Over 250 people assembled on Saturday at the scene of a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation on Aug. 1 to protest the agency’s presence and recent actions in Wheaton, IL. 

Photo of “ICE-Out of Wheaton!” protest by Lily Groves

“Show me what democracy looks like, this is what democracy looks like,” protesters chanted in the Jewel Osco parking lot at the corner of Geneva Road and Main Street. “No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA.” 

According to Rebecca Hackman, who worked with Indivisible Wheaton to plan Saturday’s demonstration, the Aug. 1 incident began when a man and his family arrived at the store to pick up a friend who worked there. ICE agents approached the man, apprehended him and drove him off-site. The man’s wife, left behind in the parking lot, decided to self-deport with their children to Oaxaca, Mexico, following ICE’s actions towards her husband.

The “Ice Out of Wheaton” event, co-organized by Indivisible Wheaton and Immigrant Solidarity DuPage, lasted from before 10 a.m. until after noon. 

Indivisible Wheaton, a grassroots group “committed to defending democracy, advancing progressive values, and holding elected officials accountable,” outlined specific goals for the protest. Hackman stated that “ideally, we want the Trump administration and its law enforcement to stop targeting immigrant communities and start building policies that are constructed for welcoming and protecting immigrants as they go through the legal process.” 

Photo of “ICE-Out of Wheaton!” protest by Lily Groves

Many protesters, although citing less explicit goals, shared concerns about complicity and silence in the suburbs. Dave Martin, a longtime DuPage County activist, member of Lombard Mennonite Church and frequent music leader at Chicago-area protests, said, “Our mandate from the words of Jesus to stand with those who are being oppressed is critically important. It’s how we live our faith out. So, comfortable or not, it’s what we are called to do.” 

Martin, along with his guitar, led the crowd outside of Jewel Osco in a rendition of “Welcome” by San Francisco activist and musician Jon Fromer. Dozens of protesters held Mexican, Bolivian, Honduran, American and anti-ICE signs as they sang: “If they come to take you in the middle of the night, I’ll be here beside you to stand up for your rights.”

Among those present were Kelly Wilson, a staff member in Wheaton College’s Human Needs and Global Resources (HNGR) program, and Chuck Liu, assistant professor of psychology. 

As an immigrant and naturalized citizen himself, Liu attended the protest in solidarity with his Latino neighbors. Liu voiced concern for the “slippery slope” that goes from “randomly snatching undocumented people who haven’t committed crimes to trying to get rid of documented people, which has occurred, to trying to denaturalize naturalized citizens.”

The protest followed multiple statements throughout the past month made by the current administration regarding law enforcement and immigration in Chicago. Hours before the “ICE Out of Wheaton” protest, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social an AI-generated image, which resembled a movie poster with the title “Chipocalypse Now” alongside a caption reading, “‘I love the smell of deportations in the morning…’ Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of War.” 

Photo of “ICE-Out of Wheaton!” protest by Lily Groves

The post referenced Trump’s recent statements regarding the mobilization of National Guard troops in Chicago, threats to increase immigration enforcement in the city and a Sept. 5 executive order to rename the U.S. Department of Defense to the Department of War. 

“I feel like the administration and the powers that be at this time in America are saying ‘we have white people on our side,’ or ‘we have the people in the suburbs on our side,’” Wilson said. She hopes protests like Saturday’s will help with the process of “unmasking that.”

“You can’t rationalize this cruelty by saying you’re doing it in the name of the people,” Wilson said.

Cristobal Cavazos, coordinator at Immigrant Solidarity DuPage, closed the event with a bilingual rally. Speaking through a loudspeaker, he urged the audience to bring their hearts into their civic action, calling the protest “a bridge to a world where the immigrants have full rights.”