Chicago area food pantries concerned shifting immigration policies could scare away clients
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Amid the Trump administration's plans for a sweeping crackdown on undocumented immigration, some Chicago non-profits like food pantries are concerned about shifts in immigration policy.
At the Northern Illinois Food Bank in Geneva, the food is stacked high everywhere you turn, but what you can't see are their concerns for the clients they serve across 13 counties, many of whom are undocumented immigrants.
"Our greatest concern is that people may choose not to come to us for help out of fear," said Northern Illinois Food Bank CEO Julie Yurko.
The organization met with more than a dozen of their food pantries this week, just days after the new administration took control, waiting to see if history repeats itself, pointing to changes they saw during President Trump's first term in office.
"During Trump's first administration … when the rhetoric came out and there was talk of [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] coming out to certain places to look for those who are immigrants, we did see our numbers go down, particularly in our more diverse communities," Yurko said.
In a social media post on Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration "arrested 538 illegal immigrant criminals" in one day.
That's a marked increase from January 2024, when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement made an average of 277 arrests a day.
- But numbers have flucturated in January from year to year:
- January 2024 – 8,591
- January 2023 – 18,170
- January 2022 – 8,487
- January 2021 – 5,909
This time last year, the Chicago ICE region – which covers six states -- made the most arrests in the nation (774) in January.
The Northern Illinois Food Bank said it will make deliveries up to six days a week, but they're also sharing information with clients, distributing things like "know your rights" cards to partner agencies.
"Over half of our agencies have no paid staff. Over half of our agencies are working on budgets of $10,000 or less. So what they said was, 'Please set us language. Please help us understand how to respond,' because they're like, 'We just don't have the bandwidth.' They are on the front line, feeding every day," Yurko said.
Yurko said the areas where they saw the biggest client declines in the first Trump administration were Aurora and Elgin.
