Cafes, restaurants across Chicago put up signs barring immigration agents [View all]
      
      Cafes, restaurants across Chicago put up signs barring immigration agents
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/14/chicago-restaurants-ice-agents/
 Its a small, but mighty sign: Everyone is welcome here, except I.CE. Katherine Duncan, owner of Katherine Anne Confections, fastened it proudly on her shops front door.
It was a no-brainer for me, Duncan said on a recent Wednesday afternoon, hours after she put the sign up at the storefront on 3653 W. Irving Park Road. I feel so helpless. With my business and my kids, I cant escort students to and from school or other things like that. So it was like, well  what can we do?
In recent weeks, Chicago has seen an increase in Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions, which have been met with significant criticism from activists, local government and community groups, spurring protests, legal challenges and a new executive order from Mayor Brandon Johnson creating citywide ICE-free zones to push back against the federal crackdown. For restaurant and cafe workers, many of whom are immigrants, the looming threat of unannounced visits by ICE, which have already led to arrests in restaurants, outside grocery stores and in the parking lots of businesses in Chicago, has created anxiety and uncertainty about their future.
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The emptiest of empty gestures. They will be raided first.