It’s hard not to have the February blues in Chicagoland, not only because of the weather but also because of the heartbreaking news coming from Minnesota where Renee Good and Alex Pretti were killed by ICE agents. It reminds us that only a few months ago, the city of Chicago was facing the same kind of turmoil. In September 2025, an ICE agent killed Silverio Villegas Gonzalez, an immigrant father of two, during a traffic stop, and one month later, agents shot Marimar Martinez at a protest and charged her with felony assault. The charges against Marimar were dropped in November when the court reviewed the body camera footage of the ICE agent. The court also looked at emails from the agent who bragged about shooting Marimar five times. That information is chilling because people who do not value human life should not be in law enforcement.
Unfortunately, ICE is still present in the city of Chicago and suburbs causing fear among immigrant communities. However, ICE agents fail to recognize what their actions have brought about in Chicago and Minneapolis. People in those cities and throughout the nation are horrified by the dehumanizing tactics used by ICE and the lawlessness that we can see right before our eyes. The nation is calling for accountability, and Trump responded by pulling Greg Bovino out of Minneapolis and sending in Tom Homan, who is head of border patrol. ICE is continuing a smear campaign to blame Alex Pretti for the actions of the two agents who shot him. Kristi Noem began by calling Pretti a “domestic terrorist,” but people who knew Pretti angrily pushed back against that false narrative. Then a news agency called The News Movement showed footage of a protest event one week before the shooting where Alex kicked the taillight of an ICE van in anger and two different agents pushed him to the ground. We all agree that an angry action like kicking a taillight is wrong, but it does not justify what happened to Pretti a week later.
American citizens are also upset about the detention of a five-year-old boy when his father was arrested north of Minnesota. The father and son, Adrian and Liam Conejo Arias, entered the U.S. legally, requesting asylum and waiting for their court case to be decided. Both were taken into custody by ICE and sent to Texas for deportation, but U.S. District Judge Fred Biery ordered they cannot be removed until the habeas case challenging their removal is settled. Another adult living in the Minnesota home where the arrest occurred asked ICE agents to leave the child there, but the agents refused to do so. The information released by the Department of Homeland Security does not agree with what the boy’s school officials and family attorney says. DHS stated that the father ran away and abandoned the child, but it’s not abandonment when there is someone there asking to take care of the child. It reminds us of the actions of border patrol during Trump’s first administration when whole families were arrested and children were separated from their parents. Those actions caused public outrage, and it’s shocking to see it happen again.
Even though we are shocked and tired and feeling blue, we are encouraged by the rallies and protests throughout the nation. And we support the Senate Democrats who are requesting changes to DHS’ immigration actions before Democrats will vote for funding for the Department of Homeland Security. Democrats are willing to vote yes to refund five of the six appropriations bills if the DHS funding is separated now from the rest of the bills. That would give Congress time to agree to changes that need to be made to DHS before it receives full funding. If Republicans do not agree, the government may go into partial shutdown right away. We realize that we need to follow through with the message given by the speaker at our January meeting, Pam Davidson. We have to keep on fighting until victory is won. And shutdowns may be one of the most effective ways to fight.
Sources
Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, “Videos Show Alex Pretti in Confrontation With Agents 11 Days Before His Death,” The New York Times, January 30, 2026.
Laura Romero, “Judge Blocks Removal of 5-Year-Old Detained by ICE in Minnesota,” ABC News, January 27, 2026.
Madison Savedra, “Before Feds Killed Minnesota Mom, They Killed a Man and Shot a Woman 5 Times in Chicago,” https://blockclubchicago.org. January 8, 2026.
Nik Popli, “ ‘The American People Deserve It:’ Democrats Reveal Their 3 Demands to Avoid a Shutdown,” Time, January 28, 2026.