10/22/2025
ICE Retaliation in Chicago? A Day Laborer Speaks Out from Detention.
Willian Giménez González—a day laborer, community advocate, and plaintiff in a federal lawsuit against the City of Chicago—was abducted by ICE agents outside a barbershop last month.
Now, from detention, he says he’s being punished for having community support.
I believe I was moved to Michigan at the last minute because I had the support of the community, and because my lawyer and politicians were protesting outside the jail,” he said, referring to the Broadview ICE facility.
Willian has spent years organizing for the rights of day laborers. His supporters say his detention—and the sudden transfer to a distant facility—is retaliation for daring to speak up.
This is not an isolated story. Since Willian’s abduction, worker centers across Chicago report a wave of ICE raids and kidnappings targeting day laborers, street vendors, and domestic workers.
Communities are responding: organizing rapid response teams, blowing whistles when ICE is spotted, and standing guard at hiring corners with signs that read, “No están solos. Aquí estamos.”
Read Sarah Lazare’s full investigation, co-published with Workday Magazine, on how Chicago workers are fighting back against ICE’s escalating campaign of fear:
https://inthesetimes.com/article/chicago-day-laborer-in-ice-detention-says-hes-facing-retaliation-because-supporters-are-protesting-his-abduction
