Over the weekend, heightened immigration enforcement actions in and around Chicago led to muted Halloween and Day of the Dead celebrations. Residents reported a noticeable decline in festivities, with at least one Halloween parade canceled.

“There were a lot less parades,” Ernesto, a resident of a largely Latino Chicago neighborhood, told NPR. He requested his last name be withheld out of fear of employer retaliation for speaking to the media. “The fear,” he says, “has been more palpable with each passing day.”

Last week, Democratic Illinois Governor JB Pritzker called for federal agents to pause “Operation Midway Blitz”—the Chicago immigration enforcement campaign—during the Halloween weekend. “If you are unwilling to cease operations and leave our city, can we at least agree that our children should not be victims, especially on Halloween?” Pritzker asked.

However, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem rejected the request, calling it “shameful.” In a press conference, she said, “We’re absolutely not willing to put on pause any work that we will do to keep communities safe.”

Tensions escalated further on Friday when clashes between protesters and immigration agents erupted near a middle school in Evanston, a suburb north of Chicago. Witnesses shared video footage showing an agent holding a man down and repeatedly hitting him in the head.

In a statement to NPR, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson explained that agents were being aggressively tailgated by a red vehicle. As agents tried to make a U-turn, the red car crashed into a Border Patrol vehicle. Following this, a hostile crowd surrounded the agents and their vehicle, verbally abusing and spitting on them.

During the incident, Border Patrol arrested one individual who actively resisted arrest. Pepper spray was deployed to deter the agitator and disperse the crowd. Three U.S. citizens were arrested as a result of their violent actions against law enforcement.

DHS also reported that five undocumented immigrants from Mexico were arrested during the operation. According to the agency, all five individuals were in the U.S. without papers and had criminal histories, including trespassing charges and multiple illegal entries into the United States.

Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, a Democrat, responded to the incident in a press conference on Friday. “Just today, ICE agents have assaulted Evanston residents, beaten people up, grabbed them, abducted them, taking people off the street once again because of the color of their skin,” he said. “It is an outrage. Our message for ICE is simple: Get the hell out of Evanston.”
https://www.npr.org/2025/11/02/nx-s1-5594866/chicago-evanston-ice-border-patrol-protest-immigration-illinois