{"id":106995,"date":"2026-06-29T12:07:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T17:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=106995"},"modified":"2026-08-10T14:17:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T19:17:37","slug":"retired-suburbanites-stand-at-front-lines-of-chicagos-immigration-response","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/retired-suburbanites-stand-at-front-lines-of-chicagos-immigration-response\/","title":{"rendered":"Retired suburbanites stand at front lines of Chicago\u2019s immigration response"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sydney Meyer<\/strong>
\nMedill Reports<\/em><\/p>\n

At 7 a.m. on a chilly\u00a0<\/span>Tuesday in\u00a0<\/span>February<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>Celine Woznica<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>a<\/span>\u00a0former Maryknoll missioner in Nicaragua and Mexico and\u00a0<\/span>longtime Oak Park resident<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>entered the side door of the abandoned\u00a0<\/span>S<\/span>t.\u00a0<\/span>Bernardine<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Sc<\/span>hoo<\/span>l<\/span>, a Cathol<\/span>ic elementary school<\/span>\u00a0in Forest Park,\u00a0<\/span>Ill.<\/span>\u00a0She climbed a set of stairs leading to a long hallway that has been transformed into what she now calls \u201cCentro San Bernardino.\u201d Latin\u00a0<\/span>American flags hang<\/span>\u00a0alongside brightly painted classroom doors and wallpaper featuring teddy bears. Inside classrooms, desks have been replaced with racks of donated clothes. At the end of the hall, a sign\u00a0<\/span>designates<\/span>\u00a0a room with a blue door as<\/span>\u00a0\u201cAPOYO FAMILIAR,\u201d meaning<\/span>\u00a0\u201cfamily support.\u201d In smaller print below, the sign specifies, \u201cPREPAR\u00c1NDOSE EN CASO DE DETENCI\u00d3N,\u201d\u00a0<\/span>or<\/span>\u00a0\u201cpreparing in case of detention.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Spanish
The door to Migrant Ministry’s designated room at St. Bernardine’s. (Sydney Meyer\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Woznica has made more signs, in English, for volunteers to hold just in case U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement stop by. They read,\u00a0\u201cWe will remain silent.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou can never be too careful,\u201d Woznica said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Woznica started Migrant Ministry \u2013 an interfaith volunteer network composed\u00a0mostly\u00a0of retired, religiously affiliated western suburbanites \u2013 in fall 2022, when there was little talk of detention, deportation or ICE. Sponsored by Woznica\u2019s home parish, The Catholic Communities of Oak Park, it was initially\u00a0a short-term charity response to the surge of Latin migrants arriving in Chicago.\u00a0Today,\u00a0the Migrant Ministry has evolved into a full-blown advocacy group\u00a0with more than 35 weekly volunteers.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think some of it has to do with the general age of the volunteers,\u201d\u00a0said\u00a0Susan Morrissey, 78, who has taught English at the Migrant Ministry since 2022.\u00a0\u201cWe remember the \u201960s. We have a lot of real protesters and hippies. Now\u00a0they’re\u00a0all gray-haired folks, but they have that activism-attitude.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Women
Volunteers make meals for the migrants. (Sydney Meyer\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In May 2023, Texas Gov.\u00a0Greg Abbott\u00a0had been busing migrants from Texas to Chicago for almost nine months. The<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>newly-arrived\u00a0were spilling out of police stations all over the\u00a0city,\u00a0so\u00a0Woznica joined a local police station response team and organized for those sleeping at the Austin station to take showers at her local\u00a0church\u2019s\u00a0rectory.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Along with other volunteers, Woznica\u00a0began distributing food, clothes and bedding Tuesday and Thursday mornings from St. Edmunds, another closed neighborhood Catholic school. Eventually, they began to also host English as a Second Language lessons, work permit\u00a0assistance,\u00a0a children\u2019s play\u00a0area\u00a0and\u00a0drop-in\u00a0hours\u00a0from a nearby social services agency. Woznica attributed their scope to flexible\u00a0schedules.\u00a0\u201cNinety percent\u00a0of us are retired,\u00a0OK?\u00a0And the average \u2013\u00a0I’m\u00a0not kidding \u2013 the average age is like mid-\u00a0to\u00a0late\u00a070s,\u201d Woznica laughed.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0long before\u00a0word\u00a0spread\u00a0throughout\u00a0the city\u2019s migrant communities.\u00a0\u201cThey were coming from all over Chicago,\u201d Woznica said. At its peak in early 2024, she estimated\u00a0the\u00a0Migrant Ministry\u00a0was\u00a0seeing as\u00a0many as 500 migrants within just two days of service each week.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Then\u00a0Donald\u00a0Trump, who\u00a0vowed\u00a0during\u00a0his\u00a0<\/span>campaign<\/span><\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0launch\u00a0the\u00a0largest deportation campaign in American history, was reelected.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Migrant Ministry\u2019s volunteers began to\u00a0anticipate\u00a0the immigration landscape they first\u00a0encountered\u00a0in 2022 had not\u00a0aptly\u00a0prepared them for what was to come. \u201cI created a rapid response plan,\u201d Woznica said. \u201cWe started when (Trump) was\u00a0elected. We had it reviewed by lawyers.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By the time Operation Midway Blitz\u00a0—\u00a0Trump\u2019s 2025\u00a0mass\u00a0deportation campaign in Chicago\u00a0—\u00a0was\u00a0underway,\u00a0it was obvious\u00a0the Migrant Ministry\u2019s mission was directly at odds with the federal government.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Volunteers\u00a0positioned\u00a0themselves\u00a0outside\u00a0St. Barnardine\u00a0with walkie-talkies to keep watch for ICE.\u00a0Migrant Ministries hosted\u00a0Know Your Rights training\u00a0sessions\u00a0so members understood how to navigate harboring laws, or how to tell if an agent presented them with a valid or invalid warrant. They passed out whistles, Know Your Rights Cards and wristbands with\u00a0an\u00a0ICE watchdog organization\u2019s number printed\u00a0on them.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Woznica also worked on a recent initiative — Migrant Ministry\u2019s Family Action Plan \u2014 a packet with a series of tips and forms designed to help refugees prevent arrest, (\u201cAvoid traffic stops\u201d), and prepare in case of detention (\u201cMake sure at least one trusted person memorizes your A-Number,” the identification number assigned by the U.S. government to non-citizens). Also included is a form from the Department of Children and Family Services titled, \u201cAppointment of Short-Term Guardian,\u201d through which parents designate who will be responsible for their children if they\u2019re taken by ICE.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Family
Migrant Ministry’s Family Action Plan. (Sydney Meyer\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very difficult,\u201d Woznica said. \u201cI mean,\u00a0you\u2019re talking about temporary custody of their child.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c(The goal) was to launch them to self-sufficiency,\u201d said Steve Raseman,\u00a0a member of St. Anne\u2019s Catholic Church in Barrington, Ill., who coordinates with the Migrant Ministry.\u00a0But with Trump\u2019s reelection,\u00a0\u201cNow they can be\u00a0detained,\u00a0they can be deported. Just\u00a0lots of huge obstacles\u00a0that we\u00a0didn’t\u00a0anticipate.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Their tactics as a group have expanded since 2022. Volunteers regularly attend protests and prayer services outside the\u00a0federal\u00a0ICE\u00a0detention center\u00a0in\u00a0Broadview. Others have begun meeting with elected officials. Woznica\u00a0explained\u00a0their perspective by describing an image\u00a0she saw at a\u00a0protest:\u00a0\u201cIt was Our Lady of Guadalupe, and she’s not like this,\u201d said Woznica, looking down and pressing her hands together in prayer at her chest. \u201cShe’s like this,\u201d Woznica raised her chin high and held her right hand up in a fist.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To Woznica, and other members of Migrant Ministry,\u00a0this image encapsulates\u00a0the ministry\u2019s mission\u00a0of\u00a0investing\u00a0in the political needs of\u00a0Chicago\u2019s migrant community,\u00a0along with their\u00a0material\u00a0and\u00a0spiritual needs.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt started out as a charity, but it very quickly morphed,\u201d said Madonna Thelen, 77, a longtime volunteer in the breakfast room. \u201cIt’s also organizing for advocacy,\u00a0engaging in protests,\u00a0having letter-writing campaigns to our senators and\u00a0Congress people.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Woznica outlines the ministry\u2019s next challenge:\u00a0accompanying\u00a0the detained. This includes court\u00a0witnessing, teaching families to track detained individuals\u00a0and retrieving individuals who are transported and released out of state back to Chicago.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is about human dignity,\u201d Woznica said. \u201cIt’s a new way of church. It’s a new way of being church.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Throughout all the iterations of the Migrant Ministry over the\u00a0past three and a half years,\u00a0Woznica\u00a0is adamant\u00a0there was no hesitation to adapt. And they have no plans to slow down.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sydney Meyer is a\u00a0magazine\u00a0specialization graduate student at Medill.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sydney Meyer Medill Reports At 7 a.m. on a chilly\u00a0Tuesday in\u00a0February,\u00a0Celine Woznica,\u00a0a\u00a0former Maryknoll missioner in Nicaragua and Mexico and\u00a0longtime Oak Park resident,\u00a0entered the side door of the abandoned\u00a0St.\u00a0Bernardine\u00a0School, a Catholic elementary school\u00a0in Forest Park,\u00a0Ill.\u00a0She climbed a set of stairs leading to a long hallway that has been transformed into what she now calls \u201cCentro […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1039,"featured_media":106991,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194,452,5543,2952,675,5569],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture","category-beyond-chicago","category-msj26","category-politics","category-social-justice","category-summer-2026"],"yoast_head":"\nRetired suburbanites stand at front lines of Chicago\u2019s immigration response - 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