{"id":387228,"date":"2025-11-18T09:18:24","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T09:18:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/387228\/"},"modified":"2025-11-18T09:18:24","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T09:18:24","slug":"chicago-museum-leaders-likening-the-moment-to-active-shooter-drills-practice-what-to-do-if-ice-shows-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/387228\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago museum leaders \u2014 likening the moment to active shooter drills \u2014 practice what to do if ICE shows up"},"content":{"rendered":"

In July, a swarm of unmarked cars with agents from the Department of Homeland Security suddenly appeared in the lot<\/a> of the National Museum of Puerto Rican Art and Culture in Humboldt Park.<\/p>\n

Local elected officials and community members called the visit a scare tactic. President Donald Trump\u2019s officials said they\u2019d been staging an operation related to a narcotics investigation.<\/p>\n

But the agents\u2019 presence outside a Chicago cultural institution sparked a panic that spread across city museums and event spaces as they weighed how to protect their staff and audiences.<\/p>\n

On Friday, a group of museum leaders met for a two-hour training at the Puerto Rican museum hosted by the nonprofit Latinos Progresando. While reports indicate that U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Greg Bovino left Chicago last week, with plans to scale back the number of federal immigration agents in the city throughout the winter, a DHS source has signaled that 1,000 agents could return<\/a> in March.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Homero<\/p>\n

Homero Tristan, attorney at Tristan & Cervantes, speaks Friday during a workshop with cultural organizations at the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture.<\/p>\n

Latinos Progresando said it is seizing the opportunity now to train event organizers and museum leaders.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough there may be a little bit of a sigh of relief, I think it\u2019s very important that we take this opportunity to prepare ourselves for what\u2019s coming,\u201d said Luis Guti\u00e9rrez, founder of Latinos Progresando.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what drove just under two dozen representatives from the Shedd Aquarium, Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago History Museum, the Chicago Park District and other organizations to attend the Friday workshop, where they received advice such as appointing a designated representative on-site to deal with agents.<\/p>\n

Homero Tristan, a founding partner at Tristan & Cervantes, told the group it\u2019s rare for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to get warrants signed by judges to carry out immigration enforcement. However, all cultural institutions should familiarize themselves with I-9 audits, he said: They are used to verify whether an individual is authorized to work in the U.S.<\/p>\n

Thomas Henkey, who works as vice president of emergency management at Marksman-Titan Security Group in Downtown Chicago, said he attended the training on behalf of his organization.<\/p>\n

Marksman-Titan provides security to various institutions across a large part of Chicago\u2019s cultural and nonprofit sectors \u2014 many of which were also in the room on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have an ethical and moral obligation to protect people and property. That\u2019s why we do what we do,\u201d Henkey said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Leaders<\/p>\n

Leaders of Chicago cultural organizations listen to a presentation at the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture on Friday.<\/p>\n

Security professionals at museums, theaters and similar places are most likely to be the first point of contact with ICE agents, he said. Consequently, clients of Marksman-Titan have approached Henkey and his colleagues to ask: \u2018\u201cHey, what is security going to do if ICE shows up at our building?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Henkey said he\u2019d be going back to his colleagues and clients to share all that he learned at the workshop. And the organizations that Marksman-Titan works with have been resilient to challenges of the last five years, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese folks have been through the pandemic. They\u2019ve been through massive funding cuts. They\u2019ve been through staffing challenges,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen they get punched, they get back up again.\u201d<\/p>\n

The National Museum of Mexican Art in Pilsen, a co-host of Friday\u2019s workshop, experienced its own scare with federal agents earlier this year, according to Jos\u00e9 Ochoa, the museum\u2019s president and CEO<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On July 3, an agent with the U.S. Marshals Service entered the Pilsen museum, he said. Ochoa considered that visit an \u201cunwelcome dress rehearsal\u201d for what was to come. After that incident, the museum implemented strict guidelines, including clearly marked badges for all employees and a prepared response for federal agents.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Jos\u00e9<\/p>\n

Jos\u00e9 Ochoa, president and CEO of the National Museum of Mexican Art, speaks during a training with cultural community organizations at the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the goal line keeps moving,\u201d he said, referring to the constantly changing political landscape, which makes it hard to stay up to date with the correct information. \u201cWe\u2019re definitely stronger, we\u2019re definitely more organized, we\u2019re definitely more knowledgeable, but the situation is going to continue to change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ochoa said the Mexican art museum hasn\u2019t seen a decline in attendees since \u201cOperation Midway Blitz\u201d kicked off in September \u2014 in fact, it\u2019s been the opposite he said. More allies have come out to support the museum, but there have been fewer visits by undocumented neighbors.<\/p>\n

Ochoa likened the cultural groups\u2019 preparedness to active shooter drills that take place in most schools across the country. When something happens, all kids \u201cknow what to do,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s in their bodies, because they practice it all the time. And I realized [when the U.S. marshal showed up] that we had not practiced.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speakers also included 26th Ward Ald. Jessie Fuentes, who was handcuffed by federal agents <\/a>in October at a Humboldt Park hospital after asking officers to show a warrant. The detainment was caught on video and shared widely.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we are watching right now, in this moment in our country,\u201d she warned the museum leaders, \u201cis racism turned into policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Ald.<\/p>\n

Ald. Jessie Fuentes speaks during a training with cultural leaders on responding to immigration enforcement at the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In July, a swarm of unmarked cars with agents from the Department of Homeland Security suddenly appeared in…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":387229,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,5386,1818],"class_list":{"0":"post-387228","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-illinois"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115569958813570119","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387228","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=387228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}