Northside residents call for investigation into collaboration between ICE and CPD

Chicago, IL – 50 community members, elected officials and rapid responders gathered in the Albany Park neighborhood on Saturday, September 12 to call for an investigation into what appeared to be collaboration between CPD and ICE observed by a rapid response volunteer at the beginning of the month.

The rapid responder observed multiple unmarked ICE vehicles operating out of the 17th Police District parking lot and began filming when the vehicles drove aggressively straight at her before exiting the lot. ICE presence in a Police District parking lot is a clear violation of the ICE-Free Zone executive order signed by Mayor Brandon Johnson in October 2025, which prohibits ICE from using city parking lots, vacant lots and garages as civil immigration enforcement staging areas, processing locations or operations bases.

Omar Flores, an organizer with the Immigrant Rights Working Committee of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, stated, “They should be willing to uphold the mayor’s executive order. They are beholden to the community!”

Rebecca Rios is a mother in the 17th District who has helped organize volunteers to accompany students on their walk to school to protect them from the gangs of ICE agents that have targeted her community. CPD’s “role is to protect and serve and what we’ve seen is quite the opposite,” Rios said at the press conference. “What we’ve also seen is our community come together to protect our children.”

Rios described how local immigrant rights organizations and community members have supported the family of a five-year-old schoolgirl whose father was abducted by ICE on Halloween last year. She said the father has been released due to pressure from the community. “It has been devastatingly beautiful,” she said.

State Senator Graciela Guzman cited the Illinois Trust Act, which prohibits state and local law enforcement from participating in federal immigration enforcement. In any case of potential collaboration, “we need to know why they were there, what they were doing, who knew that they were there and whether any personnel, resources, information, or facilities were used to assist them,” Guzman said.

The press conference took place outside of the 17th District Council monthly public meeting, at which attendees planned to give public comment asking the District Councilors to demand information from CPD about the potential collaboration, and report it to Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA), a city-wide body with policymaking power over the police.

Chicagoans have been consistently demanding action from the CCPSA on CPD-ICE collaboration, with a January meeting bringing out over 1600 community members testifying about examples of what Flores described as CPD rolling “out the red carpet for ICE to continue their reign of terror in Chicago.”

The CCPSA also plays a central role in selecting candidates for police superintendent, a process that is currently underway to replace former Superintendent Larry Snelling. Snelling had outright denied the existence of any collaboration between CPD and ICE, Flores said.

“As we go into the search for the next superintendent, we demand the next superintendent take CPD-ICE collaboration seriously,” Flores said. “CAARPR fought to create the District Councils and the CCPSA to create transparency and accountability. We’re fighting for even more power now through the Community Power Over Policing referendum that will help us be able to actually hold these officers accountable and take on CPD-ICE collaboration.”

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