Chicago churches urge calm resistance ahead of expected federal
intervention
[September 08, 2025]
By SOPHIA TAREEN
CHICAGO (AP) — The Rev. Marshall Hatch urged congregants of a prominent
Black church on Chicago’s West Side to carry identification, stay
connected to family and protest as the city readied for an expected
federal intervention.
“You need to start telling people about your whereabouts, so you don’t
disappear,” Hatch said during Sunday services at New Mount Pilgrim
Missionary Baptist Church. “We’re not going to despair. We’re not going
to feel threatened. We’re not going to give up and give in to fascism
and authoritarianism.”
As Chicago braced for an immigration enforcement crackdown and a
possible National Guard deployment, churches across the city turned up
their response from the pulpit. Some worked to quell fears about
detention and deportation while others addressed the looming possibility
of more law enforcement on the streets of the nation’s third-largest
city.
President Donald Trump has threatened federal intervention in Democratic
strongholds, most recently warning apocalyptic force could be used in
Chicago to fight crime and step up deportations. He’s repeatedly cited
the expected plans over fierce objections from local leaders and many
residents who call it unnecessary and unwanted.
While fears have been high in immigrant circles since Trump took office
the second time, the threat of more federal agencies and troops has also
inflamed tensions, particularly in Black and Latino communities where
trust in police is fragile.
Among the church attendees was Lester Burks, a 74-year-old U.S. Army
veteran who said a military presence in Chicago would be threatening.
“I don’t want soldiers here,” he said. “They are trained to fight.”
Sanctuary cities targeted
Details on the expected intervention have been sparse, including its
focus and when it’s expected to begin. Trump’s border czar Tom Homan
said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that federal law enforcement
action will come to Chicago this week. He also promised more worksite
enforcement operations like the massive one at a Hyundai plant in
Georgia.
“You can expect action in most sanctuary cities across the country,” he
said.
The Trump administration has repeatedly targeted, and unsuccessfully
sued, over Chicago's sanctuary laws, which are among the strongest in
the nation. His administration launched a nationwide immigration
enforcement operation in the city in January.
There is no official definition for sanctuary policies or sanctuary
cities. The terms generally describe limits on local cooperation with
Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE enforces U.S. immigration laws
nationwide but sometimes seeks state and local help.
This time, the Department of Homeland Security plans to use a military
base north of the city and has alerted leaders of another suburb that
they’ll use a federal immigration processing center there for an
operation that’ll potentially last 45 days. Meanwhile, Trump has said he
might send National Guard troops to New Orleans before Chicago.
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The New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church choir, including
Jennifer Hatch with arms raised, sings during a service Sunday,
Sept. 7, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Trump has already deployed the National Guard into Los Angeles and
Washington, D.C., where he’s also federalized the police force. A
federal judge has ruled the Los Angeles deployment is illegal.
“We don’t need another level of law enforcement and their presence to
pretend they’re going to solve problems related to violence,” U.S. Rep.
Danny Davis, a Democrat, said at a Sunday news conference with other
Black elected leaders on the city's West Side.
Most of Chicago’s nearly 3 million people are Black or Latino. New Mount
Pilgrim is located in the city’s West Garfield Park neighborhood, a
largely Black neighborhood which has faced persistent crime and years of
disinvestment, including five schools near the church that closed in
2013 as part of the largest mass public closure in U.S. history.
The church has often called for action against street violence even as
Chicago's rates of violent crime have dropped substantially in recent
years as part of a national trend. Its large stained glass art
installations depict the lives of slaves and memorialize Black people
killed by violence. On Sunday, the church celebrated the groundbreaking
of a nearby arts and activism center it said was part of the solution.
“We’re not calling for military, we’re calling for resources,” Hatch
told congregants. “We know that there is a correlation between resources
and violence.”
Chicago on edge
Elsewhere in the city, other churches worked to remind people of
their rights when it comes to interactions with immigration agents,
urging them to carry necessary documents.
The feeling of being on edge was familiar to many in Chicago, and the
expected operation put a damper on the city’s usually festive Mexican
Independence Day celebrations. Church leaders said the January
immigration operation in Chicago had a chilling effect on attendance at
immigrant-heavy and Latino churches as people stayed home.
Clergy said they were preparing for the same in the weeks ahead.
“It feels like anything can happen at any moment,” said the Rev. Paco
Amador of New Life Community Church in the predominantly Mexican Little
Village neighborhood. “It would be irresponsible not to talk about
this.”
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Associated Press writer Calvin Woodward contributed to this report from
Washington.
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