A University of Illinois Chicago study found that heightened federal immigration enforcement starting in January 2025 caused residents in immigrant-heavy Cook County neighborhoods to sharply reduce trips to stores and restaurants in other parts of the county. Cross-community retail visits dropped about 9 percent and restaurant visits about 10 percent, with the decline beginning within weeks of enforcement actions and persisting for nearly a year and still not fully recovered. Researchers estimate the lost economic activity totaled roughly $1.26 billion and cost the county, and Illinois overall, about $107 million in lost sales-tax revenue. The findings challenge assumptions that immigrant communities are economically isolated from the broader region. Nationally, ICE held about 65,800 people in detention as of mid-July, with roughly 70 percent having no criminal conviction, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.