Loyola University students use Google Maps to verify and track immigration enforcement sightings, collaborating with other newsrooms amid rising community fear.
CHICAGO: Student journalists at Loyola University Chicago are using digital maps to document and verify sightings of federal immigration agents.
The team from The Phoenix newspaper updates a Google Map with red pins marking each confirmed sighting near campus and surrounding neighbourhoods.
Editor-in-chief Lilli Malone said the project aims to counter online rumours with verified facts for a worried community.
“People were scared, and they needed someone to verify what was real,” Malone said.
The initiative began in early October after panic spread over immigration enforcement under the Trump administration.
Students verify each pin using photos, timestamped videos, or multiple eyewitness accounts before adding it to the map.
Notes detail specific incidents, such as “Multiple armed agents were spotted at the 1200 block of West North Shore Avenue midday” on October 12.
A U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed to Reuters that Border Patrol conducted operations at the mapped locations.
The operation follows the launch of DHS’s Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago in early September.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker called the blitz “unlawful and unwarranted,” and a new state law allows residents to sue federal agents for civil rights violations.
DHS stated the operation targets violent criminals and has led to over 4,300 arrests.
“Our efforts remain ongoing, we aren’t leaving Chicago,” a DHS spokesperson said.
Similar tracking efforts have emerged at other Chicago universities, including the University of Chicago and DePaul University.
At DePaul, staff built an ICE WhatsApp channel with nearly 3,200 followers for sharing sightings and rights information.
This student work is part of a broader wave of local mobilisation and journalistic collaboration across the city.
Reporters from different outlets now share leads and safety tips through encrypted systems, prioritising coverage over competition.
“More of us is better,” said Maira Khwaja of the Invisible Institute, a local journalism nonprofit.
Chicago Tribune senior editor Erika Slife, who leads immigration coverage, acknowledges the shift from a traditional scoop culture.
“It’s more important to be right,” Slife now tells her reporters. “We may not always be first, but we’ll do it best.”
