The Chicago Marathon, one of the largest races in the world, is scheduled to take place this coming weekend against the backdrop of the Trump administration’s push to step up immigration enforcement and send National Guard troops to the city.
The timing has caused a new kind of race-day anxiety for the more than 50,000 runners, many of them from abroad, who are expected to take part, weaving through 29 Chicago neighborhoods on Sunday morning as more than 1.7 million spectators look on.
“We’ve gotten word that roughly 3,000 runners from Mexico have signed up for this marathon, and I want all of them to come,” Mayor Brandon Johnson of Chicago said on Tuesday. “I believe the best way in which we can demonstrate resistance is not bending the knee to tyranny.”
The marathon route passes through several neighborhoods known for high concentrations of immigrants, including Pilsen on the Lower West Side and Little Village on the Southwest Side, each of which has a sizable Mexican American population. Those areas have grown quieter in recent weeks as threats of immigration raids have sown fear.
About 40 percent of the field is traveling internationally to Chicago for the race, according to organizers — roughly 20,000 people. Some of them have been posting on social media, asking for advice about the situation in Chicago. Should they run with their passports? Should they drop out of the race? What should runners do if they see someone being detained along the course? People have expressed concern that a race-day tracking app might be weaponized by federal agents, and some have advised runners to make their status in the app private.
Anxiety has increased with each passing day. A recent social media post saying that there would be federal immigration enforcement activity along the marathon route went viral. The Chicago Parks District pushed back, saying it had not received information or guidance about any such plans by federal agents, but that did not quiet the fears of some runners who have been training for the event for months.
Marathon runners have become accustomed to airport-level security at major races since the bombing at the Boston Marathon in 2013. But race-day nerves are usually focused on leg cramps and stomach upset, not the possibility of being pulled off the course by immigration agents.
In Reddit threads, many people have offered to stand in solidarity with runners who felt especially vulnerable.
“Tell your friend to run sub 3 with me,” one post said. “If anyone even looks at him crossing that finish line, I’ll protect him and don’t care what it takes.”
“Runners will support runners,” the post added.
Talya Minsberg is a Times reporter covering breaking and developing news.
The post New Race-Day Worry for the Chicago Marathon: Immigration Enforcement appeared first on New York Times.
