen clashed with federal agents Wednesday as they detained immigrants outside a U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement office. W / @nellsalzman.bsky.social www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/04/i...

My latest: Illinois Senate to weigh measure prohibiting public schools from denying students based on immigration status. With/ @JeremyGorner www.chicagotribune.com/2025/05/30/i...

The DC shooting, the DOJ investigating Chicago, an AI debacle, and much more with the great @tinasfon.bsky.social @lauranrodriguez.bsky.social @mitchtrout.bsky.social & Mariah Woelfel — 7p and streaming anytime from @wttw.bsky.social

Federal agents appeared to have arrested multiple people inside Chicago’s immigration court on Wednesday, lawyers told the Tribune, in what seems to be the latest escalation in President Donald Trump’s bid to enact mass deportations.

Breaking: ICE agents are detaining people after their immigration court hearings in Chicago, according to several lawyers. Agents appear to target those who have been in the country less than two years and can be put in expedited removal. Read the story. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/05/22/c...

CPS custodian finalist in national honor recognizing the often unsung work of school maintenance. Great profile of a person who helps make her school a strong community by @lauranrodriguez.bsky.social www.chicagotribune.com/2025/05/03/c...

If you are a journalism student in the Chicago area, join us this Saturday! You do not have to be an NAHJ member to attend for free. I'll be on a panel with @araceligomezaldana.bsky.social @lauranrodriguez.bsky.social @royalpratt.bsky.social @eslife.bsky.social to talk about immigration reporting.

Earlier this morning my abuela transitioned into a better place. She was surrounded by love until the very end. My abuela Elisa leaves a beautiful family. We are heartbroken but in peace knowing she will watch over us. I will miss you forever Abuelita.