>> Hello and thanks for joining us on Chicago tonight.

I'm Brandis Friedman.

We begin tonight with a quick programming note.

Our colleague Joanna Hernandez is out on maternity leave.

We wish her the best.

You'll see Latino voices stories throughout the week.

And here's what we're looking at tonight.

The latest on a legal standoff with the Trump administration over deportation flights to L Salvador.

Former alderman of the 35th for takes on a new role of the Chicago Park District.

We discuss his top priorities.

>> It's very, very, very important for museums to step into that space and step up and represent everyone.

>> And inside the Chicago History Museum for a sneak peek at an upcoming exhibit exploring the city's Latino history.

>> And now to some of today's top stories, Northwestern university's president and board chair are promising to fund at risk research deemed vital.

It comes just days after the Trump administration announced plans to freeze nearly 800 million dollars in federal research money in an open letter.

President Michel show and board of Trustees chair Peter Barris say, quote, Although we still have not received official notice of such action, we have received stop work orders on roughly 100 federal grants, money that fuels important scientific breakthroughs.

While that open letter doesn't specify how much the university will spend on these projects.

It says the support is only intended to keep projects going until they have a better understanding of the funding landscape.

It does not include projects previously terminated by the federal government.

Violence prevention advocates are touting new research that shows a significant decline in gun violence rates in some communities under the state funded peacekeepers program.

>> To those of you here today.

>> Who are peacekeepers and CBI workers?

They should validate what you already know.

>> Your presence matters.

Your conversations matter.

Your courage matters.

You are literally extending moments of peace.

>> Dozens of those peacekeepers joined public officials to announce the research results, the Center for Neighborhood engaged Research and science or corners at Northwestern studied the work of the peacekeepers program for 2 years in 14 communities, data showed Humboldt Park had the sharpest decline in hotspot shooting victimization at EIGHTY-FOUR percent in 2023.

2024. compared to the 2 years before the state of Illinois adopted the peacekeepers program as a strategy back in 2023.

And for more on the work peacekeepers do check out our Web site W t Tw Dot com slash firsthand.

Immigrant rights advocates are releasing plans for a rally and March on May 1st, the Chicago Coalition against the Trump agenda made up of labor unions and community organizations is holding the demonstration to push back on the administration's massive deportation efforts.

Organizers say the march will begin at Union Park at 11:00AM May first protest coincides with annual International Workers Day celebrating the rights of Meanwhile.

>> More Illinoisans are at work.

The Illinois Department of Employment Security says Nonfarm payroll jobs reached a record high in March.

More than 6 million, 172,000.

That beats the last record set in December 2024 of 6 million, 161,000 IDs says the number of payrolls increased by nearly 15,000 over the month.

Well, the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.8% Later in the program.

A look at an upcoming exhibition about Chicago's Latino history.

But up next, the legal battle over the Trump administration's deportation flights to Salvador.

That's right after this.

>> Chicago tonight is made possible in part by the Alexander and John Nichols family.

The Pope Brothers Foundation, additional support is provided by.

>> federal judge says the Trump administration defied a court order when it failed to turn around a plane full of deportees in route to a mega prison in El Salvador.

The judge has given Trump officials one week to comply or risk being found in contempt escalating illegal standoff over whether the U.S. government rushed to deport individuals under the Alien enemies Act.

Joining us via zoom are Steven Schwinn, a professor of law at the University of Illinois, Chicago and Aaron's Omar acting chair of the Illinois Republican Party.

Gentlemen, thank you for joining us.

Steven Schwinn.

Let's start with you, please.

Us District Judge James Boasberg found probable cause yesterday to hold the Trump administration in contempt of court.

What does that actually mean?

And what could the consequences be?

>> Well, thanks innocence for having us today.

He judge in the case how that there was probable cause that officials in the Trump administration were in contempt of court for violating the court order to return people.

Then they deported to El Salvador back to the United States.

judge also gave the administration a chance to what we called sure this contempt of court.

So the administration has some time to bring them back to the United States is not the judge outlined plans to go forward and told administration officials in contempt.

>> But they could be held in contempt.

Is there a consequence for that?

Sometimes in a criminal court to somebody spend like a night in jail if they are held in contempt order, what could happen?

>> That's exactly right.

So there could be fines or even jail terms for individuals who are held in contempt out.

That's highly unusual.

We almost never see that with officials in administration, but that's not to say that court couldn't do it.

Then there's a question of enforcement.

If the judge issues a criminal contempt order, usually its the executive branch itself that would enforce that order.

But in this case, the executive friend branch, of course, is led by President Trump.

So it's not at all clear that his executive branch would enforce the order.

>> Erin, do Margie think the administration is acting too aggressively and it's deportation plans and then mistakes are happening.

>> I think that any time you're trying to rapidly deploy a new policy or program and such as the Trump administration is looking at immigration.

When you move that there's a lot of opportunity from our air.

And I think in this situation they might have acted a little bit faster than normal.

And now they are having to address Those concerns in federal court.

You know, one thing that she forgot to mention of that, that since this is in federal court, and if they they are found in contempt.

That doesn't mean the President Trump can't pardon them from This is a state action case.

That is something that he would have no power to do.

You need the governor, but this situation, even if there was a consequence and somebody was found guilty of to top, that could be easier raised by pardon from the president.

>> Okay.

Interesting point on Stevens when dozens of individuals we know have been deported under the Alien enemies act.

What is the intent of that law?

>> Well, goes back to the late 18th century.

This is a very old lot.

So wartime authority that Congress to the president to deport individuals who are affiliated with a foreign country and invading countries or at a time when we're at This is only been used 3 times in our country's history during the war of 18, 12 during World War One and during World War 2, this assertion of authority really is unusual and extraordinary.

>> What does the formal process of deportation typically look like Stephen?

>> So typically individuals or subject to deportation due process before they are deported.

Each and due process opportunity before an administrative officer judge on panel of judges or the federal courts to challenge the basis of their deportation and to argue that they shouldn't be deported because they have a well-founded fear of persecution in the country deportation based on certain characteristics.

>> Aaron, it seems for the president so far has been to use his authority.

And then sometimes that authority is then challenged in court.

We know the court process can take some time.

But what is the enforcement mechanism when the court makes a ruling?

But if the administration chooses to ignore it?

>> I think at some point we're gonna come to a very strong constitutional crisis here where we're going to see the judicial branch.

I'm trying to rein in and give guardrails to the executive branch and the president.

I think President Trump is really trying to good on his promise during the campaign that he was gonna have large-scale deportations that he's running into.

A lot of interference from a lot of local municipalities and different sanctuary cities.

that in mind, he's trying to move at a very pace.

Unfortunately, if you're looking at the strictly by the math, he's not even meeting the deportations that President Obama did in 2008 to 2012.

And so I think there's a lot of frustration that it's happening.

So there's a lot of start, something of the federal judiciary in order to try to make good on the campaign promise.

>> Do you think that his supporters would like to see would like to see even more people being deported?

And that's why this rapid clip is happening.

>> think that the Republican Party in general is not monolithic.

I think that there's different factions within the party just like the Democratic Party has different parts.

And there is a subsection of the party that wants to see more deportations.

I think people are very frustrated with the impact specifically in Chicago over the amount undocumented citizens that were brought into Chicago during a very short period time and the pressure that put on our public services.

And, you know, the availability for those that are already here not having access to those in on even those resources be entitled on by the influx of very short period of time of people.

So, yeah, there's certainly there.

But I think a lot of people still believe our system of immigration.

I think there's people to believe that each of these immigrants should have their day in court to be able to to make their case why they should stay in the United States.

I think that we just as United States come up with a more clearly understood immigration policy and be able do that through about Carol process for Congress.

>> Now that said the administration has called the deportation of kill Garcia, an administrative error.

But they have also said that now that he is in this prison El Salvador, that they no longer no longer have jurisdiction.

>> and he does not have asylum, but he has been granted protection by an immigration judge from deportation.

Stephen, it.

What do you think of the tactics the administration is deploying in this particular case?

>> Well, thanks for They're highly unusual.

So ordinarily, when the administration makes mistake with deportation, they act quickly to bring the person back to the United States and give them the kind of due process that we've been talking about.

In this instance, the Trump administration has said that they'll have the authority to do that because he's now the authority of a foreign sovereign the Again, that's a highly unusual stance to take.

We really haven't seen an administration take that kind of stance with regard to unlawfully deported individual be sore.

>> Erin.

Trump has also said that he is he's floated the eye idea of deporting or detaining, quote, homegrown threats to prisons abroad, homegrown meaning American citizens.

What is your reaction to that idea?

>> Well, as somebody that has a father that immigrated here from the Philippines in the early 70's, I mean, that's really draws conclusions.

But I wouldn't even think you know, the United States has a long history of accepting immigrants from all different parts of the world ending engaging in assimilating into our society.

And I think that's one of the reasons that were most strongest country in the world.

And I think that those different groups make America what we are today, the idea that you're going to have a southerly person here that has and the American sedition bright has a passport.

And then we're going to start reporting on.

I think that's highly unlikely.

I think there's 11 million undocumented.

Immigrants that are here in the United States right now.

And I think that's going to be the focal point of enforcing our existing immigration plan and then looking to see what we can do to strengthen our borders and make sure that the people that we are living in are going to be out and value to the everyday American life.

>> Ok, ongoing topic of discussion for the 2 of you.

All of us.

I'm sure I want to thank the 2 of you for joining us tonight.

Aaron's Omar and Stephen Twin.

Thank you.

>> Thank you.

>> Up next, one on one with the Chicago Park district's new leader.

After 10 years as the alderman of the 35th Ward, Carlos Ramirez Rossa is moving to a different office superintendent of the Chicago Park District.

The park district is the nation's 3rd largest park system which includes over 600 parks, 230 field houses.

And 26 miles of Lake front.

Joining us now to discuss his vision is Carlos Ramirez, Rosas General superintendent and chief executive officer of the Chicago Park District.

Welcome back.

Congrats on the new pension.

Having me back.

We just named how big it is.

Right third-biggest.

And you are going from serving 57,000 people in your ward to 2.7 million and seeing how big the park district is.

How are you?

Bring yourself up to speed?

>> It is such a wonderful institution.

I was named February 28th.

And we started a month long transition process.

My start date was April one.

I had over 40 hours of meetings in that month of transition with Park District leadership getting up to speed with the most pressing issues.

But I also met with important stakeholders, the Chicago Parks Foundation, friends of the parks.

So many important stakeholders that support the work that we do at the district.

And on April one, I got an opportunity to obviously do my first staff meeting.

I met with 481 years of experience at headquarters.

I then met with the stewards for SEIU, local 73, which represent two-thirds of our wonderful, amazing work force.

And then I spent the rest of the week meeting our park and playground supervisors from the North Central and South regions.

I did the math in total and that with 5,000 years of experience and as a point of reference, the Pyramid of Giza had not yet been built 5,000 years ago.

So there's a tremendous amount of institutional knowledge that the Chicago Park district and that's what's going to guide us into the future.

A good foundation.

It sounds like staff and people who know the organization.

>> Why did you want this position?

Oh, my goodness.

To be able to build playgrounds for children to be able to provide programming for seniors for adults for our toddlers, for our teenagers.

>> Chicago Park district is such an amazing institution and the park district was created from the consolidation of 22 separate districts.

This was during the Great Depression.

Those 22 separate districts fell into dire financial straits and our foremothers and forefathers had the wisdom to say if we're going to save this institution for the next 100 years, let's bring these 22 institutions together and create one unified Park district.

And so that's a tremendous legacy.

The park district here Chicago was also the first park system to have fieldhouse a revolutionary concept where we were providing services and programming from arts to recreational sports for our young people in for people of all ages.

So the park district has a tremendous legacy.

I feel very privileged to be able to advance and protect this wonderful institution.

What are your top priorities?

So we need equitable infrastructure improvements.

There's a lot of need for deferred maintenance across the system.

We had field houses that are in disrepair.

I started my first day in Englewood with Alderman David Moore.

So we are working expeditiously to bring a new field house to Ogden Park.

And I look forward to working with the mayor and aldermen other elected officials bring announcement forward later on this year.

We are working on a new playground for Elko Gardens.

So being able to advance equitable infrastructure improvements, I think that's incredibly important for the well-being of the city of Chicago.

to make sure that we're providing our youth with opportunities.

The park district is the largest employer of young However, I know that we can do more.

And at the same time, addressing sustainability making sure that the park district continues to be a leader in environmental justice and ultimately supporting our workforce.

We have thousands of wonderful employees are park district does not work.

All of those wonderful programs for our youth.

They rely upon our park and playground supervisors up on our frontline staff.

And so we want to support them, make sure that they have the support from the district so that they can be successful in providing resources for families Chicago parks.

They have a long history of festivals.

The district has approved a three-year agreement with Riot Fest in Douglas Park.

>> And there's been some pushback from residents in the area saying that the festival it is destructive and it limits the access to their park.

How do plan a bridging that divide between the big festivals in the communities where those festivals are?

Yeah, that's a great question.

So March 18th, I had a meeting with community advocates from the Douglas Park area.

We talked about some of the issues.

>> That Riot fest creates.

I brought those issues back to write fest organizers and write fast.

Also held community meeting on February 18 based upon the feedback that they every team meeting based upon the feedback see that the March 18th meeting, we took steps to address those issues.

So for the first time ever, we're going to a pre-event walk through with community advocates.

So the park district always doesn't walk through with the festival.

Organizers.

But this time we're going back to community along for prevent walk through.

So have greater accountability so we can make sure that event Keeping the park up to the same level that they found it out, also extremely proud that as a result of this multi-year agreement, we were able to deliver a million dollars over the next several years for infrastructure improvements at Douglas Park, the Park district previously created a 10% giveback policy where 10% of the money generated from an event would go back into the local park.

And of course, the money that's generated from these big events supports our programming at our parks.

But we said we're going to 10% to go back in capital infrastructure for the local park.

I came in and we got it up to 30%.

So that's how we have million dollars over the next several years.

And we're going to allocate that money with community input to a participatory budgeting process.

Some Chicago parks are also home to homeless encampments and one particular conference park.

It gets a lot of attention, but we know that Chicago has several others.

>> Across the city, what are your plans for addressing that issue?

Well, we've been working hard to make sure that we're providing people experiencing homelessness in the parks with resources and support.

We know that the solution to homelessness is housing.

It's not criminalizing individuals.

And so we are working to establish relationships with people that are experiencing homelessness in the parks.

Ultimately, while I'm proud of the work that we've been doing over the last several weeks and I'm proud of my track record working on this issue.

We need to make sure that all stakeholders at the table.

So we are working to convene a working group with this call collisions and homelessness with friends of the parks with various other stakeholders so that we can have a holistic conversation about what it's going to take to address homelessness in the Chicago Parks.

We need to make sure that people that are experiencing homelessness are connected with housing.

And we also need to make sure that programming that plan capital projects can move forward.

couple seconds left.

How have the park serve you as a resident?

Oh, my goodness.

How haven't they serve It's where I would go.

Hang out with my family.

It's where I would play sports.

It's why would cool down in a splash pad.

Chicago parks are at the nexus of a greener, healthier, Safer City.

We all benefit tremendously from our park system.

It is truly a jewel in a jam in this city.

They're just so many amazing things for a Japanese garden back in a minute.

But right now for the job, clearly, you can say you can sell the park's a super gonna carls it.

Ramirez Rowe said thank you so much for joining us.

>> And up next, we go inside an upcoming exhibit exploring all things Latino in Chicago.

And, you know, the term let's, you know, became popular in part because of a collaboration between Mexicans and Puerto Ricans in Chicago for political activism.

During the 1970's, it's just one of the many stories told by the Chicago History Museum's exhibit it in Chicago.

The exhibit is still in development, but are Joanna Hernandez got an exclusive preview?

>> From glamorous in saying it addresses to a ceremonial mass from an indigenous community.

These items will be displayed in an exhibit celebrating the long history of Latinos in Chicago.

>> We have a lot of interesting material in the exhibition from photos, oral histories, cultural treasures, garments, textiles, artwork.

There's a lot of representation of local artists.

The project has taken years to develop.

>> The idea came from a group of high school students at the Instituto Justice and Leadership Academy in Pilsen who visited the museum in 2019 and noticed a lack of representation for Latinos.

The students are.

>> In my vest pocket every step of the way throughout this project.

They each wrote letters to the History Museum describing the harm that it perpetrated on their communities to find nothing about their histories here.

And then a Gonzalez has been working on the upcoming exhibition for the last 4 years.

Nothing it communities are all over the city.

Not only in pilsen, our humble Parker Little Village, but in every single community in Chicago.

>> Latinos are the second largest racial group in Chicago representing nearly 30% of the city's population.

According to the 2020 census part of the exhibition will feature a digital scrapbook for Chicagoans can share their photos.

You'll be able to browse and you in the gallery.

>> And everyone can submit their photos of events, people, places that they feel are important to the Latinx stories of Chicago.

This collection features images from a popular candy store that opened in Little Village in the 1990's, along with snapshots of local artists, painting a mural in the 1980's.

>> In the time that we're living through right now that everyone understand.

Their heritage, as you know how they came here in less.

>> Your Native American.

You came here in one way or another.

And those stories all shape the Chicago.

We Gonzalez says the exhibition also explores the large indigenous population from Latin American heritage.

>> Including the catwalk community, an indigenous community and weather.

There is a local community of about 30 to 40 could catch.

about families here in Chicago?

>> And this I'm some ball.

Was a recent gift.

Other pieces will dive into the history of the king saying yeah.

>> The coming of age celebration for a young woman turning 15 years old.

We were very fortunate to work with me can say world, which is a shop on 26 street here in Chicago to create these beautiful gowns that are now part of the permanent collection of the Chicago History Museum.

So the one behind me is the top row style which speaks to a very Mexican heritage collections in pieces are currently being worked on.

>> In the meantime, if you visit the museum, you'll likely see an artist painting a mural at the entrance of the exhibit.

>> I want people to feel included.

I want people to feel visible.

I want people to.

Who people who are allies and maybe not themselves.

I want them to feel.

>> That they are also part of this Chicago.

>> For Chicago tonight, I'm joined on this.

>> The exhibit is set to officially open October 25th at the Chicago History Museum to learn more about submitting your photos and the project.

Check out our Web site W T Tw Dot com Slash news.

And we're back to wrap things up right after this.

>> Chicago tonight, Latino voices.

It's made possible in part by the support of these donors.

>> And that's our show for this Thursday night.

Join us tomorrow night at 5.37, for the week in review.

And we leave tonight with a look at Jackson parks.

Cherry blossom trees.

Yet the ones that Ramirez rose just mentioned, over all of us here at Chicago tonight.

>> Brandis Friedman, thank you so much for watching.

Stay healthy and safe and have a good night.

>> Closed captioning is made possible by Robert, a cliff and Clifford law offices, a