Chicago Residents Fight Back ICE by Hosting "Whistlemania" Events

It’s Friday, and we are going to end our week off with inspirational, community-led organizing that isn’t getting enough love, based in Chicago. Ever since Trump activated “Operation Midway Blitz” in Chicago, residents have been at the forefront of organizing the fight back across the city.

VIA The Daily Northwestern

Since “Operation Midway Blitz” started on September 9, about 1,300 people have been illegally detained. To combat this, Chicago residents have done two things:

• ICE watch trainings (dubbed as MigraWatch trainings)

• Whistlemania (combating ICE raid awareness with whistles)

Residents across the city have been voluntarily hosting ICE Watch trainings, accompanying students for safety, passing out whistles to neighbors to blow when ICE is spotted, and gathering donations/mutual funds for the families most impacted by the ICE raids.

The MigraWatch trainings have consequently reached capacity, with more than 2,000 people reportedly trained to spot ICE agents and understand their rights to keep them safe or to be immediately released from detention.

At the same time, a different local group, the West Side group, has been hosting “Whistlemania” events, where volunteers gather at a local restaurant to pack whistles, community resource guides, and pamphlets on how to gather a crowd when ICE is nearby.

Since hundreds of people attended these events at locations across Chicago’s West Side, they have packed more than 17,000 kits.

The Street Vendors Association of Chicago is doing its part as well, making sure that the vendors who sell mango with chamoy, paletas, Mexican corn, and other Hispanic-based goods can stay afloat without the looming fear of being targeted and detained by ICE. They did that by fundraising on their behalf.

The fundraiser was so successful that they raised $230,000. Even though the folks at the association have been overworked due to these Trump raids, they are not giving up.

Chicago residents have mobilized in powerful, community-driven efforts through MigraWatch trainings, Whistlemania events, and fundraising… to protect immigrant families and support one another in response to “Operation Midway Blitz.”

Despite the terror and uncertainty evoked by “Operation Midway Blitz,” Chicago has countered with what community power actually looks like.

Neighbors, organizers, street vendors, and volunteers have stepped in to fill the shortcomings of institutions through networks of safety hinged not on surveillance but on solidarity.

From MigraWatch trainings to Whistlemania kits, they show that when people refuse to abandon each other, real infrastructure can be created-one that protects the most vulnerable. Immigrant communities in Chicago are not merely surviving these raids; through unity, care, and unrelenting resolve, they are resisting.