Jamie Ludwig

ICIRR Eyes on ICE Update: Throughout the day on Friday 10/10, the Rapid Response Network verified the presence of federal agents at multiple locations in Uptown, Edgewater, and Ravenswood including 5400 N. Sheridan, 4700 N. Magnolia, and 4300 N. Paulina (outside Ravenswood School). Teams are following up on additional tips from the surrounding areas. The enforcement operation is ongoing. Multiple people have been detained today on the north side. If you witness any possible ICE activity, or know someone who has been detained, call the Family Support Hotline at 1-855-435-7693 Remember: you have the right to film police activity, the right to remain silent, the right to speak to an attorney, and the right to refuse to sign anything. For a digital download of our KYR card visit: bit.ly/ICIRRCards

ICIRR reporting ICE activity throughout the north side of Chicago today, including outside of Ravenswood Elementary School.

MAJOR new restrictions on federal government use of riot control weapons -- and even requiring them to display identification in many circumstances. I expect a very rapid appeal and request for a stay from the 7th Circuit.

This is where you can tell the IPA board exactly what you think about their decision to pull out of one of the most important 1A lawsuits of my lifetime: www.illinoispress.org/AboutUs/Cont...

The First Amendment explicitly guarantees:

-the right of the people peaceably to assemble
-to petition the Government for a redress of grievances
-the free exercise of religion
-freedom of speech

If this priest had also been press, ICE would have violated all five 1A freedoms at once.

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS EASTERN DIVISION CHICAGO HEADLINE CLUB, BLOCK CLUB CHICAGO, CHICAGO NEWSPAPER GUILD LOCAL 34071, NABET-CWA LOCAL 54041, ILLINOIS PRESS ASSOCIATION, RAVEN GEARY, CHARLES THRUSH, STEPHEN HELD, DAVID BLACK, WILLIAM PAULSON, AUTUMN REIDY-HAMER, and LEIGH KUNKEL, on behalf of themselves and others similarly situated, Plaintiffs, V. KRISTI NOEM, Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS); TODD LYONS, Acting Director, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); MARCOS CHARLES, Acting Executive Associate Director, Enforcement and Removal Operations, ICE; RUSSELL HOTT, Chicago Field Office Director, ICE; RODNEY S. SCOTT, Commissioner, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP); GREGORY BOVINO, Chief Border Patrol Agent, CBP; DANIEL DRISCOLL, Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); WILLIAM K. MARSHALL III, Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP); PAMELA BONDI, Attorney General of the United States; U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY; U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE; UNIDENTIFIED FEDERAL OFFICER DEFENDANTS; UNIDENTIFIED FEDERAL AGENCY DEFENDANTS; and DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States, No. 25-cv-12173 PLAINTIFFS' COMPLAINT FOR INJUCTIVE AND DECLARATORY RELIEF

NEW: I'm listening in on a second new lawsuit out of Illinois today, addressing First Amendment freedoms surrounding protests, including press and religious claims.

Judge Sara Ellis, an Obama appointee, is hearing the TRO motion and has found the plaintiffs, for TRO purposes, have standing.

JUST IN: Chicago journalistsa re suing DHS and ICE over force used against reporters:

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

93 million U.S. residents are immigrants or are U.S. born and have at least one immigrant parent.

Stand with Julian: Medical and Legal Aid Needed www.gofundme.com/f/stand-with...

Your Cheat Sheet to the 2025 General Elections - Bolts Four contests have come to largely define the 2025 elections: the elections to lead New Jersey, Virginia, and New York City, plus California’s redistricting measure. But there’s so much else... Read M...

NEW: November general elections are around the corner, so it’s time to launch my cheat sheet of what’s on the ballot this fall!

I guide you thru the *185* elections I'm watching, & why: lawmakers, governors, judges, DAs, mayors, school boards, & dozens of ballot measures.

Explore, share, save:

Farewell to undersung house and disco maestro Lee Collins - Chicago Reader Lee Collins was a DJ’s DJ, with an ear for obscure tracks that could drive parties into a frenzy on both sides of the Atlantic.

Few Chicago DJs have garnered the kind of mythical status of Lee Collins, who issued few recordings of his own but whose skills behind the turntables earned him international praise. I talked to eight different people about his life and legacy for the Reader.

Here's part two of my Denying Innocence series on the failures by Cook County prosecutors to investigate innocence claims. Thanks to our friends @boltsmag.org for copublishing.

Chicago journalist detained while covering protest outside Broadview immigration facility • The TRiiBE Video posted to social media shows Unraveled Press co-founder Steve Held being detained by federal agents earlier this evening.

NEW — Video posted to social media shows Unraveled Press co-founder Steve Held being detained by federal agents outside the Broadview immigration facility earlier this evening.

A collection of Chicago newsrooms is calling for his immediate release.

thetriibe.com/2025/09/chic...

We were not all local! But almost all of us were hit lol.

It’s time to show up for the World Music Festival - Chicago Reader Like so many things we love about Chicago, the World Music Festival's ten days of spectacular free concerts are threatened by Trump’s racism.

If like me you've been worried that Trump's anti-immigrant actions might've killed the World Music Festival, I have good news and bad news! It's happening, and the lineup is great—but the number of artists from outside the country has declined significantly. chicagoreader.com/music/music-...

You can’t pay somebody that’s not fucking real.

This is money laundering. And killing the planet.

Censorship Is the Authoritarian’s Dream The right to free expression must include the right to say horrible and evil things.

"More professors in the United States have been fired for controversial views in the past week than any other week in all of American history."
www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

The US town that pays every pregnant woman $1,500: ‘We’re not OK with our babies being born into poverty’ Infants in Rx Kids in Flint, Michigan, saw lower rates of prematurity and other issues, saving millions in NICU visits

So Flint, Michigan gave $1,500 to all pregnant people, plus $500 each month for the first year of the child’s young life.

It saved Flint $6.2 million dollars a year, due to lower rates of rates of prematurity and low birth weight, with fewer corresponding admissions.

The right thing, AND cheaper.

by my (unofficial and probably low) count, ice arrested at least 17 people today in/around chicago.

it sounds like the bulk of the arrests—more than a dozen—came from an hour away in the village of west chicago.

my megathread:

reposting with alt text because this feels incredibly significant. the right-wing disinfo machine means a lot of the people grieving Charlie Kirk never heard any of the things he said that would have tarnished his brand as Guy Who Just Wants to Have Dialogue Across the Aisle

A healthy media ecosystem, one actually interested in helping readers, would see mainstream outlets staffed with writers knowledgeable in online culture. It would see plenty of specialized publications with the resources and owner willingness to do more than write to SEO. But that would also be an ecosystem that didn’t produce the Wall Street Journal’s absurd leap to “transgender ideology,” a phrase that is its own kind of right-wing meme, though one that’s spread far beyond the internet into the mouths of powerful people like the drafters of Project 2025 and President Trump. The Right is eager to blame trans people for the violence overwhelmingly performed by cis people of their own ranks. It’s hard to read the WSJ’s speed to parrot such talking points as anything other than helping spread that message, though one would hope unintentionally. But just as unfamiliar writers can leap to blame video games or Discord, they can leap to blame trans people too.

We need more games and internet journalists. And also more trans journalists. And also more journalists.
aftermath.site/tyler-robins...

Ned the snail has a one in 40,000 look. That’s a big problem for his love life Ned faces a lifetime of unintentional celibacy, unless another 'lefty' snail can be found

Does this make Ned an “in-shell?”
www.independent.co.uk/news/science...

Make It Make Sense: ICE launches deportation “blitz” in Chicago Plus: city officials evict unhoused residents from Legion Park, IDOC wants to ban most physical mail, and more.

in this week’s powerhouse make it make sense from @chicagoreader.com:

🚨ice launches chicago deportation blitz

🌳city evicts unhoused legion park residents (via @bysavannahh.bsky.social)

✉️ idoc wants to ban physical mail (via @dmbrown-tboy.bsky.social)

🏛️walter burnett jr’s son takes over as alder

a person is in handcuffs and being led by two masked agents. the agents faces are blurred. a chyron reads: “ice launches ‘operation midway blitz’”

a black suv is emblazoned with the ice logo and the word “ICE” in large letters along the side. the phrase “defend the homeland” is printed along the hood.

ice is out in chicago today putting on a show for tv cameras.

two ice suvs wrapped with the slogan “defend the homeland” were parked outside the cook county jail. at least 2 agents arrested one person.

fox news also accompanied ice agents (and blurred their faces!) on a raid this morning.

Holy fuck, NO. THIS FOOTAGE IS THREE MONTHS OLD.

Stop.

Doing

This!!

ICYMI: I spoke with drummer and music curator Mike Reed about his ambitious new festival, Sound & Gravity, which takes place in Avondale 9/10-14. Read the interview here or pick up a Reader if you’re out and about. chicagoreader.com/music/music-...

The lack of mainstream coverage of regular huge protests reminds me of a talk from a Twitter employees who explained that they had to drop BLM off the Trending Tags section because otherwise it would have been there permanently. The modern media environment has no appetite for sustained movements.

Garfield, looking at you smugly, says "You are not immune to propaganda"

If you are reposting the video of the salt trucks in Chicago, the one with no date on it, which gives no source or credit, which is not being reported by any news organization in town, big or small, then Garfield has a message for you

The president of the United States just declared war, actual military war, not a metaphorical one, on a major American city, and one governed by his political opponents.

In any other period, this would be impeachment-worthy.

A lot of great stuff in @jamieludwig.bsky.social’s interview with Mike Reed!

chicagoreader.com/music/music-...

Thanks, Leor! It was a great convo, and super interesting to hear his perspective on the festival industry.