To protect and support Chicago’s immigrant communities during this period, the new package of executive actions will: 

• Invest an additional $250,000 into Chicago's Legal Protection Fund, increasing its funding by nearly 20 percent;
• Provide direct guidance and protocols to all City-owned facilities, including libraries, Park District buildings, senior centers and schools;
• Terminate ICE's access to Chicago Police Department databases related to federal immigration enforcement activities;
• Reaffirm the City’s commitment not to cooperate with or facilitate any ICE effort to target Chicago’s immigrant families.

Chicago's Legal Protection Fund partners with the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) and The Resurrection Project to provide community-based outreach, education, legal consultations and courtroom representation for thousands of immigrants each year.

The City’s investment in the Legal Protection Fund will also increase access to Know Your Rights trainings across Chicago. These trainings help more than 20,000 Chicagoans each year learn the rights they have when threatened with deportation. They are presented in multiple languages and occur in neighborhoods across the city.

“The Legal Protection Fund has ensured thousands of Chicagoans have access to trustworthy legal representation as they seek lawful status and protection from deportation," said NIJC Executive Director Mary Meg McCarthy. "With threats of immigration raids looming over our city and ICE arrests already too common an occurrence in our neighborhoods, we must expand the ranks of lawyers who are able to screen cases and defend against rapid deportations without due process.”

Information on Legal Protection Fund

Legal Protection Fund Client Countries of Origin

Legal Protection Fund Statistics 

Legal Protection Fund Timeline