By Karen Aho and Anna Shepperson
Chicago has been bracing for immigration raids since the presidential inauguration, following tips that it would be the first sanctuary city targeted under the Trump administration’s mass deportation initiatives.
On Sunday, “Operation Safeguard” began in Chicago, with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announcing “enhanced targeted operations,” along with multiple federal agencies, “to enforce U.S. immigration law and preserve public safety and national security.”
There is no information yet on how many people detained by ICE included those who are actually dangerous and pose a public safety threat, the stated target of the sweeps. We do know, however, that the draconian manner of the current ICE crackdowns is generating fear in a city where undocumented immigrants are vital to the economy, and in a country where undocumented immigrants are no more likely to behave as criminals than are U.S. citizens.
“People are scared,” resident Alvarez Vasquez told the Chicago Tribune. “They don’t want to go out. They don’t even go to work much because they’re afraid of being caught or deported.”
This fear has devastating impacts that extend to Chicago’s workforce. An analysis by the American Immigration Council shows that about 90% of the undocumented immigrants in the Chicago metro area were of working age in 2023, the most recent year for which data is available from the American Community Survey. Undocumented immigrants made up nearly one-third of maids and housekeeping cleaners (32.9%), construction laborers (30.5%), cooks (30%), and painters and paper hangers (30%). Among landscaping and groundskeeping workers, 42.1% were undocumented immigrants.
In fact, 15.6% of Chicago’s entire construction industry labor force—or nearly one in every six workers—was made up of undocumented immigrants that year. Similarly, undocumented immigrants made up 13.5% of the manufacturing workforce; 11.8% of the workforce in the hospitality industry, including hotels and restaurants; 8.9% of wholesale trade workers; and 8.8% of workers employed in general services, including auto repair, barber shops, and laundry services.
Sam Sanchez, a veteran Chicago restaurateur and past chairman of the Illinois Restaurant Association, told Eater Chicago last week that the restaurant industry would collapse without undocumented workers, adding that fear will soon drive even documented workers to stay home.
“Even employees with legal status don’t want to be swept up,” Rebecca Shi, executive director of the American Business Immigration Coalition told CNN. “Deportation is a pretty blunt instrument.”
Some children aren’t going to school. People are skipping medical appointments. There’s reason to fear. Last week, President Donald Trump issued executive orders that allow officials to arrest immigrants at schools, daycare centers, hospitals, shelters, places of worship, and other sensitive locations previously considered off limits. Trump has pledged to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, not just those with criminal records or who pose a public safety threat. The Washington Post reported he has demanded that agents make 1,200 to 1,500 arrests per day, a significant increase from the several hundred a day under the prior administration, and has threatened to hold ICE field managers accountable when their daily quotas aren’t met. ICE reported 956 arrests made nationwide on Sunday.
In Chicago, one of the first cities targeted, restaurants are already reporting a drop in clientele. This is hardly a surprise; immigrants make up a sizable consumer base. In 2023, 1.8 million immigrants lived in the Chicago metro area, with 27.2% being undocumented immigrants. Undocumented immigrant households held $13.6 billion in spending power in 2023 alone, money they could spend on dining, shopping, and local services.
This is the disposable income these undocumented households held after paying $4.2 billion in total taxes, including $1.8 billion in combined state and local taxes and $2.5 billion in federal taxes. These vital tax revenues support public schools, social programs, and public infrastructure.
Undocumented immigrants are vital to fueling the economy and supporting the local community not only as consumers and taxpayers but also as entrepreneurs. In Chicago, 9.1% of the entrepreneurs are undocumented immigrants, even though they only make up 5.1% of the metro area’s overall population.
Raids that target these undocumented immigrants, will not make communities safer. Past research has already shown that undocumented immigrants don’t increase crime rates. But the local economies will suffer from these raids due to a smaller workforce and fewer business activities, hurting job opportunities for foreign- and U.S.-born workers alike. Perhaps worst of all, these raids will stoke fear in the targeted cities, making all immigrants feel less safe living and working in their communities.
FILED UNDER: Chicago, Trump administration
