By CHRISTINE FERNANDO, JOHN O’CONNOR and SOPHIA TAREEN

CHICAGO (AP) — The streets in some of Chicago’s liveliest neighborhoods are quiet these days. Public schoolteachers want online learning for families scared to venture out. And houses of worship are urging people to carry identification everywhere they go.

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As the nation’s third-largest city awaits a much-hyped federal intervention, residents are making changes in their daily routines. President Donald Trump has promised Chicago will see a surge in deportations and National Guard troops as he targets Democratic strongholds. While the feeling of being vulnerable isn’t new, especially among immigrants, many say this time the fear is deeper and the preparations more drastic.

Even Sam Sanchez, a Chicago restaurant owner who voted for Trump, criticized the Republican’s plans for the city. As a naturalized U.S. citizen from Mexico, he is also taking precautions.

“They’re profiling,” he said of federal agents. “My wife and I went to a wedding and I told my wife, ‘Bring your citizenship papers.’ ”

Slower business traffic

There is a noticeable drop in street food vendors in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood, and businesses report less foot traffic. The largely Mexican enclave features a two-mile stretch of businesses and restaurants that is often noted as one of Chicago’s highest-grossing shopping districts after Michigan Avenue.

“The streets that were busy are dying down,” said Galila Mendez, 25, who visits from the suburbs.

The neighborhood has been subject to immigration enforcement before.

People hold a Chicago flag as they gather near Daley Plaza, Monday, Sept. 8, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Residents are quick to recall a 2007 daytime raid that locked down a popular shopping mall and increased enforcement in 2019 during Trump’s first term. Another wave of trepidation came in January when the Trump administration launched a nationwide operation from Chicago.

But things feel more intense now.

Xochitl Martinez, who has sold clothes in the area for about 20 years, said that since Trump’s second term, the streets are “dead.”

“If Trump wants to be intelligent, he has to support Latinos so we can work, so stores can open, so more sales can happen, so we can prosper more and lift up our families and lift up the country,” Martinez said.

Celebrations for Mexican Independence Day, which Chicago commemorates for weeks with car caravans, parades and festivals, have been muted. One festival was canceled while others added security.

Immigration attorneys say their clients are afraid to attend appointments, including at court. Churches with large immigrant populations are starting to notice an attendance dip.

Fabio Fernandez, owner of 3W-We Will Win, an art and T-shirt company in the predominantly Latino Pilsen neighborhood, said a mood of anxiety and uncertainty permeates. He has seen fewer customers.

“We shouldn’t fear or feel like we can’t walk the same streets that we usually roam,” he said.

Recent arrests

Fueling Chicagoans’ fear is the lack of information about what the Trump administration plans to do.

Calls to an activists’ emergency hotline to report immigration arrests have jumped in recent days, including details that couldn’t be confirmed or were mistaken.

“The deportation machine has always existed for decades,” said Antonio Gutierrez with Organized Communities Against Deportations. “This feels unprecedented.”

People stop to take pictures of signs posted on windows at a clothing store during the 2025 Pilsen Mexican Independence Day parade Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

A handful of weekend immigration arrests launched the city’s vocal immigrant rights groups into action. Activists said five people in a predominantly Latino area, including a longtime flower vendor, were targeted by armed and masked federal agents.

Federal officials said the arrests were part of ongoing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity and resulted in the detention of four people with previous criminal arrests. The arrests came a day before the Department of Homeland Security announced a new operation in Chicago because of its so-called sanctuary laws, which limit cooperation between local police and federal agents.

It was unclear what role the operation would play in the broader threats of federal intervention, but activists and elected officials said it felt like things were ramping up.

“They’re gathering steam,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said Tuesday.

Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson object to any federal surge and have promised to sue.

Some Chicagoans carry passports

Attorneys and activists have encouraged immigrants to carry documents and share their whereabouts for months. The message has spread recently to U.S. citizens and in Black and LGBTQ enclaves.

Vianney Alarcon, 42, says she has started carrying her passport when she leaves her North Side home. Her parents keep their green cards with them.

Protesters gather in Daley Plaza, Monday, Sept. 8, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

“It’s just disheartening,” she said.

Roughly 20% of Chicago’s 2.7 million people are foreign born. Most come from Mexico, China and India, according to Census estimates. Racially, white, Black and Latino residents each comprise roughly one-third of the city, with a smaller number of Asian residents.

A group of pastors, imams and rabbis urged all residents this week to carry identification, film encounters and protest. The guidance comes after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a restraining order barring immigration authorities in Los Angeles from stopping people solely based on things including race.

“We will fight for this city,” said the Rev. Otis Moss III of Trinity United Church of Christ, the influential Black church once attended by former President Barack Obama.

Teachers want online learning

Despite the widespread unpopularity of remote learning, the Chicago Teachers Union wants schools to offer it for students who fear being targeted by immigration agents.

Union President Stacy Davis Gates said Chicago should follow Los Angeles’ lead; the city’s schools offered offering online options amid an immigration crackdown earlier this year.

“Because they had the infrastructure for online learning they were able to direct young people to those spaces,” she said.

Chicago Public Schools leaders said the district will continue classes in person, but they will reassess as needed.

“In-person instruction continues to provide the strongest foundation for learning,” officials said.

In letters to parents, district officials have reiterated that schools don’t coordinate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ask for immigration status. School leaders noted that children who felt unsafe walking home could duck into a church or firehouse and create neighborhood text groups.

Teachers in the district that is predominantly Black and Latino have been passing out flyers informing families of their rights.

“We know that being informed is the best way to empower our communities to stay safe,” said Linda Perales, a special education teacher.

Associated Press writers Melina Walling and Laura Bargfeld in Chicago contributed.

Rio 1854, a new restaurant from the family behind local mini-chain Taco Libre, is set to open next month in the former site of The Dock in downtown Stillwater.

The menu at the full-service restaurant — open for breakfast, lunch and dinner — will showcase Latin American flavors in a vibrant and colorful space, said Anthony Ramirez, who along with his two sisters and parents are behind the project. Think seafood, grilled meats or parrilladas, and fun cocktails and non-alcoholic beverages.

“We’ve been really interested in a full sit-down restaurant; we were just looking for the perfect location — and I think we found it,” he said. “We try to give a little bit of everything to the people.”

The Ramirez family also owns Mexatlan Supermercado in South St. Paul in addition to Taco Libre, which initially opened in West St. Paul and has locations in Eagan, Oakdale, Roseville and Edina.

The Dock, previously known as The Dock Cafe, closed in February. It had previously been closed from early 2020 till 2022, when it reopened under new management and with a new menu.

In addition to a large parking lot, there’s also a patio overlooking the St. Croix River with an outdoor bar, Ramirez said. When the weather is nice, Rio 1854 is planning to host live music on the patio, and on chillier days, there’ll be bonfires and “igloos” — those heated domes that enclose individual tables — so outdoor dining can continue.

The Ramirez family has spent the past few months preparing the space and redecorating — no major structural changes, but updating the decor and vibe for the new restaurant concept.

“It’s not an upscale restaurant, though the food quality will taste like it,” Ramirez said. “It won’t be a reservations-only kind of place. We’re keeping it affordable to everybody.”

Rio 1854 is set to open sometime in October, Ramirez said. Tentative hours are from 7 a.m. to 9 or 10 p.m.

Rio 1854: 225 E. Nelson St., Stillwater; rio1854.com

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International pop star Lady Gaga will wrap her current Mayhem Ball tour with two nights in St. Paul on April 9 and 10 at Grand Casino Arena, the venue formerly known as Xcel Energy Center.

Tickets go on sale at noon Monday via Ticketmaster. Citi cardholders have access to a presale that runs from noon Wednesday through 11 a.m. Friday. A presale for Verizon customers runs from noon Thursday to 11 a.m. Friday. Yet another presale opens up at noon Friday to those who register at signup.ticketmaster.com/ladygaga by 10 a.m. Thursday.

The 39-year-old musician born Stefani Germanotta signed with Interscope in 2007 and spent her early days writing for other acts, including Britney Spears, New Kids on the Block and the Pussycat Dolls. Her debut album, “The Fame,” followed in 2008 and was a worldwide smash that hit No. 2 in the States and topped the charts in Canada, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Austria and Germany.

Each of Lady Gaga’s next five albums, including this year’s “Mayhem,” hit No. 1 and spawned a series of hits including “Born This Way,” “The Edge of Glory,” “You and I,” “Applause,” “Million Reasons,” “Stupid Love,” “Rain on Me,” “Die with a Smile” and “Abracadabra.”

Before she was a star, Lady Gaga made her acting debut in an uncredited role as a student on “The Sopranos” in 2001. She went on to win a Golden Globe in 2016 for her role in “American Horror Story: Hotel” and also starred in “American Horror Story: Roanoke.” Her 2018 remake of “A Star Is Born” with Bradley Cooper was a critical and commercial hit, pulling in $436 million worldwide and earning eight Oscar nominations and a best original song win for “Shallow.”

Lady Gaga did not initially plan to hit the road in support of “Mayhem,” but after headlining Coachella in April and staging one-off shows in Mexico, Brazil and Singapore, she decided to turn it into a full tour that kicked off in July in Las Vegas. The first North American leg ends Sept. 18 in Chicago and then moves to Europe and Australia. Her St. Paul dates will be the 82nd and 83rd of the tour.

In 2008, Lady Gaga made her local live debut at the KDWB Jingle Ball and after a club gig at the Fine Line the following year, she moved up to the former Xcel Energy Center for her next five concert appearances. Her most recent local gig, in August 2017, followed her triumphant Super Bowl halftime show and drew more than 16,000 fans to the X.

Last week, she released the single “The Dead Dance.” She recorded it for the soundtrack of the second season of Netflix’s “Wednesday,” in which she makes a guest appearance.

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By DAVE COLLINS

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his appeal of the $1.4 billion judgment a Connecticut jury and judge issued against him for calling the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting a hoax staged by crisis actors.

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The Infowars host is arguing that the judge was wrong to find him liable for defamation and infliction of emotional distress without holding a trial on the merits of allegations lodged by relatives of victims of the shooting, which killed 20 first graders and six educators in Newtown, Connecticut.

Judge Barbara Bellis, frustrated at what she called Jones’ repeated failure to abide by court rulings and to turn over certain evidence to the Sandy Hook families, issued a rare default ruling against Jones and his company in late 2021 as a penalty. That meant that she found him liable without a trial on the facts and convened a jury to only determine what damages he owed.

A six-person jury in Waterbury issued a $964 million verdict in October 2022 in favor of the plaintiffs — an FBI agent who responded to the shooting and relatives of eight children and adults who were killed. Bellis later tacked on another $473 million in punitive damages against Jones and Free Speech Systems, Infowars’ parent company that is based in Austin, Texas.

During the trial to determine damages, relatives of the shooting victims testified that people whom they called followers of Jones subjected them to death and rape threats, in-person harassment and abusive comments on social media. Jones argues there was never any proof presented that linked him to those actions.

Jones filed his request to the Supreme Court on Friday and it was released by the court on Tuesday.

Jones’ lawyers — Ben Broocks, Shelby Jordan and Alan Daughtry — insist in the petition that state courts cannot determine liability based only on sanctions such as default rulings. They say that constitutional law and Supreme Court precedent require public figures such as the Sandy Hook families to prove their defamation claims against journalists such as Jones.

They also say that the Connecticut judge imposed the default ruling on Jones based on “trivial” reasons and that Jones had substantially complied with the court’s orders — which the Sandy Hook families’ lawyers deny.

Jones’ attorneys further cite First Amendment protections for free speech, saying Jones’ comments about the school shooting being a hoax were not defamatory but rather “expressions of constitutionally protected opinion.” Jones has since said he believed the shooting was “100% real.”

“The media landscape is rife with groups challenging various events, including Holocaust denial, moon landing skepticism, 9/11 conspiracy theories, and even flat Earth claims,” the petition says. “However, such statements critique or dismiss the events themselves, not the character, conduct, or reputation of those associated with them.”

Among other claims, Jones’ petition says the $1.4 billion judgment is excessive punishment under the Eighth Amendment.

If the judgment is allowed to stand, Jones’ lawyers said it would “chill the reporting of news” and “result in self-censoring fear of suits.”

Lawyers for the Sandy Hook families disputed Jones’ arguments.

“There is no legitimate basis for the U.S. Supreme Court to accept this last gasp from Alex Jones and we will oppose it in due course,” Christopher Mattei, a lawyer for the families, said in a statement.

A mid-level appellate court in Connecticut upheld all but $150 million of the $1.4 billion judgment in December, and the state Supreme Court declined to hear Jones’ appeal of that ruling in April.

In a similar defamation lawsuit filed in Texas by the parents of another Sandy Hook victim, Jones was found liable without a trial as punishment for failing to turn over documents. In that case, which also is being appealed, a judge and jury issued a $49 million judgment against Jones in August 2022.

Jones filed for bankruptcy in late 2022. In those proceedings, an auction was held in November to liquidate Infowars’ assets to help pay the defamation judgments, and the satirical news outlet The Onion was named the winning bidder. But the bankruptcy judge threw out the auction results, citing problems with the process and The Onion’s bid.

The attempt to sell off Infowars’ assets has moved to a Texas state court in Austin. Jones is now appealing a recent order from the court that appointed a receiver to liquidate the assets. Some of Jones’ personal property is also being sold off as part of the bankruptcy case.