ICE Blamed for Drop in Chicago Holiday Festivities

There was a noticeable decline in Halloween and Day of the Dead celebrations over the weekend in and around Chicago due to heightened immigration enforcement actions, NPR reported.

At least one Halloween parade was canceled.

This followed Democrat Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker's request that federal agents pause immigration enforcement during the holiday so that "our children should not be victims," which was rejected by the Trump administration.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called Pritzker's request "shameful," saying at a press conference, "We're absolutely not willing to put on pause any work that we will do to keep communities safe."

One incident occurred Friday in Evanston, where clashes broke out between protesters and immigration agents near a middle school. Witnesses shared videos showing an agent holding a man down and repeatedly striking him in the head.

In a statement to NPR, a DHS spokesperson said that "agents observed they were being aggressively tailgated by a red vehicle. As agents tried to make a U-turn, the red car crashed into Border Patrol. A hostile crowd surrounded agents and their vehicle, and began verbally abusing them and spitting on them."

The statement continued, "As border patrol arrested one individual, who actively resisted arrest, pepper spray was deployed to deter the agitator and disperse the crowd. Three U.S. citizens were arrested as a result of their violence against law enforcement."

DHS also told NPR that five undocumented migrants from Mexico were arrested during the operation. According to the agency, all five were in the country without papers, and had criminal histories - including trespassing charges and multiple illegal entries into the U.S.

ICE is currently holding almost 60,000 people in detention, which is the highest number in years. Most of them do not have criminal records.

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