NEWS: The Trump administration is reviewing DACA renewals so slowly that the delays are causing people to lose their jobs, licenses, and deportation protection. It’s happening across the country. Our Sunday story with @lauranrodriguez.bsky.social www.chicagotribune.com/2026/03/15/d...
Proud to be sharing this award with my fantastic colleagues @royalpratt.bsky.social @andrew-carter.bsky.social @lauranrodriguez.bsky.social @ckubzansky.bsky.social
Thanks @newhousesu.bsky.social
and to the entire Tribune newsroom for its immigration coverage
newhouse.syracuse.edu/news/the-was...
Congratulations to 2026 Shadid Award finalists @royalpratt.bsky.social, @lauranrodriguez.bsky.social, @ckubzansky.bsky.social, @jmetr22b.bsky.social & @andrew-carter.bsky.social (chicagotribune.com) for reporting on the mass deportation effort in Chicago.
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/28/c...
“He was initially detained based on false information. Homeland Security is still labeling him as a high-ranking gang member, even though it has been proven that he has no gang ties,” his wife, Bianca Hernandez, said.
This piece explores the complexity of being an immigrant while becoming even more American every Sunday through football—and, of course, the Bears.
I invite you to read it for this Super Bowl Sunday.
www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/08/o...
A Mexican grandmother has hand-sewn the official retirement banners for Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and, most recently, Derrick Rose.
He has crafted banners for the Bulls, Blackhawks, Bears and White Sox.
Here’s her story:
www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/06/m...
Not so long ago, Mr. Trump was hailed by many of these same figures as a president with the audacity to send in special forces units to punish political opponents who “FAFO.” (That’s the expletive-laden expression used by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to mean messing around and facing the consequences.)
Here’s the New York Times using 19 words to hint at what FAFO means.
Under Bovino, federal agents tear-gassed neighborhoods, made warrantless arrests, and relied on racial profiling. A father of two was killed. A woman was shot five times.
Chicago was only the beginning.
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/28/c...
Lawyer for woman shot by Border Patrol agent in Chicago wants body-cam footage, other evidence made public
Meet the runners who refuse to let Chicago’s arctic chill slow them down.
“We’re crazy, man,” one said. blockclubchi.co/4qOmWmg
We’ll see how things change in Minneapolis with Gregory Bovino gone. But he and his Border Patrol agents are the ones responsible for the biggest excesses in Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and elsewhere. Homan isn’t the architect of the roving convoys stopping at Target and going for anyone.
My latest: ICE releases Guatemalan mother after seven months. It failed to provide a reason or evidence justifying her detention.
The mother said her strength came from her local church in a Chicago suburb, which rallied around her family during that time.
www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/25/m...
While Marina Lopez was in ICE detention for seven months, parishioners in her church stepped up to help care for her family. This is their story, told by @lauranrodriguez.bsky.social in a great Sunday @chicagotribune.com read
www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/25/m...
Our photographer Alex Kormann captured the exact moment the presses stopped for the last time in Minneapolis, ending a 158 history of locally printed newspapers.
64 days in Chicago: The story of Operation Midway Blitz. Our team fanned out to cover the before, during and after of the federal government’s months-long raid on an American city. This is worth your time to understand the United States today
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/28/c...
A long read from the Tribune: 64 days in Chicago: The story of Operation Midway Blitz (gift link) www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/28/c...
U.S. Reps. Jesús “Chuy” García, Danny Davis, Delia Ramirez and Jonathan Jackson arrived carrying a federal court order confirming that members of Congress cannot be blocked from conducting oversight at immigration detention facilities.
For those looking to set reading goals or resolutions in 2026, here’s how to get back into the habit.
Now seems like a swell time to point out that Frontline just released this excellent 11-minute mini-documentary about what happened inside CECOT.
FULL STORY: Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino, and the agents who led a series of increasingly aggressive raids across Chicago and its suburbs, falsely depicted ordinary Chicagoans as professional agitators determined to mount a violent resistance, a federal judge determined. @wttw.bsky.social
When the Government Doesn't Want You Reporting on ICE
A conversation with Chicago Tribune reporter @lauranrodriguez.bsky.social about covering ‘Operation Midway Blitz’ and staying rooted in community
“They’re not even treating me like a human being.” Our Sunday story with @lauranrodriguez.bsky.social and Rebecca Johnson about Bovino’s agents racial profiling throughout Chicago. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/15/l...
The Trump administration says that more than 1.6 million immigrants have self-deported. But there's also evidence of an internal migration from target cities and states and into quieter areas that feel safer.
When the Government Doesn't Want You Reporting on ICE
A conversation with Chicago Tribune reporter @lauranrodriguez.bsky.social about covering ‘Operation Midway Blitz’ and staying rooted in community
By @juliorvarela.com
Latino U.S. citizens/ permanent residents racially profiled by immigration agents in Chicago.
Even after they told the agents they were in the country legally, officers zip-tied their hands & detained them, in some cases even transporting them to Broadview.
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/15/l...
Only 16 of the 614 people whose Chicago-area immigration arrests may have violated a 2022 consent decree have criminal histories that present a “high public safety risk.”
Several have already reunited with their families in the Chicago area.
Read the story: www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/14/o...
The Trump administration on Friday released the names of 614 people whose Chicago-area immigration arrests may have violated a 2022 consent decree, and only 16 of them have criminal histories that present a “high public safety risk.”
Thank you for your trust!
Thank you so much for sharing this and for your words.
JRV: I’ve noticed that your reporting has been criticized by the federal government on social media, particularly from DHS accounts. As a reporter, how do you respond to them? How is that impacting your work? LRP: It’s disturbing, honestly. When a government agency publicly targets your reporting, it’s not just about disagreeing with your work, it’s about trying to intimidate you and send a message to others. But my job isn’t to make the government comfortable. My job is to tell the truth and to give voice to the people who are being silenced or dehumanized. I’m careful, I fact check everything twice and I keep doing my work. If anything, their response just shows that our reporting is exposing something real.
JRV: Do you think your readers still trust the work you are doing? What drives you to do the work each day? LRP: I do think readers trust us, maybe more than ever. They see that we’re on the ground, that we’re not chasing clickbait or repeating official statements. They see us standing in the cold outside a detention center, talking to families who are scared and waiting for answers. What drives me is knowing that, for many of these families, our reporting is the only record of what’s happening to them. Journalism, for me, is a form of witness — and when power goes unchecked, we have a duty to document that.
I am so impressed with the Chicago journalists covering the invasion of their city, and this interview with @lauranrodriguez.bsky.social is inspiring. A must read. Brava! pressingissues.org/when-the-gov...
