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Ald. Jessie Fuentes (26th Ward) being temporarily detained by federal immigration agents led 40 members of Chicago’s city government to sign a letter denouncing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) action as an abuse of power. Mayor Brandon Johnson, City Clerk Anna Valencia, City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin and 37 Chicago City Council signed the letter in support of Fuentes.
The TRiiBE published a story on Oct. 7 listing out the 13 alderpeople who did not sign the letter. The story sparked much conversation about holding Chicago alders accountable.
For this follow-up story, The TRiiBE issued a call to interview city residents who reached out to the alder about not signing the letter. We asked why they reached out to their alder, what their alder’s response was, and if there was anything they’d like to see their representative do amid the ongoing presence of ICE agents in the city.
In total, The TRiiBE talked to five residents from the 9th, 23rd, 41st, 45th and 50th wards. The alders that represent those wards include Anthony Beale (9th Ward), Silvana Tabares (23rd Ward), Anthony Napolitano (41st Ward), Jim Gardiner (45th Ward) and Debra Silverstein (50th Ward).
The consensus among the five residents was one of disappointment with the lack of support from their alderpeople in light of the current reality facing Chicago’s immigrant communities, as well as the lack of concern for their colleague Fuentes.
After reading The TRiiBE’s story on Fuentes, 23rd Ward resident Alisa Almanza said she started making daily calls to the ward office of Ald. Tabares to get a response.
“She has always branded herself as the daughter of immigrants; she is also Latina,” Almanza said. “So that was very surprising to see her not stand in solidarity with Jessie [Fuentes] in that moment, or just stand against ICE. What is happening right now is just a crazy violation of so many rights, and it’s awful to see.”
As of Oct. 22, Almanza said she still hasn’t received a verbal or written response from Tabares. The TRiiBE also has not received a response from Tabares.
The residents we spoke to are also looking for their alders to host Know-Your-Rights trainings and distribute whistle packs to assist with alerting neighbors anytime federal agents are in the vicinity.
For 9th Ward native Karla Armour, Beale’s lack of support for Fuentes wasn’t surprising.
“I thought it was sick, especially not just my alder [Beale], but also the one in South Shore,” she said, referring to Ald. Gregory Mitchell (7th Ward). The South Shore raid took place on Sept. 30 in Mitchell’s ward.
“It’s like right on the heels of your constituents being attacked and profiled by ICE, children being zip-tied. I’m just like, how much more tone deaf can we possibly be?” she added.
Armour didn’t reach out to Beale because she’s long been frustrated about the lack of investments in her ward and how resources are distributed across neighborhoods in the ward, which include Chatham, Pullman, Roseland, Rosemoor, Washington Heights and West Pullman.
Beale’s office told The TRiiBE in an email that he wasn’t available to provide a comment due to Wednesday’s budget hearing at City Hall.
“I would love to see him speak up and say something, because it’s [Latinos] right there in Roseland,” Armour said.
Amy Lukasik, a 41st Ward resident, was also bothered by what happened to Fuentes. After seeing videos of her arrest and the letter of support circulating online without Napolitano’s signature, she decided to reach out to his office.
On Oct. 8, Lukasik sent an email to the 41st Ward office. She received a response on Oct. 9 from Chris Vittorio, Napolitano’s chief of staff.
“To be clear, Alderman Napolitano believes that Alderman Fuentes’ actions were inappropriate and outside the scope of her authority as an elected official. She had no legal right to interfere with or impede the actions of federal agents who were carrying out their duties under federal law. She was advised on multiple occasions to stand down and chose not to do so,” Vittorio wrote in a lengthy response.
He also wrote that “deportation is a lawful process that has been consistently carried out under both Democratic and Republican administrations. For example, President Barack Obama’s administration oversaw more than 3 million deportations, and President Bill Clinton’s administration deported over 12 million individuals.”
Lukasik said she wasn’t expecting Vittorio to mention deportations and immigration enforcement under President Barack Obama. That, she said, felt like a deflection and a cop-out. President Donald Trump won the city’s 41st Ward with 54% of the vote in the 2024 election.
“I was expecting them to be human. Unfortunately, we don’t agree with how this is happening or how this is being handled; it’s wrong. I can’t wrap my head around [it],” Lukasik said. “I was at least expecting them to say we realize that how it’s being handled and what is happening and the [racial] profiling that’s happening is wrong. They could have given me something else, but that is what’s really just bothersome to me. It’s not right and left, it’s right and wrong.”
The TRiiBE reached out to Vittorio for comment on Oct. 22. He began his response similarly to the one sent to Lukasik, but added Napolitano’s background.
“To be clear, I believe Alderman Fuentes’ actions were beyond the scope of her authority as an elected official. She had no legal right to interfere with or impede the actions of federal agents carrying out their duties under federal law. She was advised multiple times to stand down but chose not to do so,” Vittorio said.
“As the son of an immigrant, I understand that immigration enforcement is an emotional and often divisive issue. However, publicly obstructing federal officers only fuels the anger and division already spreading throughout our city. Serious discussions about immigration reform have been ignored in Congress for the past 30 years, but those discussions must take place through the proper legal and legislative channels—not through actions that defy the law.”
Veronica Arreola, a 50th ward resident and 24th District Police District Councilor, also expressed disappointment with Silverstein for not signing the letter. She had a conversation with Silverstein by phone on Oct. 9 and said the call was productive; she also urged Silverstein to release a statement.
In an email to The TRiiBE on Oct. 22, a 50th Ward spokesperson said the letter about Fuentes circulated “on Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath, and right in advance of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, so Alderman Silverstein was unable to sign on.”
Silverstein released a statement on Oct. 10 in a newsletter condemning ICE and offering a message of support for immigrant communities, along with Know-Your-Rights information. The statement did not mention Fuentes.
“I didn’t think it would take a lot to put out a statement saying I support my colleague, and what happened was terrible, and condemning ICE,” Arreola said. “Then her newsletter came out on Friday, and I actually had a lot of hope that there would be something in there. And while she does talk about ICE in her newsletter, there was nothing about her colleague. So that was really disappointing.”
While she appreciates Silverstein for condemning ICE, she wants to see Silverstein working in coordination with Rapid Response Networks.
One 45th Ward resident, Elizabeth, asked The TRiiBE not to include her last name due to privacy. She called the 45th Ward office on Oct. 9 and told staffers that she was curious about why Gardiner hadn’t added his name to the letter of support. On Oct. 17, Gardiner returned her call, she said. According to Elizabeth, Gardiner said he doesn’t want ICE in his ward but also didn’t want to draw any attention to the ward by putting his name on anything.
The TRiiBE reached out to Gardiner’s office on Oct. 22, but the office hasn’t provided a response.
Elizabeth added that she has observed some City Council members supporting immigrant communities by tracking ICE activity and providing support to staff and students at schools in their wards. She doesn’t see that type of support from Gardiner.
“I’ve seen that there are some aldermen who are out with, like, rapid response teams, who are confronting ICE agents,” Elizabeth said. “I saw a news story about a high schooler who had just come home from the hospital, and her father was detained by ICE and the way that I heard about that was through a video that her alderman had recorded and put out on social media.”
She’s referring to an Instagram video from Ald. Matt Martin (47th Ward), who is urging residents to call their representatives in Congress to release Ruben Torres Maldanado, who’s been in custody at the Broadview ICE processing center since his arrest on Oct. 18. ICE agents violently took him from his vehicle in a Home Depot parking lot in suburban Niles, Ill, according to his lawyer. Torres Maldonado is father of two, including his 16-year-old daughter Ofelia who is in treatment for a rare and aggressive form of metastatic cancer.
“I would like to see somebody who is actively speaking up and speaking out. I would like to see an alderman who is having community events. I’ve seen different neighborhoods have a whistle or a ready bag, like a creation drive type of thing,” Elizabeth added.
