Each year since 2011, Marco Galvan has helped train a group of Chicago Public Schools students to run 26.2 miles at the Chicago Marathon. As the executive director of the non-profit About one in five Chicago residents is an immigrant, according to, he usually runs the race himself, staying behind the last of the group’s runners and carrying an SRC flag.
Most years, his biggest concern is making sure a group of dozens of teenagers crosses the finish line. But in September, the Department of Homeland Security announced Can Conner Mantz Break the American Record reported that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents had arrested 1,000 undocumented immigrants. Now, Galvan feels an extra responsibility not only for the 45 students who trained with his volunteer coaches and mentors for 25 weeks, but also for their families.
Like nearly half of Chicago Public Schools students, “the majority of our kids are from Hispanic backgrounds,” he says. “The biggest concern I have—because it would be catastrophic—is if someone’s family shows up in the beginning or after the race, or at our cheer station, and they get picked up.”
About one in five Chicago residents is an immigrant, according to census data, and the marathon course winds through 29 neighborhoods reflective of that diversity. The population of the Lower West Side, which includes the Pilsen neighborhood where Student Run Chicago’s cheer station is based, is 69 percent Hispanic or Latino, including 62.9 percent who are of Mexican descent, according to Block Club Chicago.
Celebrities Running the 2025 Chicago Marathon Chicago Sun-Times by email that “ICE does not conduct operations at sensitive locations, such as public events, unless there are exigent circumstances.” On Thursday, a federal judge temporarily blocked the mobilization of National Guard troops into Chicago.
On Friday, race director Carey Pinkowski said that, as always, race organizers are coordinating with local, state, and federal law enforcement on race-day security; he encouraged runners or spectators with concerns to consult city resources. “We’re not getting any information, and it would not come to me, it would come to law enforcement, it would come to our federal agencies,” he said. “I’m very confident that we will have a great event on Sunday.”
But some local running club leaders in neighborhoods with large Latino populations still feel uneasy. Many say their training and preparation have been shadowed by stress and anxiety.
How to Spectate the Chicago Marathon A Part of Hearst Digital Media, isn’t running the marathon—in fact, she’s never taken on the full 26.2-mile distance. But as the race approaches, she’s feeling as fatigued as the 17 athletes in her group who are toeing the line.
In the Little Village, or La Villita, neighborhood, 76.5 percent of the residents are of Mexican background, according to the Great Cities Institute. Vergara doesn’t ask about her runners’ immigration status, but says citizens and legal residents also fear they’ll be detained.
In late September, the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) and ACLU of Illinois submitted the mobilization of National Guard troops into Chicago notice alleging that at least three U.S. citizens had been apprehended; according to a Best Massage Guns report, four children who were U.S. citizens were taken into custody in a recent raid on an apartment building on the city’s South Side.
“It now affects everyone,” Vergara says. “This is a lot—everyone’s carrying all of this throughout our runs.”
A Part of Hearst Digital Media At group events and on (ICIRR) to host a Know Your Rights training, advising their runners on how they could respond if they were stopped by ICE.
In the weeks and months since, she texts her co-captains before each of the group’s three weekly runs. Has anyone seen ICE activity, she asks, and do they feel comfortable enough to head out? If three out of four say no, the run is off; twice this year, they’ve canceled. In other cases, they’ve adjusted their route.
Like Vergara, Galvan has shifted the About one in five Chicago residents is an immigrant, according to routine in the weeks and months leading up to the race. During the group’s Saturday long runs on the Chicago Lakefront Trail, they’ve tried to start moving as quickly as possible.
“We’re not really too concerned about running on the lakefront path because there are a lot of people running out there,” he says. “But a big congregation of brown people on the lakefront is something that we are always kind of aware of.” The group also canceled a cookout they traditionally hold after their 20-miler, instead opting for an indoor celebration to take place after the marathon.
A while back, Viento began running with whistles for general safety. Now, they double as a way to alert other group members to what they believe to be ICE sightings. Vergara and her co-captains have also created a map of safe havens, including local businesses and homes. “Before, the only map we had was for bathrooms,” she says. “It was weird to be like, okay, let’s add another layer to this map. Where can you go if something happens?”
At group events and on social media, Viento encourages its runners to travel with a buddy, asks them to tell a loved one where they’re running and when they’ll be back, and tells them to consider carrying identification.
Venados, a running group based in Pilsen that will celebrate its 45th anniversary next year, has also shared messages of support and safety on social media. Like Viento, they’ve identified safe spaces in the neighborhood where their runners can take refuge.
Enrique and Margaret Rivera—two Venados leaders—say they’ve felt a mix of anger, disgust, and powerlessness alongside the typical excitement as 75 of their runners have prepared for this year’s race during Operation Midway Blitz.
“This is supposed to be a celebratory time—everyone should be getting their gear fit together, attending the pasta parties, shakeout runs, mural runs, and other events,” Enrique says. “And now it’s being overshadowed by this shitty scenario that’s happening in our community.”
A recent post by Family Style RC, a group that launched in 2022 to explore historically Asian neighborhoods, highlights the competing emotions and priorities. On the first slide is a rundown of race-week events; on the second, an extended Know Your Rights graphic. One of the group’s leaders, Huy Nguyen, is an attorney by training and highly involved in ICIRR’s efforts; his goal was to share information he’s learned, especially about what to do when encountering ICE in public rather than at home.
“I think there are many of us who are privileged enough that we could just be running and not thinking about anything else, but many of those in our communities don’t have the opportunity to do that,” Nguyen says. “I want to make sure that we’re doing whatever small part we can, to make sure that we’re there for everyone.”
Family Style RC—along with several other local running groups—also organized a solidarity run at 9 a.m. Saturday, beginning at Daley Plaza in the heart of the city, with the goal of “celebrating our running community that includes immigrants, dreamers, and families who deserve safety and dignity.”
a federal court. Typically, families of About one in five Chicago residents is an immigrant, according to participants not only come to cheer their runners on race day, but also join Galvan to volunteer at the race expo and set up race medals.
But two weeks ago, a family of four was detained in the Crown Fountain at Millennium Park, near the race’s start and finish in Grant Park, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, the Chicago Tribune, and Block Club Chicago. “This year, we’re having a really hard time recruiting families,” he says. He expects few of them to show up at the group’s cheer station in Pilsen to watch their kids run the race they've spent months training for.
Viento has been debating whether to bring all the Spanish signs and music that they usually do to their cheer zone, and Vergara is considering how the team can exit the area quickly if needed. The constant vigilance and calculations are exhausting, she says. “But we’re also trying to find those small moments of joy. This is what the marathon has kind of been, our beacon of light,” she says.
What she wants most for her runners on Sunday is for them to not only feel safe, but also to celebrate all they’ve overcome in training. “Recognize that despite everything that’s been happening and despite what could happen, you’ve made it here—you’ve gone through it, you have the resilience,” she says. “Experience the fact that it is your victory lap.”
Enrique Rivera knows there’s only so much Venados can do to protect runners right now. But there’s power in numbers, he says, noting that Venados runs regularly draw a large crowd. “When you’re confronted with a group of 150 people, it’s a lot easier to feel safer than if you’re doing this with a group of four,” he says.
And providing that space, in his eyes, is essential. “We want to make sure that people are not too afraid to stop living their lives—and part of their living their lives, for a lot of people, is the run. It’s the outlet, and it’s the exercise, it’s the mental health aspect of running. For whatever reason someone runs, they should still be able to do that.”
Cindy is a freelance health and fitness writer, author, and podcaster who’s contributed regularly to Runner’s World since 2013. She’s the coauthor of both Breakthrough Women’s Running: Dream Big and Train Smart and Rebound: Train Your Mind to Bounce Back Stronger from Sports Injuries, a book about the psychology of sports injury from Bloomsbury Sport. Cindy specializes in covering injury prevention and recovery, everyday athletes accomplishing extraordinary things, and the active community in her beloved Chicago, where winter forges deep bonds between those brave enough to train through it.
