‘Don’t want to go back’: Asylum seekers face deportation anxiety in Chicago

CHICAGO (WGN) — Immigration advocates say mass deportations are adding stress for people who want to settle in Chicago legally.  

Asylum seekers in the Chicago area often come to the federal building on Clark Street for court appearances. But many say they wonder whether they’ll be deported before the process begins. 

“I’m scared, and I don’t want to go back to Mexico,” said Edith Sanchez Delacruz, the 12-year-old daughter of Briseda Delacruz, who is part of a Waukegan family seeking asylum.  

United Giving Hope Church pastor Julie Contreras said faith community members have begun accompanying asylum seekers to pray for their safety and help ease their fears.  

“Today, there are hundreds of families that have communicated with us that they have fear appearing in their court hearings,” Contreras said. “We’re trying to educate and tell them that it’s very important for them to appear.”

Contreras says the Delacruz family went to the US-Mexico border in 2023 seeking asylum. They were granted entry and given steps to follow in order to remain in the US. But the Trump Administration’s immigration raids have caused the family a lot of anxiety about deportation.  

The federal building houses the Department of Homeland Security’s Offices in Chicago, the federal agency that oversees the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also known as ICE. 

“There are so many other ways that we can get criminals out,” Contreras said. “Sadly, the human traffickers and the people who are causing harm are still free, but today, Briseda and her family are still here. They are not criminals and are not a threat to our country.”

Immigration attorney Martin Perez states that most asylum seekers attempt to escape bad situations.

“They’re not here to do anybody harm,” Perez said. “They’re just here to make a better life for themselves and their families.”

However, Perez explained that for migrants who fear coming to court, that decision could lead to severe consequences.  

“If they don’t come to court, they’re going to be ordered removed,” Perez says, “and it’s going to be a lot easier for enforcement to get them out of the country.”