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It started for me with that gut-wrenching glimpse into Chicago last month. On October 4, 2025, a squad of about 30 ICE and Customs and Border Patrol agents were out in the Brighton Park neighborhood, doing the unglamorous but essential work of enforcing federal immigration law amid President Trump’s ramped-up “Operation Midway Blitz.” These weren’t stormtroopers raiding weddings; they were on routine patrol near 39th Street and South Kedzie Avenue. What happened next was straight out of a dystopian script: A convoy of around 10 anti-ICE protest vehicles—described by the Department of Homeland Security as organized agitators—rammed into the agents’ cars, boxed them in like sardines, and forced them to ditch one vehicle after it got a flat from the assault. Protesters swarmed on foot, hurling rocks, bottles, smoke bombs, and even gas at the feds, who radioed desperately for backup: “We’re surrounded by a large crowd… boxed in.”

You’d think the Chicago Police Department would ride to the rescue. After all, these are fellow officers in peril, and basic inter-agency protocol screams “assist.” But no. Around 11:30 a.m., CPD Chief of Patrol Jon Hein issued a crystal-clear stand-down: “Per the chief of patrol, all CPD resources are clear from the scene… We’re not sending [anyone].” Dispatchers pulled units already en route just blocks away, leaving the ICE team to fend for themselves amid the chaos. Superintendent Larry Snelling later tried to spin it, claiming officers “provided assistance,” but ranking CPD sources didn’t mince words: It was “cover-your-ass bullshit.” This wasn’t a one-off; it was the second such order that week, straight from a city that’s proudly declared itself an “ICE-Free Zone” under Mayor Brandon Johnson.

And the attackers? One standout was Marimar Martinez—a U.S. citizen with a rap sheet of doxxing federal agents and posting online bounties ($2,000 to kidnap, $10,000 to kill). Armed with a semi-automatic rifle, she allegedly tried to mow down the agents as they bailed from their trapped SUV. The feds fired back in self-defense, hitting her in the leg—non-life-threatening wound. She drove herself to the hospital, got patched up, and was only nabbed by the FBI afterward. No ICE injuries, but the message was sent loud and clear: Assault federal officers? Eh, Chicago’s got your back.

This isn’t just incompetence; it’s a deliberate signal. Chicago, a sanctuary city since 1985, has baked in laws like the Illinois Trust Act that hamstring local cops from aiding ICE on anything short of a violent felony. Johnson’s administration frames raids as a “rematch of the Civil War,” more concerned with optics than officer safety. The Fraternal Order of Police called it a “shocking violation” of duty, and legal eagles warn it could land CPD brass in federal hot water under obstruction statutes like 18 U.S.C. § 111. But here’s the kicker: By letting this slide, Chicago’s conditioning its citizens to see it as normal. Protesters who ram vehicles and chuck projectiles? Heroes. Undocumented folks breaking federal immigration laws? Untouchable. Even local officials, like Alderman Jessie Fuentes, who got handcuffed advocating for a detainee and walked free? Above the law.

 

Sound familiar? Flash south to Mexico, where I’ve watched with growing dread as President Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration—echoing her predecessor Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s “hugs, not bullets” mantra—restrains the military and police from truly dismantling the drug cartels. Since the 2006 drug war kicked off, over 460,000 Mexicans have died in the crossfire, yet the approach now is all social programs and poverty fixes, with troops reassigned to pothole patrols and disaster relief. Sheinbaum’s elite UNO unit does pinprick ops, but she flat-out rejects U.S. military aid as an “invasion,” even as Trump slaps terrorist labels on groups like Sinaloa and CJNG. Cartels, armed with drones, IEDs, and paramilitary squads cribbed from Ukraine playbooks, now control swaths of territory, extorting “piso” fees from businesses and running fentanyl labs in broad daylight.

Mexicans have internalized this selective enforcement as the way of things. A 2025 Latinobarómetro poll shows 72% view corruption as “part of daily life,” and 58% believe the government is in narcos’ pockets. In places like Sinaloa, folks pay cartel “taxes” quietly, shrugging off blockades like the 2024 Culiacanazo redux as just another Tuesday. Drug laws? Enforced on mules, ignored for kingpins. It’s bred a society where some—cartels, corrupt pols—are simply above the fray, and the rest adapt or flee north.

Chicago is on the same trajectory, and it’s not limited to immigration. If the PD won’t back ICE against a mob of rock-throwers, who’s chasing the real kingpins poisoning our streets? The city’s a cartel crossroads: Sinaloa supplies 80% of the fentanyl, heroin, and coke funneled to over 100 gangs with 117,000 members—Gangster Disciples, Vice Lords, Black P. Stones. The old Chicago Outfit still pulls strings in loan sharking, labor rackets, and narcotics through crews in Chinatown and Cicero. Protection shakes? Gangs hit businesses with “street taxes.” Prostitution and sex trafficking? Venezuelan outfits like Tren de Aragua are muscling in, with federal busts like October 1’s South Shore raid nabbing 37 suspects while CPD sits sidelined.

And the violence? It’s not being “solved”—it’s being normalized. Take the October 3-6 weekend: Five dead, 25 wounded in gang drive-bys and bus shootings across Auburn Gresham and Madison/Pulaski. Suspects vanished into the wind, arrests lagging. Or rewind to 2021’s Austin Four Corner Hustlers shootout—one dead, two wounded in a faction beef—and Cook County prosecutors nixing murder charges as “mutual combat.” Under reforms like erasing gang databases and ditching ShotSpotter, CPD’s hands are tied on tracking, while “catch-and-release” under ex-SA Kim Foxx cycled felons back onto streets (over 400 murder suspects dodging trial on lesser raps from 2020-24). New SA Eileen O’Neill Burke’s tougher line helped drop homicides 33% and shootings 38% through mid-2025, but without gutting the rackets, it’s whack-a-mole.

A University of Chicago poll from 2025 tells the tale: 61% of residents back sanctuary policies, up from 54% last year, even as 15% of homicides are tied to undocumented suspects. X is ablaze with ex-cops lamenting how gangs once got “disappeared” under mob discipline, but now run wild, unchecked by a city more worried about “root causes” than results. Executive orders block CPD-federal cartel ops, shielding migrant-linked networks. Citizens? They’re learning to accept it—peacekeepers with warrants patrolling blocks, shootouts shrugged off as “beefs,” big fish swimming free.

This is how it starts: A stand-down here, a dodged indictment there, and suddenly, impunity isn’t the exception—it’s the rule. Mexico’s 460,000 graves are a warning; Chicago’s brewing its own. We’ve got National Guard boots hitting pavement to shield ICE, DOJ probes sniffing around CPD, and FOP lawsuits brewing. But until leaders like Johnson prioritize law over ideology—until we stop signaling that protesters, illegals, and gang lords get a pass—we’re not fighting crime. We’re curating it.

 

America, wake up. The soul of our cities hangs by a thread, and it’s fraying fast. I’ve seen enough glimpses to know: Normalize this, and tomorrow’s normal is today’s nightmare.