ICE’s ‘Midway Blitz’ operation cost Chicago businesses $1.2 billion: Study
A University of Illinois Chicago Great Cities Institute study found that Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Chicago-area "Midway Blitz" operation cost local businesses more than $1.2 billion last year. The research also reports that residents of Cook County’s Latino-heavy neighborhoods made "substantially fewer" visits to restaurants and retail businesses, according to the provided summary.
Why It Matters
The finding quantifies a large, localized economic hit linked to an immigration-enforcement operation and highlights shifts in consumer activity in predominantly Latino neighborhoods. That has implications for small businesses, local tax revenue and debates over the broader community effects of enforcement actions.
Key Facts
- Estimated economic cost: $1.2 billion
- Operation: Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Chicago-area "Midway Blitz"
- Study authors: Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago's Great Cities Institute
- Timeframe: Last year
- Reported behavioral finding: Residents of Cook County's Latino-heavy neighborhoods made "substantially fewer" visits to restaurants and retail businesses (excerpt provided was truncated)
A new analysis by researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago's Great Cities Institute finds that ICE's Chicago-area "Midway Blitz" enforcement operation imposed more than $1.2 billion in losses on local businesses last year. The study quantifies the financial toll on the local economy associated with the federal action.
According to the summary of the research, residents of Cook County neighborhoods with large Latino populations made "substantially fewer" visits to restaurants and retail businesses following the operation. The supplied excerpt is truncated and does not include the full text of the comparison or the study's detailed methodology and time-series breakdowns.
The report links shifts in consumer activity in heavily Latino neighborhoods to the overall estimated revenue losses, suggesting an indirect economic effect of the enforcement activity on neighborhood commerce. The estimate highlights how enforcement operations can produce measurable downstream impacts on local businesses beyond the immediate effects on individuals targeted.
The summary provided here does not include the study's complete data, methods, or a neighborhood-by-neighborhood accounting of losses. Access to the full Great Cities Institute report would be necessary to evaluate the researchers' methodology, assumptions and the distribution of economic impacts across business types and areas.
Keep Reading
Live updates: Trump, Republicans converge on Dallas as GOP midterm convention opens
Watch live: Trump to headline first GOP midterm convention
Lindsay Clancy attorney will ask for jury to be sequestered in new trial
Trump predicts Iran war will end ‘immediately after the election’
Original source: The Hill