Chicago's Mexican Independence Day celebrations shadowed by Trump’s threats for the city

CHICAGO (AP) — President Donald Trump’s plan to dispatch National Guard troops and immigration agents into Chicago has put many Latino residents on edge, prompting some to carry their U.S. passports while giving others pause about openly celebrating the upcoming Mexican Independence Day.

Though the holiday falls on Sept. 16, celebrations in Chicago span more than a week and draw hundreds of thousands of participants. Festivities kicked off with a Saturday parade through the heavily Mexican Pilsen neighborhood and will continue with car caravans and lively street parties.

But this year, the typically joyful period coincides with Trump’s threats to add Chicago to the list of other Democratic-led cities he has targeted for expanded federal enforcement.

His administration has said it will step up immigration enforcement in Chicago, as it did in Los Angeles, and would deploy National Guard troops. In addition to sending troops to Los Angeles in June, Trump deployed them last month in Washington, D.C., as part of his unprecedented law enforcement takeover of the nation’s capital.

Trump posted an illustration of himself against a Chicago-skyline ablaze with flames and helicopters on Truth Social on Saturday.

“Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” he posted, along with “I love the smell of deportations in the morning,” referencing a 1979 war film. Trump has ordered the Defense Department to be renamed the Department of War.

“The President of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker wrote on the social platform X. “Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator.”

Although details about the promised Chicago operation have been sparse, there’s already widespread opposition as protesters marched through downtown on Saturday evening. State and city leaders have said they plan to sue the Trump administration.

The extended Mexican Independence Day celebrations reflect the size and vitality of Chicago’s Mexican American community. Mexicans make up more than one-fifth of the city’s total population and about 74% of its Latino residents, according to 2022 U.S. Census estimates.

Parade and festival organizers have been divided over whether to move forward with precautions or postpone, in hopes that it will feel safer for many participants to have a true celebration in several months’ time. El Grito Chicago, a downtown Mexican Independence Day festival set for next weekend, was postponed this week by organizers in order to protect people.

“But also we just refuse to let our festival be a pawn in this political game,” said Germán González, an organizer of El Grito Chicago.

In Pilsen and Little Village, two of the city’s best-known neighborhoods with restaurants, businesses and cultural ties to Mexican culture, residents expressed disappointment that the potential federal intervention instilled such fear and anxiety in the community at a time usually characterized by joy, togetherness and celebration of Mexican American heritage.

On Saturday morning, some parade-goers grabbed free, bright-orange whistles and flyers from volunteers standing outside the Lozano Branch of the Chicago Public Library. “Blow the whistle on ICE!” the flyers read, encouraging a nonviolent tactic to raise alarm if they saw agents.

Marchers held up cardboard signs painted with monarch butterflies, the migratory species that travels between the U.S. and Mexico. Many cheered “Viva Mexico!”

Drivers of vintage cars honked their horns and a drummer kept time for a group of dancers bedecked in feathers. Horseback riders clip-clopped down the street, and one lifted up a large Mexican flag.

Claudia Alvarez, whose 10-year-old daughter was nearby riding a pony, said it’s important that politicians see people out celebrating, though the crowd seemed smaller this year.

“At these hours you should be able to see plenty of people in the streets enjoying themselves, but now there’s not really a lot of people,” she said.

Fabio Fernandez, 39, owner of an art and T-shirt company with a residency at a Pilsen streetwear shop, called it “troubling” and “disheartening” that the possibility of federal intervention has impacted celebrations.

He said there’s a mood of anxiety in the neighborhood, which has translated to lower sales and reduced foot traffic for local businesses like his, Fernandez said.

“Come back to 18th Street. Support small businesses here. They’re still working hard as hell to keep their businesses alive,” he said.

Alejandro Vences, 30, became a U.S. citizen this year, “which gives me some comfort during this time,” he said while eating pozole verde at a local Mexican restaurant. Still, he said, the anxiety is palpable.

“For us, our Independence Day has always been a celebration of our culture,” he said. “It’s always been a celebration of who we are. It feels like we don’t get to celebrate our culture in the same way.”

A few miles away in downtown, more than a thousand protesters marched through the streets on Saturday evening with signs bearing slogans like “I.C.E. out of Illinois, I.C.E. out of everywhere.”

Speakers offered the crowd instructions on what to do if encountering Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. They also drew comparisons between the proposed ICE crackdown on Chicago and Israel’s presence in Gaza.

“We are inspired by the steadfastness of Palestinians in Gaza, and it is why we refuse to cower to Trump and his threats,” Nazek Sankari, co-chair of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, said to the crowd as many waved Palestinian flags and donned keffiyehs.

Viviana Barajas, leader with the community organization Palenque LSNA, promised that Chicagoans would “stand up” as Los Angeles had if Trump deploys the National Guard in their city.

“If he thinks these frivolous theatrics to undermine our sovereignty will shut out the passion we have for protecting our people, this is Chicago, and he is sorely mistaken,” Barajas said. “We have been studying LA and D.C., and they have stood up for their cities.”

Finley reported from Norfolk, Virginia and Raza reported from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Associated Press writers Morgan Lee in Santa Fe and Cal Woodward in Washington contributed.

People march during Illinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights' "Chicago Says No Trump No Troops" protest Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

People march during Illinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights' "Chicago Says No Trump No Troops" protest Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Participants wave flags as they take part in the 2025 Pilsen Mexican Independence Day parade Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

People wave flags a s they watch during the 2025 Pilsen Mexican Independence Day parade Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Police watch during the 2025 Pilsen Mexican Independence Day parade Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Participants wave flags during the 2025 Pilsen Mexican Independence Day parade Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Participants wave flags during the 2025 Pilsen Mexican Independence Day parade Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

A participant prepares for the 2025 Pilsen Mexican Independence Day parade Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

People walks along the route during the 2025 Pilsen Mexican Independence Day parade Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Participants perform during the 2025 Pilsen Mexican Independence Day parade Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

A bicyclist passes Definitive Selection clothing store, one of many businesses in the predominantly Latino neighborhood that has seen a slowdown in foot traffic since President Donald Trump's threats of a federal law enforcement intervention, on Friday, Sept. 5, 2025 in Chicago. (AP Photo/Mark Vancleave)

Fabio Fernandez arranges clothes for his residency at Definitive Selection clothing store, one of many businesses in the predominantly Latino neighborhood that has seen a slowdown in foot traffic since President Donald Trump's threats of a federal law enforcement intervention, on Friday, Sept. 5, 2025 in Chicago. (AP Photo/Mark Vancleave)

There are primary elections Tuesday in Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, Oregon, Idaho and Pennsylvania. These contests will be a further test of President Donald Trump 's grip on Republican voters.

In Kentucky, Ed Gallrein won Republican nomination for U.S. House in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District, beating incumbent Thomas Massie. Trump handpicked Gallrein after Massie broke with him over issues including the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. .

In Georgia, Republicans are choosing a challenger to take on Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff. Trump has not endorsed a candidate, which could lead to a runoff on June 16. There’s also a bruising Republican primary for governor. Most polls are closed.

In Alabama, Republican voters will choose a U.S. Senate candidate to replace Tommy Tuberville, who is running for governor. Polls have closed.

In Pennsylvania, Democratic voters will pick their nominees to flip four Republican-held seats seen as critical for the party to retake the U.S. House. The races will be a test of Gov. Josh Shapiro’s influence. Polls have closed.

In Oregon, Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek will face nearly two dozen challengers. Voters will also decide whether to raise gas taxes to pay for improvements to the state’s roads and bridges. Voting concludes at 11 p.m. ET.

In Idaho, voters are picking their party's nominees for governor and U.S. Senate. Voting concludes at 11 p.m. ET.

The Latest:

Trump-endorsed Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones was the frontrunner for much of the lead-up to tonight’s gubernatorial primary, until health care executive and billionaire Rick Jackson entered the race just a few months ago.

Jackson spent millions of his own dollars to flood the state with campaign ads.

Many candidates backed by the president have enjoyed comfortable victories in their elections this primary season, but few have been up against a candidate with such a large campaign budget. Jones and Jackson have advanced to a June 16 runoff election.

The Kentucky congressman claimed in his speech after his defeat that young voters were still on his side.

“People that want somebody that will go along to get along, I’ve never heard of that strategy but that seems to be what the voters want,” Massie said. “But not the young voters.”

The crowd was still energetic despite Massie’s loss, and started a chant of “No more wars!” that the congressman joined in on. Massie’s speech meandered through different topics and touched on other politicians before another chant started of “America First!”

“We stirred up something. There is a yearning in this country for someone who will vote for principles over party,” Massie said.

Gov. Josh Shapiro was uncontested in Tuesday’s primary. He’s seeking a second term in the fall and puts his clout on the line in the battleground state ahead of a potential 2028 bid for the White House.

The 52-year-old has made his opposition to Trump’s agenda a central focus of his reelection campaign.

Shapiro is on track to break his own fundraising record. He’s working to flip important Republican-held U.S. House seats and deliver the first Democratic-controlled state Legislature in more than three decades.

Republican state Treasurer Stacy Garrity ran uncontested for the GOP’s nomination.

Shapiro — who made Kamala Harris’ short list for a vice presidential running mate in 2024 — has never said whether he’s actually interested in running for president.

The president, who had waged his own social media campaign against Massie, posted a photo showing him and Gallrein under the words “Ed Gallrein Wins! Endorsed by President Trump!”

The two-term state treasurer was uncontested in the GOP primary.

Garrity is running as a strong backer of Trump’s agenda as she attempts to be the first Republican to win the office in Pennsylvania since 2010.

Shapiro ran uncontested for the Democratic Party’s nomination to seek a second term.

Garrity lagged badly behind Shapiro in fundraising after winning two relatively low-profile races for treasurer.

The result showed the president’s persisting influence over GOP voters, adding to a growing number of Trump-backed primary challengers to defeat Republican lawmakers who angered him in his second term.

Massie, who has served in Congress since 2012, fell into Trump’s crosshairs in part by pushing for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files and denouncing the war in Iran.

Gallrein, a former Navy Seal who avoided making public appearances on the campaign trail, ran on his military service and loyalty to the president. He accused Massie of forsaking Trump and the party.

Gallrein is expected to win the general election in the deeply red district.

The Pennsylvania governor’s election night rally is being held in a converted centrifuge where the U.S. Navy once tested g-forces on astronauts.

The crowd of local Democrats began trickling in to the Fuge after 7 p.m. ET, ordering drinks and picking at appetizers in a circular event space with a vaulted ceiling and a wraparound projection screen where astronauts used to be tested to the limits of human tolerance to gravity and acceleration.

The location — in suburban Philadelphia’s Bucks County — is symbolic because it in a congressional district where Gov. Josh Shapiro is trying to help Democrats knock off Republican U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick and take back control of Congress.

Shapiro ran unopposed for the nomination in his reelection bid and was expected to speak after 9 p.m. ET. He was expected to appear later with his endorsed candidate in the district, Democrat Bob Harvie.

The Georgia secretary of state’s office said that won’t delay reporting for the rest of the county’s results.

A judge ordered a precinct at Ison Springs Elementary School to stay open until 11:02 p.m. because the school was placed on lockdown just before noon and remained closed until 4 p.m. over an incident that was unrelated to the election, the Secretary of State’s office said.

Sandy Springs police said officers responded to a call about a man dressed in military-style gear and reports of possible gunshots fired in the area. After an extensive manhunt, a suspect was taken into custody, police said.

Eleven Cobb County precincts were also staying open late, with delayed closures ranging from six minutes to an hour.

U.S. Rep. Andy Barr, who was endorsed by Trump, beat Daniel Cameron, a former state attorney general who leaned into his Christianity on the campaign trail.

The winner in November will replace U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, who is stepping down in a generational changing of the guard for Republicans.

Trump swayed the race not just through his endorsement but by offering a third challenger, Nate Morris, an ambassadorship just over two weeks before Election Day. Morris, who fashioned himself as the MAGA candidate, withdrew from the race and encouraged his backers to support Barr.

Barr was first elected in 2012 in the 6th Congressional District. He is expected to win the general election in the Republican-dominated state.

Eleven polling places in Georgia’s Cobb County, in the Atlanta suburbs, will be staying open late because of issues that arose during the day.

Blake Evans, who oversees elections for the secretary of state’s office, said the precincts were staying open because of problems with the electronic poll pads that are used to to check in voters. The extensions range from six minutes at one location to an hour at another, according to a judge’s order.

Deputy Secretary of State Matt Tyser said they are waiting on an order from a Fulton County judge to extend voting at a precinct in Sandy Springs, just north of Atlanta. That’s because a “law enforcement issue” that was unrelated to the election forced the closure of the polling place for several hours.

Most polls in Georgia are set to close at 7 p.m. ET.

Most of the polls in the state closed at 6 p.m. ET, including in the 4th District where U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie is up against Ed Gallrein in the Republican primary that’s garnered national attention.

The president picked Gallrein to compete against Massie, who’s frustrated Trump partly by pushing for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Western Kentucky is in the Central Time Zone and polls there close at 7 p.m. ET.

Five of Oregon’s six congressional districts are held by Democrats.

Its 5th District, considered the most competitive, was flipped by Republicans for the first time in decades in 2022 but reclaimed by Democrats in 2024. The district stretches from southern Portland across the Cascade Range to Bend.

The incumbent, Democratic Rep. Janelle Bynum, is running against a primary opponent who has not reported raising any money.

Two candidates, a county commissioner and a political consultant, are running in the district’s GOP primary in the hope of trying to win the seat back for Republicans in November.

Both Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and Republican Stacy Garrity are running unopposed in their primaries.

Shapiro is heavily favored to win reelection this fall over Garrity, the state treasurer.

Republicans acknowledge Shapiro’s electoral strength, and may hope that Garrity can at least make it a close contest to help protect the party’s other candidates on the ballot in contests for Congress and the state Legislature.

Tuberville could face former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, a Democrat, if both men secure their parties’ nominations.

The two last competed in the 2020 Senate race, when Tuberville easily defeated Jones, who was then the incumbent. Tuberville was boosted by a Trump endorsement and his high profile from his years as a football coach.

Jones, a former U.S. attorney, won a 2017 special election for U.S. Senate over Republican Roy Moore. Jones remains the last Democrat to win a statewide race in Alabama.

When Geoff Duncan was Georgia’s lieutenant governor, he resisted Trump’s efforts to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the state in 2020. He’s since left the Republican Party, and he’s running for governor as a Democrat.

His campaign has involved a lot of apologizing to win over voters who may be turned off by his previously conservative positions.

It’s an interesting example of how traditional partisan lines have been scrambled since Trump rose to power a decade ago. Many Republicans who have crossed the president have retired or been defeated in primaries. Only a few of them have attempted to switch parties like Duncan.

Incumbent Tina Kotek is expected to win the Democratic primary and advance to November’s general election.

Elected to her first term as governor in 2022 after years in the Legislature, Kotek pledged to tackle homelessness, mental health and education. Despite approving funding and programs aimed at those issues, the state has continued to see rising homelessness and flagging student test scores that have failed to return to pre-pandemic levels.

Kotek also has sparred with the Trump administration, which sought to deploy the National Guard to Portland last fall during its immigration crackdown for the stated purpose of protecting federal property and personnel.

After the state and city sued to block the deployment, a federal judge found that protests at Portland’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building didn’t meet the conditions for using the military domestically under federal law.

The president supported an opponent to Massie, just as he has done elsewhere.

On May 5, several Indiana state senators who defied Trump on redistricting lost their primaries to candidates backed by the president.

On May 16, Sen. Bill Cassidy lost his primary in Louisiana. Rep. Julia Letlow, who Trump endorsed, and state Treasurer John Fleming will compete in a runoff.

Cassidy had voted to convict Trump during an impeachment trial over the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Massie angered Trump by voting against his signature tax legislation over concerns of adding to the national debt, pushing for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files and opposing his decision to go to war with Iran.

His positions, Massie insists, reflect the America First promises Trump initially made on the campaign trail.

In a Kentucky district where the president won by 35 points two years ago, Massie told The Associated Press that this primary is “by far the most challenging reelection I’ve ever faced.”

Voters have sent Massie back to Congress ever since his first election in 2012, embracing his stalwart independence and jaunty personality. Back in 2020, they brushed off Trump’s social media demand to throw Massie out of the Republican Party because he was a “third rate Grandstander.”

Their names may seem familiar.

The Democratic field in Kentucky includes former state lawmaker Charles Booker and former Marine pilot Amy McGrath. McGrath beat Booker and several other candidates in the 2020 Democratic primary to face McConnell.

Democrats have not won a U.S. Senate race in Kentucky since 1992.

Pennsylvania’s governor is also a potential 2028 presidential candidate. With his own primary uncontested, he’s been spending money and support on Democrats running for U.S. House and the state Legislature.

Shapiro is on track to break his own campaign spending record and, in a step to help races up and down the ballot, has plunged more than $900,000 so far this election cycle into the state Democratic Party’s accounts.

The election year is an opportunity for Shapiro to show his political strength in a premier battleground state should he decide to run for president in 2028.

U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Delaware, said Trump is continuing a “campaign of retribution” against his political enemies.

He suggested that the latest example is Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth campaigning — “during a war” — against U.S. Rep. Tom Massie ahead of Kentucky’s primary on Tuesday.

“That continues to prevent Republicans from having the courage to speak out on matters of principle, which I think is putting all of us at risk,” Coons told reporters in the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday.

Massie angered Trump by opposing his signature tax legislation over concerns about the national debt, pushing for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files and opposing his decision to go to war with Iran.

They are being asked whether to approve a 6-cent-a-gallon gas tax increase passed by the Democratic-controlled Legislature last fall.

They’ve been casting ballots as prices at the pump have skyrocketed because of the war with Iran.

Democrats increased the tax and other fees to help pay for road improvements and plug a hole in the state’s transportation budget. Republicans responded by launching a successful referendum campaign to refer the tax and fee increases to the ballot, saying they drive the cost of living even higher.

Democrats say the main cause of skyrocketing gas prices is Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran. But they’ve acknowledged the difficult timing of the ballot measure, which has also complicated national Democrats’ affordability messaging in midterm campaigning.

Kentucky will release the first results of the night.

In the 2024 primaries, the AP reported the first Kentucky votes six minutes after most polls closed at 6 p.m. ET. The last vote update of the night was at 9:47 p.m.

Georgia will be next, with polls closing at 7 p.m. ET. In the 2022 state primaries, results were available at 13 minutes after polls closed. The last vote update of the night was at 3:29 a.m.

Polls in Alabama and Pennsylvania close at 8 p.m. ET, and both states started releasing votes at roughly the same time in the 2024 primaries — at 8:01 p.m. and 8:03 p.m., respectively. Both stopped counting for the night around 2 a.m.

Idaho and Oregon are expected to begin releasing votes just as voting concludes at 11 p.m. ET. In their last state primaries, Oregon began releasing votes right at 11 p.m. and Idaho at 11:09 p.m. Idaho’s last update of the night was at 4:51 a.m., while Oregon’s last update was at 5:11 a.m.

A sign directs voters arriving to vote in the Georgia primary elections on Tuesday, May 19, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro walk to speaks with members of the media outside his polling place in Rydal, Pa., Tuesday, May 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

A person walks outside a polling place in Philadelphia, Tuesday, May 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Richard Cullom leaves a voting center after voting, Tuesday, May 19, 2026, in Marietta, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)