11/25/2025
While ICE abductions, often in broad daylight, have provoked fear and outrage, the escalation is also unleashing a less visible form of economic treachery on Chicago’s immigrant working class. Once-bustling neighborhoods feel empty as workers hide at home or elsewhere, afraid to leave. When workers miss income, they typically rely on their families and communities for help. But with so many missing their wages, the goodwill is nowhere near enough to meet the need. And when the work isn’t done, a chain reaction begins, especially within heavily immigrant communities. Entire neighborhoods are facing an economic slump, and many of those who do go to work must contend with ever-present feelings of terror, as some employers are more emboldened to mistreat workers.
This article is a joint publication of Workday Magazine and In These Times. When federal immigration agents thread through her Chicago neighborhood and circle above her home in a helicopter, Araceli hides with her husband. “You hear the whistles,” she says through an interpreter. “Yo...
