Due to the warning for tornados, hail and severe weather happening across Chicago, we are sad to inform you that the 2026 NLG Chicago Annual Celebration is being postponed to Saturday, August 22, 2026. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused, but want to prioritize everyone’s safety. 

We appreciate your understanding and patience at this time. Thank you, and we look forward to seeing you and celebrating the awardees in August. If you are unable to attend on the rescheduled date and would like a refund of your donation, please contact us at chicago@nlg.org.

Warmly, 

NLG Chicago

We are so excited to announce our 2026 Annual Celebration Honorees! This year, NLG Chicago is excited to honor longterm Guild member Jim Fennerty with the Arthur Kinoy People’s Law Award as well as Antonio Gutierrez, Rey Wences & Xanat Sobrevilla with the Trailblazer Award for coordinating essential rapid response efforts during Midway Blitz. 

Join us at Haymarket House on June 11th as we celebrate these movement all-stars! Click here to grab your ticket and then keep scrolling down to read more about our incredible honorees. 

Jim Fennerty first joined the NLG as a law student in 1968 and has been a major force in the organization ever since. For decades, Jim has lent his time and expertise to representing hundreds of protesters pro bono, recruiting more attorneys to do legal work for the movement, and for seven years, serving as president of the Chicago chapter. 

Just a few highlights from Jim’s long and storied career:

• In 1973, he acted as an attorney Legal Observer for the American Indian Movement (AIM) during the Wounded Knee Occupation where he was arrested with AIM members.
• In the 1970s, he represented Iranian students protesting the corrupt Shah of Iran.
• In the 1980s, Jim and many progressives and NLG lawyers worked on the successful mayoral campaign of Harold Washington.
• In 2003, he defended Iraq War protesters arrested on the first day of the invasion when 10,000 people shut down Lake Shore Drive. 
• In 2010, he represented targets of FBI raids, Grand Jury prosecutions, and false government allegations of material support for terrorism.
• From 2014 to 2017, he and Michael Deutsch represented Rasmea Odeh, a US Citizen and brave Palestinian leader wrongfully targeted by the federal government. 
• Throughout his entire career, Jim continued to represent activists and movement people in a variety of progressive and justice causes, in civil and criminal courts and other proceedings.

Antonio Gutierrez, pronouns they/them, is an undocumented anti-displacement community organizer who has lived in Chicago for over 25 years. Gutierrez is one of the co-founders and the current Strategic Coordinator for Organized Communities Against Deportations (OCAD). Gutierrez has organized direct actions, community forums, and national convenings. Gutierrez has over a decade of non-profit administration & development experience, a degree in Architecture from Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) and is also a co-founder of the Albany Park Defense Network, La Guayabita Autonoma Community Garden, and the Autonomous Tenants Union.

Rey Wences is a local organizer and strategist with over 17 years of experience in immigrant rights, economic justice, and racial equity. Born in Mexico City and raised in Chicago, they co-founded the Immigrant Youth Justice League (IYJL) in 2009 and OCAD in 2013. As an organizer with OCAD, they led pivotal campaigns to eliminate Chicago’s gang database and strengthen the city’s Welcoming City Ordinance. Their expertise spans grassroots organizing, direct action training, and strategic communications nationwide. Rey previously served as the First Deputy for the Chicago Mayor’s Office of Immigrant, Migrant, and Refugee Rights. They currently serve as the Senior Deportation Defense Director at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR), leading efforts to protect immigrant communities from detention and deportation.

Xanat Sobrevilla is an immigrant originally from Mexico displaced from her home country at the age of 9. In 2011 she met a group of likeminded people fighting removal proceedings who saw visibility, public anti-deportation campaigns, and the practice of civil disobedience as a means to challenge the ways the immigration system disposes of people. Today, Xanat leads OCAD’s campaign and coalition work. While supporting anti-deportation campaigns, Xanat also ensures that OCAD plays a meaningful role in the Family Support Network and pushes back on the ways surveillance is used to target immigrants for deportation. She transitioned into OCAD after being involved with IYJL when the group decided to focus on anti-deportation tactics as one of the means for collective liberation.

Since the beginning of “Operation Midway Blitz,” thousands of people have come to the Broadview Detention Center to protest the Trump administration’s inhumane attacks on immigrant communities. These protests, which have been celebrated by elected officials and communities across the country, were met with brutal force, arrests, and 100+ criminal cases aimed at silencing dissent. 

“Governor Pritzker was one of many to call for ‘mass protests, for mobilization, for disruption’ in response to an inhumane campaign of terror against our neighbors. Thousands have mobilized for justice for community members facing kidnapping, imprisonment, and murder, only to then be arrested and charged by the state with alleged crimes carrying serious and unreasonable risks of jail time and fines. We should be centering and defending our community members as masked federal agents continue to carry out violent, warrantless arrests and unleash chemical weapons in residential neighborhoods.” AJ Noon, a protester arrested outside the Broadview Detention Center

On Wednesday, individuals with misdemeanor cases, along with volunteer attorneys affiliated with NLG Chicago, held a press conference after another 19 cases stemming from protests outside the Broadview Detention Center were dismissed. Prosecutors have also informed attorneys that, after their review, they are proceeding on a number of cases set for status or trial in April. 

In many of the cases, based on attorneys’ review of the body worn camera footage tendered in discovery, the arrests and charges are not supported by the evidence. Additionally, attorneys contend that the arrests were in violation of protesters’ First Amendment rights, because police were enforcing unconstitutional curfew and geographic restrictions on speech at the Broadview ICE Facility. Protesters and attorneys maintain that state police officers’ at Broadview violated the Trust Act, which specifically prohibits “participat[ing], support[ing], or assist[ing in any capacity with an immigration agent’s enforcement operations, including…establishing a security or traffic perimeter surrounding such operations, or any other on-site support.” 

“Moving forward with the prosecutions of protesters and rapid response volunteers makes our communities less safe. By prosecuting these cases, Illinois is silencing dissent and aiding the Trump administration’s attack on our immigrant community members. It would be a great tragedy if those who felt compelled to act and heeded those calls from our elected officials wound up with criminal records because they came together to object to people’s rights being violated and families being torn apart,” said Amanda Yarusso, NLG member and civil rights attorney.

NLG attorneys have filed a motion to dismiss based on First Amendment grounds in one of the pending cases and expect to file in more cases, along with a motion to quash the arrest based on the violation of the Trust Act. Attorneys volunteering in collaboration with the NLG have represented more than 100 people charged with felonies, misdemeanors, and ordinance violations stemming from protests in Broadview, as well as people charged with federal offenses.

Over the last several weeks, our members and staff have worked around the clock to provide legal support to Chicagoans resisting ICE. Since Trump’s invasion of our state began, we have supported more than 225 people taken into custody. We are reaching out to ask for your financial support as we approach the holiday giving season. 

Throughout the last year, our members have gone above and beyond to support Chicago’s social justice movements in the streets and in the courts: 

• NLG Legal Observers were dispatched to more than 200 protests! 
• Our Mass Defense Committee coordinated free representation for more than 160 people arrested at protests.
• We have operated an emergency response hotline that dispatched attorneys to meet with dozens of people in police custody and worked with our members to locate community members disappeared by federal agents while documenting ICE activity in their neighborhoods.
• Our chapter has also hosted numerous Know Your Rights Trainings throughout the city and offered multiple CLEs to train up more attorneys in movement lawyering.

Your financial support is critical to sustaining and growing these programs. Our work fighting federal repression comes on the heels of mobilizing to support DNC and RNC protesters and meet the demand of sustained protests for Palestinian liberation. The unrelenting pace and violence of the federal government’s attacks on our communities is taking a real toll on our volunteers.  We also have new expenses due to this fascist onslaught including additional hours for our part-time staff,  food, water, rideshares, and the creation of restorative spaces for volunteers.

You can donate to NLG Chicago by clicking here.

Today, community members across Cook County monitored and protested the Trump administration’s assault on migrant communities. The Chicago chapter of the National Lawyers Guild deployed Legal Observers to monitor federal and local police activity in the city and at the protest outside the Broadview Detention Center. Volunteer attorneys with the NLG were also dispatched to protect the rights of people taken into custody. 

During ICE and CBP’s activity in Little Village and Cicero, agents used excessive force and chemical agents against community members. Trump’s federal agents turned what would have been a quiet Saturday afternoon on the Southwest side of Chicago into a dangerous and unsafe environment due to their repeated and unnecessary escalations. 

At least nine people were taken into federal custody, and all but one of them is expected to be released this evening. The final person will be taken to court on Monday. Chicago police were deployed in response to the growing numbers of people in the street following ICE’s rampage in Little Village, with CPD ultimately arresting at least four community members. NLG Chicago has confirmed that two of these people will be released, with two others being held for court hearings tomorrow. Earlier in the day, two additional people were arrested while protesting outside the Broadview Detention Center and both have been released. 

NLG Chicago will continue to support the people who remain in custody and work with partners to ensure all those detained are released as quickly as possible.

Beginning on October 2, 2025 a number of state and local law enforcement agencies were dispatched to the Broadview Detention Center for the stated purpose of being a buffer between protesters and federal law enforcement, for protesters’ safety. Since that time, NLG Chicago has witnessed significant abuses of protesters’ civil rights by the Illinois State Police (ISP) as well as instances of violence by ISP officers against protesters and NLG Legal Observers. Additionally, when protesters have been taken into custody, our volunteer attorneys have faced barriers to accessing clients. 

After issuing statements about these abuses, NLG Chicago was invited to meet with the Governor’s Office and ISP. NLG Chicago agreed to the meeting, which occurred on October 23. 

Our goal in meeting with ISP and the Governor’s Office was to share what we observed regarding the use of violence by ISP officers and ensure that NLG Legal Observers and volunteer attorneys can safely do their work, including legally observing law enforcement activity and meeting with detained clients. NLG Chicago representatives were clear that our role is as a volunteer legal support organization and we do not negotiate for or speak on behalf of any protester or group of protesters. 

During the meeting, representatives from NLG Chicago called on Illinois State Police to: 

• End the use of force against protesters engaged in activity protected by the First Amendment, including but not limited to ending the practice of baton strikes to the head and neck.
• Provide adequate warning, direction, and time for protesters to respond when issuing dispersal orders.
• Ensure that ISP officers are trained regarding First Amendment activity, and to respect the lawful role that NLG Legal Observers play in protecting such activity.
• Ensure that ISP officers do not impede attorneys’ access to detained clients and that we receive accurate information regarding clients in custody.
• Work with other stakeholders to address the curfew on First Amendment activity along with the protest zone that had been put in place.

For the last two months, NLG Chicago has worked around the clock to provide legal support to the thousands of people who have come to the Broadview Detention Center to protest the Trump administration’s draconian attacks on immigrant communities. This has included sending Legal Observers to monitor the situation on the ground, dispatching volunteer attorneys to visit people in police custody, and working to coordinate representation for people who are now facing criminal charges. We will continue to keep the community updated on our efforts to protect the rights of everyone raising their voices against injustice at this pivotal moment. 

Photo by: Sara-Ji, Love & Struggle Photos