Immigration

A large crowd turned out this week to protest the federal government’s decisions to revoke visas from five international students at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. Attendees included U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood and Cortland Mayor Mark Pietrowski, who works at NIU.

More than 100 people from 34 counties became new U.S. citizens at a naturalization ceremony in Joliet at the Rialto Square Theatre on Thursday.

The Supreme Court on Saturday blocked, for now, the deportations of any Venezuelans held in northern Texas under an 18th century wartime law

The Trump administration’s claim that it can’t do anything to free Kilmar Abrego Garcia from an El Salvador prison and return him to the U.S. “should be shocking,” a federal appeals court said

The Supreme Court on Thursday kept on hold President Donald Trump’s restrictions on birthright citizenship but agreed to hear arguments on the issue in May

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois hosted a naturalization ceremony in which 105 new citizens from 34 countries were sworn in as United States citizens at the Rialto Square Theater in Joliet on Thursday, April 17, 2025.

Judge warns of contempt proceedings against Trump administration for defying court orders

A federal judge on Friday lambasted a government lawyer who couldn’t explain what, if anything, the Trump administration has done to arrange for the return of a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported last month to a notorious prison in El Salvador

Supreme Court orders action to bring back Kilmar Abrego Garcia from El Salvador

Northern Illinois University officials declined to provide more information Thursday on the public institution’s five international students whose visas have been revoked by the U.S. government. No one has said publicly why the students lost their visas as of Thursday.

In a bitterly divided 5-4 decision, the court said the administration must give Venezuelans who it claims are gang members “reasonable time” to go to court

Hundreds crowded in downtown DeKalb Saturday with a message to President Donald Trump: hands off immigration and human rights, the economy, Social Security and government workers, among others. Similar protests were held in all 50 states Saturday.

Activists in DeKalb are planning a mass protest on Saturday to rally against the Trump administration over what they call a “brazen power grab” disrupting federal institutions and depriving working people of needed jobs and services. Partisan and nonpartisan groups are expected.

City leaders this week issued sharp rebukes after they said multiple Latino-owned businesses in DeKalb recently were targeted by letters filled with what Mayor Cohen Barnes called “hate speech.”

A Downers Grove man who operated an immigration assistance practice is facing multiple immigration fraud charges, according to a federal indictment unsealed Monday.

“We know there are myths about these laws. But we must not let mischaracterizations and fearmongering obscure the reality that Chicago’s crime rates are trending down,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson told the committee

The Health Benefits for Immigrant Adults program covered noncitizen adults age 55 to 64 and was later expanded to cover those as young as 44. It cost $485.3 million over its first two years, roughly 284% more than the combined original estimate for both programs

A pair of health care programs that benefit noncitizens far outstripped its original estimated price tag and cost the state of Illinois $1.6 billion through last summer, according to a new audit of the programs

Hundreds march for immigrant rights in DeKalb. "My goal was to spread a message of love and empathy," 16-year-old march participant Vianney Pacheco said.

About 30 people gathered on First Avenue bridge between Sterling and Rock Falls on Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025, to protest immigration policies enacted by the Trump administration.

About 30 people gathered on the First Avenue bridge between Sterling and Rock Falls on Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025, to protest mass deportations.

Organizers said they were hoping to uplift the immigrant community by hosting Sunday's march, which drew a significant crowd in downtown DeKalb.

A union official says the Trump administration has fired 20 immigration judges without explanation amid sweeping moves to shrink the size of the federal government

With the TRUST Act in place statewide, non-sanctuary resolutions in Grundy County and throughout the state have little legal power, even in the wake of Trump’s changes to federal immigration policy

An electronic sign outside a Palatine church has sparked controversy with its use of metaphorical immigration-related language.

The Trump administration sued Chicago and the state of Illinois on Thursday alleging that ‘sanctuary’ laws in the nation’s third-largest city “thwart” federal efforts to enforce immigration laws

A line of Mexican National Guard and Army trucks are rumbling along the border separating Ciudad Juárez and El Paso, Texas, among the first of 10,000 troops Mexico has sent to its northern frontier following tariff threats by President Donald Trump

Thousands of demonstrators have gathered outside a federal courthouse in Philadelphia and at state capitols in Michigan, Texas, Wisconsin and Indiana to protest the early actions of President Donald Trump's administration

A federal judge in Maryland has ordered a second nationwide pause on President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship for anyone born in the U.S. to someone in the country illegally

In the days following President Donald Trump’s inauguration, Illinois attorney Marleen Suarez has received a flood of clients asking her to prepare paperwork to turn their children to friends, family, or even strangers, if they are deported.

A crowd of more than 150 people gathered in West Chicago to protest mass deportations Monday, saying the policy unfairly targets Latino residents.

Multiple DeKalb County area businesses will close Monday for Day Without Immigrants, a national campaign meant to show the importance of immigrant communities. Protests will address 'these times of uncertainty for many of our community members," a business owner said online.

A Joliet grocery store and several restaurants were closed for one day as part of a nationwide protest in solidarity with immigrants in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign.

Two days after nonprofit groups sued the federal government over a stop-work order targeting programs that provide information and guidance to people facing deportation, the U.S. Justice Department reversed course

More than 30 DeKalb County businesses took part in Day Without Immigrants, a nationwide campaign, by closing on Monday to show solidarity in their stance against President Donald Trump’s anti-immigration policies. The campaign also raises awareness for immigrant communities.

How has the possibility for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to enter sensitive areas such as schools affected the Kankakee County community?

DeKalb County education, law enforcement and faith leaders weighed in this week on policy changes from President Donald Trump’s new administration that could bring federal immigration agents into schools and places of worship.

Will County schools, agencies respond to President Donald Trump's executive order declaring the Department of Justice will investigate or prosecute agencies which do not comply with immigration enforcement officers.

The Illinois State Board of Education is encouraging local school districts to adopt clear policies spelling out how and when their staff should cooperate with federal immigration officials carrying out enforcement actions or seeking information from school officials.

Kwame Raoul's guidance reaffirms the limitations set by the Illinois TRUST Act and the Illinois Way Forward Act, which restrict cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities

A poll finds many U.S. adults support the idea of beefing up security at the southern border and undertaking some deportations

DeKalb City Manager Bill Nicklas said Monday it’s not the job of local police to enforce federal immigration law, issuing a statement on city policy hours after President Donald Trump’s second inauguration. Trump has promised mass deportation arrests in Chicago this week.

Pope Francis says Donald Trump’s plans to impose mass deportations of immigrants would be a “disgrace.”

Illinois state law generally prohibits local law enforcement from participating in immigration enforcement, according to the Illinois Attorney General’s Office.

“People are very scared, very concerned, so we try to reassure them, at least,” Sylvia Acosta Chavez, executive director of the Spanish Community Center in Joliet, said in regards to the incoming Trump administrations deportation plans,

Immigrants in Chicago and other U.S. cities have been preparing for immigration arrests since President-elect Donald Trump won the November election

Two days before Christmas, a group led by President-elect Donald Trump's chief architect of immigration policy wrote to state, county and city officials in so-called “sanctuary” jurisdictions to threaten criminal prosecution, jail time and their personal finances

The operation will be concentrated in the Chicago area, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because plans have not been made public. Arrests are expected all week.

McHenry County Sheriff Robb Tadelman says state law limits his office’s ability to work with ICE on the mass deportations that President-elect Donald Trump has promised.

More Americans say immigration should be a top focus for the U.S. government in 2025