Story perspectives

Report estimates $1.26B retail-restaurant spending losses from Trump crackdown

9/10/2026

Summary

Preckwinkle Reports Loss

Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle announced a report estimating $1.26 billion lost in retail-restaurant spending from President Donald Trump's crackdown.
The Great Cities Institute at the University of Illinois Chicago authored the report “Hunkering Down.”
Researchers used anonymized cellphone location data and Census spending records to estimate the loss.
Retail trips from high-concentration Hispanic neighborhoods fell 9% after January 2025, while restaurant trips fell 10%.

Summary

Burke Allows Probes

Illinois State Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke issued guidance allowing grand juries to investigate federal agents.
Illinois State Police opened a May 5 investigation into Silverio Villegas González’s death eight months later.
Federal prosecutors dismissed all charges against Marimar Martinez on Nov. 20 after video disproved agents’ claims.
The ICE Accountability Project, founded by former mayor Lori Lightfoot, is gathering testimony for civil suits.

Summary

ICE Mass Arrests

DHS announced the operation, launched Sept. 8, 2025, arrested more than 4,500 illegal aliens, including rapists, murderers, and gang members.
ICE’s acting director said about 80% of detainees lacked criminal convictions.
Sun-Times/WBEZ analysis found the majority of ICE detainees had no convictions.
Nationwide, nearly 70% of ICE arrests involve illegal aliens charged or convicted of a U.S. crime.
Midway Blitz detained 2,700 people in ten weeks, double the prior nine-month total.

History

Historical Context

Operation Gatekeeper, launched in 1994 under California Governor Pete Wilson, dramatically intensified interior immigration enforcement along the San Diego border region. The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service reported a 40% surge in apprehensions that year, detaining roughly 1.5 million migrants. Today's DHS operation, begun September 8 2025, mirrors Gatekeeper’s mass arrests, with ICE detaining over 4,500 individuals and Illinois officials probing federal misconduct. The precedent shows that aggressive enforcement fuels community backlash, prompting legal challenges like Illinois’ grand-jury investigations and costly economic losses for local businesses.

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Preckwinkle Reports Loss

Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle announced a report estimating $1.26 billion lost in retail-restaurant spending from President Donald Trump's crackdown.
The Great Cities Institute at the University of Illinois Chicago authored the report “Hunkering Down.”
Researchers used anonymized cellphone location data and Census spending records to estimate the loss.
Retail trips from high-concentration Hispanic neighborhoods fell 9% after January 2025, while restaurant trips fell 10%.

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