Friday October 17, 2025

America is changing. And so is the world. But what's happening in America isn't just a cause of global upheaval. It's also a symptom of disruption that's happening everywhere. I'm Asma Khalid in Washington, D.C. I'm Tristan Redman in London, and this is The Global Story. Every weekday, we'll bring you a story from this intersection, where the world and America meet. Listen on bbc.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Alex Degman in for Lisa Labas, and this is The Rundown. Illinois State Police say 11 people were arrested this morning outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Processing Facility in suburban Broadview. Demonstrators started showing up shortly after 8 this morning. Last week, Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson signed an executive order designating a curfew for demonstrations from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day.

Earlier this week, she signed an order shrinking the designated free speech zones for protests outside the facility. Members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or the NAACP, rallied in Chicago.

against the Trump administration's deployment of federal troops in black communities. The rally was part of the national organization's Defend Democracy initiative. Local NAACP youth program coordinator Genesia Williams works to get teens and young adults active in their neighborhoods. At the rally, she addressed what happens when young people see their neighbors being detained by federal troops. It sends a dangerous message that freedom is somehow fragile, that safety is selective.

and that power has forgotten its purpose. Following the rally, residents canvassed on the south and west sides. They asked people how they want the city to respond to the presence of federal troops in their neighborhoods.

Some Illinois universities are seeing drops in international student enrollment. My colleague Lisa Kurian-Philip reports that's happening as the Trump administration moves to limit the number of foreign students on campuses. Leslie Harris is a history professor at Northwestern University. She says discouraging international students from coming here will harm teaching and research.

We're all struggling with the same things. Hunger, medical care, global warming. These are not problems that respect national boundaries. And so it is necessary for us to share research across borders and to share. They're students. Some foreign students may be thinking twice about coming here because of increased federal immigration rates, and a reduction in visa appointments may be making it impossible for others. Three candidates are vying for the Republican nomination for Illinois governor.

And recent campaign fundraising reports show one of them with a large lead in the all-important race for money. My colleague Mawa Iqbal reports that Ted Dabrowski, president of conservative think tank WirePoints, had $1.5 million on hand at the end of September. Dabrowski had help from Chicago-area billionaire Dick Uline, who donated $250,000. Uline, a GOP megadonor, previously shelled out $12 million for downstate farmer Darren Bailey's bid to unseat Governor J.B. Pritzker in 2022.

Bailey's running again, but hasn't gotten any money from Uline this time. The former Republican lawmaker reported having only $23,000. Meanwhile, DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick reported a little over $60,000. Saturday's annual Arts in the Dark parade will bring more than 4,000 performers to State Street. Event organizers say the show will go on despite increased immigration enforcement and large protests planned during the day.

Artistic director Mark Kelly says the parade is a much-needed moment of collective joy. Several people wrote to us saying, well, you just have to cancel the parade. And no way that we're going to let the federal government who are attacking us as a city, our arts, our culture, our libraries, that we're going to let them tell us what.

we're going to do. We can't back down. We need to come together. The parade will begin at 6 p.m. Saturday. It'll be held rain or shine. You're listening to The Rundown.

As federal immigration agents aggressively detain people all over the city, some Chicagoans are fighting back the only way they can. They're forming neighborhood patrols and gathering outside of schools and churches. And to help sound the alarm, many of them are arming themselves with whistles. My colleague Anna Savchinka has the story.

On a recent evening, a Belmont-Cragan community group organized an event called Whistle Mania. At seven different locations across the northwest side, volunteers packed plastic whistles and pamphlets on how to use them into little Ziploc bags. Isabella Merck from Albany Park attended one of them at a local restaurant. This weekend was, I think, the first time that I felt really scared in my community because there was tear gas, and so I wanted to get more involved.

as I saw things escalating in the community. She's not the only one who's been looking for a way to get involved. So many people wanted to attend Whistlemania that organizers had to turn volunteers down. That's what happened to Jackie Birov. I actually drove by another Whistlemania location that's even closer to me, and they had a sign up that said that they were at capacity. Whistles have become a way for Chicagoans to fight back against aggressive immigration arrests.

People use them to warn those who may be in danger. Artist and community organizer Teresa Maragna borrowed the idea for the kits from another activist in LA. He was organizing against a series of ice raids there this summer. She was sitting in her car in early August, scrolling on social media, when she stumbled upon one of his videos.

And he's recording from his car as well in this excitement mode of, we did it, we did it. We ran ice out of the neighborhood. You guys could do the same thing too. And he has this orange whistle around his neck. In the video, the activist describes how whistling helped him form a caravan of cars around a group of ICE agents that eventually drove them out of the area.

Mahanya knew what she had to do. She went online and purchased 1500 whistles. She also put her printmaking skills to use and made a foldable pamphlet. It says form a crowd, stay loud on the cover. And when you unfold it, it describes how people should whistle. Code one, she says, is for when you see an ICE agent or one of their cars nearby. You want to do this. Then there's code two. If you see.

that someone's being detained, that basically they're being pulled in or kidnapped, or they're being aggressively handled. It goes like this. Maranya began to show people how to use the alert system. From there, it's spread all over the city, to the point where you can now hear whistling in many of the videos of ice activity popping up on social media. Magana says her sister sent her one of those videos recently.

And she, you know, she told me she's like, it's spread. And I said, I'm so happy. I'm so happy that all of us mobilizing together the way we have has created this impact. Now, community groups across the city are printing her pamphlets by the hundreds. and hosting events for volunteers to distribute them, along with the whistles. That's how Yesenia Villas found herself at another Whistlemania event in Belmont, Cragen. She says her loved ones are hurting, and she wanted to do something to help.

especially after she lost her uncle, Silverio Villegas. He was the man fatally shot by immigration agents last month in Franklin Park. It put the whole family on edge. Everyone's tense, everyone's upset, everyone's been depressed. It just feels like we are not welcomed here. But being in a crowded room with dozens of other volunteers that night put a smile on our face. The fact that we finished assembling a bunch

of these packets so quick, it gives me a little hope. Hope that even though the whistles are just a small piece of plastic, they could still help someone out. In the meantime, organizers are already planning Whistle Mania 2. Anna Savchenko, WBEZ News.

After a partly sunny Friday, expect rain to move in tonight and stick with us this weekend. We'll see overnight lows in the low 60s. Saturday looks rainy with highs in the low 70s, and we'll cool down on Sunday. Highs in the upper 50s with more rain. You can find the latest news whenever you want at WBEZ.org or on your radio at 91.5 FM. I'm Alex Degman. Thanks for listening.