In freezing conditions, hundreds gather in downtown Chicago to protest ICE

Olivia Olander, Chicago Tribune on Jan 19, 2026

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CHICAGO — Even on one of the coldest days of the winter, hundreds of protesters took to Chicago’s streets against ICE.

People rallied at the Chicago Water Tower on Michigan Avenue and marched to Trump Tower primarily to oppose the Trump administration, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the war in Gaza, aligning with Martin Luther King Jr. Day and adding onto a long list of demonstrations against the administration that ramped up in Chicago this fall with the federal immigration enforcement crackdown.

“We’re in very trying and perplexing and contradictory times,” Nino Brown, 34, who spoke at the rally with the anti-capitalist Party for Socialism and Liberation, said. “And if Dr. King were alive, I mean — he would brave, he would brave the conditions to make a political statement.”

Demonstrators passed out hand warmers and wrapped keffiyehs around their winter scarves as temperatures held stubbornly in the single digits and the wind chill brought the “feels like” temperature well below zero.

Despite the temperatures throughout the afternoon, the crowd at times stretched the length of a short city block and was loud enough to catch the attention of patrons inside the Starbucks Reserve Roastery and other downtown businesses, some of whom pulled out their phones to record the group passing down the closed-off roadway. The sidewalks were otherwise mostly clear as the cold and holiday seemed to keep downtown relatively quiet.

The Monday demonstration, endorsed by dozens of organizations, followed another protest at the west suburban Broadview ICE processing center Saturday, which was one of the first large-scale events to occur there since federal agents pulled back from their 64-day surge of immigration enforcement raids in and around Chicago.

Among marchers’ top concerns were the killings of Renee Good, the woman shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis about two weeks ago, and Silverio Villegas-González, the man shot by an ICE agent in Franklin Park in September.

In Good’s killing, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security quickly said the agent who killed Good was acting in self-defense, recalling claims from the agency in the aftermath of the two federal shootings in Chicago during Operation Midway Blitz. The Minneapolis shooting has prompted protests in Minnesota and across the country, including Chicago and its suburbs.

In addition to calls to abolish ICE, protesters rallied against Israel’s violence against Palestinians since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas, and the Trump administration’s recent capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, among other issues.

Marcia Bernsten, 72, who said she’s attended many protests over the last two decades, said she felt like she was seeing some new faces at protests in recent weeks.

“It seems like the American people are beginning to wake up and realize this isn’t normal, and it’s our time to be in the street,” she said. “The situation is such that we have no choice but to be in the streets.”

Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, 25th, was the last speaker in the pre-march program, which lasted about 30 minutes. Overall, the group was standing outside or marching for about an hour and a half.

“This is what resistance looks like. I am thankful for the bravery of working people fighting against fascists, fighting against imperialism, fighting against poverty, racism and militarism,” Sigcho-Lopez said. “Remember Martin Luther King Jr., because we gotta look at the past so that we can fight for the future.”

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