Blow the Whistle

CHICAGO — “Close your door!” yelled what sounded like the frantic voice of a woman amid a chorus of others shouting, car horns honking, and the steady trill of whistles on a residential block in Chicago.

At first, I wasn’t sure whether the video was real or an AI-generated attempt to stoke fear in the community.

It didn’t take long for me to understand what was going on. During a November trip to Chicago, I attended a performance of Las Borinqueñas at a small theater just northwest of downtown, where a large glass jar near the entrance held small plastic whistles packaged and accompanied by a simple message: Free Whistles! Do You See ICE Agents? BLOW YOUR WHISTLE!!!

What began as an improvised, block-level warning system in recent months in cities like Chicago has evolved into a coordinated tactic appearing across the country, where immigration enforcement has intensified. Residents are turning to whistles as a rapid, low-cost way to alert neighbors in real time — independent of social media platforms that can be monitored, restricted, or removed.

Organizers are turning to 3D printing to help produce whistles cheaply and locally. In Minnesota, where thousands of federal agents in December launched Operation Metro Surge — a concentrated Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) campaign that turned deadly with the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti — whistles have circulated across the region through shared printer files and distribution efforts at local businesses, the Star Tribune reports.

Elsewhere in Monterey County, California, volunteers have come together to assemble thousands of whistle kits for distribution through churches and community groups. And in Los Angeles, artist Hector Flores, co-founder of Las Cafeteras, told Fox 11 that he’s helped with the effort by placing whistles in neighborhood coffee shops, such as Café de Leche in the city’s Highland Park neighborhood.

In Chicago, community organizer Alonso Zaragoza helped scale the tactic through a series of “Whistlemania” events held across the northwest and west sides of the city throughout the fall. He says he began hearing about the whistle as a warning tool during the summer on social media, viewing footage from Los Angeles when the city experienced a wave of federal immigration enforcement. He thought whistles could be effective in Chicago.

“We expected maybe 30 or 40 people to show up,” recalls Zaragoza. 

Instead, the first event drew nearly 400 residents, and within two months Zaragoza estimates roughly 250,000 whistles have circulated through coordinated neighborhood efforts involving dozens of local businesses where folks could pick up whistle kits, often prominently displayed, packaged in plastic ziplock bags with printed instructions for folks to grab.

In Belmont Cragin, Whistlemania events also incidentally generated income for participating businesses, with Zaragoza estimating that seven distribution sites brought in roughly $50,000 in sales in one evening. He says the broader economic impact of intensified enforcement has fallen heavily on businesses tied to public events — banquet halls, party rental companies, boutique designers, and quinceañera decorators — with some reporting revenue declines of 80 to 90 percent over the past year as large gatherings have slowed.

The whistle does not eliminate that fear. But across the country, it has become one small, portable response — passed neighbor to neighbor as communities adapt in real time.

The system is simple. Code 1 is defined by short bursts that signal that immigration agents are in the area. Code 2, or “Code Red,” is issued in long blasts to indicate an active detention and to prompt those who feel safe to form a crowd, make lots of noise, and document the encounter.

As whistles spread, organizers began including printed instructions and bilingual zines in distribution kits so residents would know how to use them consistently. Without guidance, some people had blown them casually or treated them like toys, Zaragoza said, creating confusion about when the alarm signaled danger.

The whistle serves an additional purpose: “It's also letting the agents know we're watching you,” Zaragoza says.

The whistle’s appeal is not just its simplicity. It is also what it does not require. It does not depend on an app, a login, or a social media post. It does not create a digital record tied to a user account.

As immigration enforcement has intensified, organizers say their online activity has drawn scrutiny, complicating efforts to rely on digital platforms for alerts.

Last October, Marimar Martinez, a U.S. citizen, was shot five times by a Border Patrol agent during Chicago’s Operation Midway Blitz while she was inside her vehicle. Days earlier, a Customs and Border Protection investigation report had identified Martinez as a “threat” after she reshared a post from an ICE watch Facebook page. The report says her photo and information were circulated to federal authorities using Department of Homeland Security databases.

A federal civil rights lawsuit filed this month in the Northern District of Illinois by Cicero jewelry seller Kassandra Rosado alleges her First Amendment rights were violated when Facebook removed the “ICE Sighting–Chicagoland” page she created, which had more than 80,000 members. The complaint also names the Kreisau Group LLC, operated by Indiana resident Mark Hodges, and alleges Apple removed his “Eyes Up” app from its store. Federal officials have denied maintaining a database of protesters.

Federal authorities say whistles will not hinder enforcement operations. Even so, they have become a fixture in neighborhoods where residents are seeking ways to warn one another in real time.

Serena Maria Daniels is a Chicana journalist based in Detroit and the founder of Midwest Mexican. Her bylines have appeared in Reuters, NPR, HuffPost, the Chicago Tribune, and The Detroit News, and she is the former editor of Eater Detroit and the founder of Tostada Magazine.

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