took to social media to debunk one such rumor<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u201cAt this time, the Park District has not received any information related to potential ICE activity nor has the District shared any guidance regarding potential ICE activity at the marathon with our staff,\u201d a district spokesperson wrote an emailed statement to the Tribune Thursday.<\/p>\n
Addressing security at Grant Park during the marathon, the spokesperson said organizers of large permitted events held on park property are required to work with and receive approvals from several city agencies, including police, fire and emergency management.<\/p>\n
Race officials did not return multiple requests for comment.<\/p>\n
In response to questions of whether federal immigration enforcement operations would impact the race, the Department of Homeland Security issued the following statement from Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin: \u201cUnder Secretary (Kristi) Noem, our brave law enforcement officers are delivering on President Trump\u2019s and the American people\u2019s mandate to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens to make America safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThose who are not here illegally and are not breaking other laws have nothing to fear,\u201d the statement continued. \u201cElected officials choosing to fearmonger by distorting reality are doing a great disservice to our country and are responsible for the nearly 1,000% increase in assaults on ICE officers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked for further comment regarding the marathon specifically, DHS referred back to McLaughlin\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n
Based in Pilsen, Venados Running Club is encouraging its members running in the marathon to use a buddy system for the race and to share their locations with friends and family, according to club leader and longtime member Enrique Rivera.<\/p>\n
The club has also been urging members to turn their attention to community organizations, which are providing guidance on how to prepare for and respond to federal activity, Rivera said.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Ensuring) that everyone (finishes) safely is most important this year because it\u2019s definitely on people\u2019s minds,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
For Latinas Run Chicago, a local chapter of an international group focused on Latinas in the sport, Tate has noticed federal operations imposing a steady weight on members. The chapter has about 25 participants running in Sunday\u2019s marathon, Tate said, who have been with the club for five years now.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just one of those things where people haven\u2019t realized how much it\u2019s affecting our everyday lives,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
As members trained for this year\u2019s event, for instance, they seemed less keen on meeting up to train together, Tate said. It\u2019s typical for the club to meet near Lake Michigan to run as a group, but members have opted to take their runs closer to home, where they feel safer, Tate said.<\/p>\n
In recent weeks, around the time marathon participants typically start \u201ctapering\u201d their training with shorter runs, some members have opted to forgo the tail end of their training schedules in light of the increased ICE activity, Tate said.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s been the case for Diana Figueroa, who lately has only really gone to work and her Albany Park home.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been very heavy,\u201d the 49-year-old said of the past few weeks. Running for 11 years now, Figueroa, who was born in Mexico but became a U.S. citizen in 2000, runs with a few different clubs around the city, including Latinas Run Chicago, she said.<\/p>\n
For months, Figueroa has been looking forward to this year\u2019s marathon. While she\u2019s been doing the race since 2021, this is the first time her 23-year-old son is also in the field. Initially, they had planned to run separately. (\u201cHe\u2019s faster,\u201d Figueroa noted.)<\/p>\n
But with everything going on, they\u2019ll be running together instead.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told him, \u2018I\u2019m sorry. I\u2019m sorry it\u2019s your first marathon and you have to deal with this.\u2019 But I (also) told him just let it be in the back of your head,\u201d she said. \u201cHopefully, we don\u2019t witness anything, we don\u2019t see anything and we can really enjoy this 100%.\u201d<\/p>\n
Latinas Run Chicago has offered know-your-rights cards and training to members. And for race day, like Tate, some members are anticipating fewer supporters and family members in the cheer sections.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like there\u2019s a lot of fear around congregating,\u201d Tate said.<\/p>\n
Tate is coming equipped with a phone case that can hold legal identification and is quieting her typical race attire, which includes a shirt, an armband and a headband featuring the Mexican flag.<\/p>\n
For Sunday, she\u2019s planning to wear all black \u2014 and only the headband.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Usually, Diana Tate has her parents, two sisters and godmother cheering for her from the sidelines as she…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":295073,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,136666,150817,5410,106786,5386,1818,409,7090],"class_list":{"0":"post-295072","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-chicago-marathon","10":"tag-chicago-marathon-course","11":"tag-ice","12":"tag-ice-in-chicago","13":"tag-il","14":"tag-illinois","15":"tag-immigration","16":"tag-national-guard"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115356452980476335","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}