Angry with DHS, protesters disrupt job fair at Congress Plaza Hotel in Chicago

Sophie Levenson, Chicago Tribune on Aug 7, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

CHICAGO — The man in a blue Hawaiian shirt paced up and down the line of fellow protesters outside the Congress Plaza Hotel on South Michigan Avenue, shouting into a megaphone with the fervor of someone leading the sermon at a megachurch.

“They are not welcome in this city!” he yelled. “This is an immigrant city!”

The “they” he meant were three U.S. Department of Homeland Security representatives inside the Loop hotel at the BestHire career fair looking to recruit new hires. The man with the megaphone was one of a small but loud group of around 20 protesters who gathered on Thursday, responding to the presence of the DHS workers.

A news release from DHS on Wednesday announced that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would offer $50,000 signing bonuses, as well as student loan forgiveness and “enhanced” retirement benefits. The incentives, pushed forward by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, continue the Trump administration’s promises to reinvigorate border security in the U.S., and the $30 billion that President Donald Trump budgeted for ICE in the “Big, Beautiful Bill” last month.

Thursday’s protest exemplified the frustration many Americans expressed towards the Trump administration’s immigration policies, but in doing so, it clashed with Chicagoans searching for jobs.

“We’re hoping to make this space as inhospitable (for Customs and Border Protection) as possible,” said Johnny, 33, a protester from Chicago who asked that his last name not be used. “It seems like it’s working.”

At around 11 a.m., the protesters entered the hotel’s event space, their signs and megaphones in hand. Most of the protesters did not attempt to conceal themselves, though one wore a hood, sunglasses and a surgical mask, obscuring their face.

“We are a group of autonomous citizens … who believe we must protect the most vulnerable,” said Bill Housewright, who carried a megaphone and led many of the chants.

The protesters stood in front of the DHS table in an attempt to block the agents present from recruiting. They held up poster boards and hand-painted banners. A neon-yellow sign read, “Trump, ICE, & CBP blame migrants so you don’t blame billionaires.” They passed around a megaphone for a series of well-rehearsed slogans.

“No ICE, no KKK, no fascist USA,” they chanted.

Protesters stayed in the building for about an hour, disrupting the fair. To some of the recruiters from other companies, the ruckus was frustrating.

“It got louder and louder, more protesters came. It definitely affected the job fair, because it stopped everything, and we’re sitting there trying to talk to people, and they wouldn’t allow it,” said Ernie Sobjack, owner of the Radio Broadcasting Group. “We pay a lot of money to be at these job fairs.”

Sobjack said it cost each business between $600 and $800 to attend the fair. He understood what the protesters were trying to do but was disappointed that it had to affect his recruitment efforts — though he still ended the day with a thick stack of resumes sitting on his table.

Krista Burrows, a senior recruiter for ChildCare Careers, was less bothered by the protest, even though her table stood right next to the DHS one. During the chaos, she said it was hard for job seekers to get to her table and too loud for conversation, but BestHire extended the job fair by an hour to make up for lost time. “We weren’t really affected by it,” Burrows said.

According to witnesses at the fair, four police officers issued a verbal warning to the protesters twice before they left the hotel. After the second warning, the protesters left the hotel, scattering DHS pamphlets across the floor in their wake. They relocated to the sidewalk in front of the hotel, continuing to chant as they formed a line outside the hotel’s front doors; a few held up long cloth banners.

“Stop kidnapping our neighbors,” one read, with chains painted across the fabric.

Back inside the hotel, Ross, 30, who asked to use only his first name, stood in line to talk to DHS recruiters — though he had no intention of applying for a job with them. He was at the fair not to protest but to find a job, yet grew angry when he learned that DHS had a table. He waited in line with prospective applicants to tell the agents “they are pieces of (expletive) and they shouldn’t have been here,” he said.

“I’m not trying to do a big thing,” Ross continued. “Just look at them in the face and make them contend with themselves a little bit.”

When he reached the agent — who said she does not work for ICE — she nodded and smiled politely at Ross while he spoke his mind.

“Even with the protest, more than 100 people signed up as interested candidates in joining the CBP team,” wrote a spokesperson for Customs and Border Protection in a statement to the Tribune. “The protest made CBP’s booth the most visited booth at the event.”

____