ICE Is Terrorizing Chicago for Halloween—and Parents Are Fighting Back

“For me, and this is the case for all the women participating in this, we see this moment as showing our kids that we showed up, that we stood up for our rights, for our freedom, for our ability to participate in our democracy, and for kids to enjoy the same privileges of that democracy that we did,” Lachapelle said.

She said she often encounters people who feel like the barrier to entry to engaging in politics is too high. But other moms are quickly learning that their skills and their presence is enough to get started. “The spark of hope and the spark of action is a threat,” she said, to an administration that is counting on fear. “It is the thing that helps to inspire people collectively, and the moms participating here are feeling that and they’re all able to bring their own skills and their own abilities to this.”

For most people, the rubble of the East Wing of the White House is the most potent symbol of the utter destruction created by the Trump administration. But for me, it’s 16-year-old Ofelia Torres, a Chicago girl with Stage 4 bone cancer, posing for a portrait in the Chicago Tribunewith her mother, Sandibell Hidalgo, on their living room couch. Her father, Ruben Torres Maldonado, was taken by federal agents in the parking lot of a Home Depot in suburban Niles. The family also includes a 4-year-old boy, Nathan.