For Latina and Latino Studies Prof. Myrna García, who studies Latine history and immigrant rights, recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in Chicago feel disturbingly familiar to immigration operations in the area during the 1970s.
“In many ways, it’s uncanny because it mirrors some of this current moment where we are,” García said.
The Medill Solutions Journalism Hub released a Rapid Response toolkit in December 2025, promoting immigration coverage centering community responses and emphasizing verified information. It brings the issues García raised to light by stressing comprehensive ICE raid coverage.
Medill Prof. Ava Battocchio said they use the toolkit to teach students research skills with the social science approach of focusing on confidentiality.
“I see the toolkit as a way for me to better understand how to teach different types of research skills to students while still also ensuring that we’re sharing stories about things that have happened in a way that we’re able to validate through other means,” Battocchio said.
The hub emphasizes reporting on responses to systemic problems rather than only identifying them.
Medill Prof. Deborah Douglas, director of the hub, said journalism shouldn’t stop at simply exposing issues because this only tells “half the story.”
The idea for the toolkit was born after the hub awarded funding to four Chicago newsrooms to support solutions journalism projects. One of the organizations, Block Club Chicago, used the funding to launch a WhatsApp channel allowing community members to ask questions and share resources with journalists about immigration enforcement.
It received an immediate positive reaction and inspired the hub to create the toolkit.
“In the first hour, I noticed that people were following the channel, so it was a proof of concept within the first hour that the community was thirsty for this kind of information,” Douglas said.
She said journalists can no longer rely solely on official sources, because many have been inaccurately framing information surrounding ICE, complicating traditional reporting protocols.
Battocchio added that mistakes in immigration reporting now have far greater consequences as they risk harming sources for sharing information. Therefore, they said, journalists have to be more careful and intentional about what they ask sources and how they tell stories.
For that reason, Douglas said the toolkit encourages “ruthless validation,” urging reporters to center community voices in their reporting and piece together patterns while acknowledging uncertainty.
“You’re not writing or filming about audience members,” Douglas said. “You are writing and filming and recording with and to them, not around them or about them.”
Battocchio said when journalists center community voices in their reporting, they allow people to have agency in their experience.
Douglas said she hopes the toolkit helps journalists rethink traditional reporting practices and increase transparency in their work.
“I think that journalism needs to do a better job of actually showing our work,” Douglas said.
Email: [email protected]
Related Stories:
— Community members, political leaders pack Unitarian Church of Evanston, demanding end to ICE action
— ‘A lightning rod of truth’: Lake Street Church draws attention with anti-ICE Nativity scene