Cost of Immigration Enforcement in Cook County, IL Report News Conference

The University of Illinois Chicago’s Great Cities Institute held a news conference on September 8, 2026, to release its new report, Hunkering Down: The Hidden Economic Cost of Federal Immigration Enforcement in Cook County, IL. The report examines how heightened federal immigration enforcement beginning in January 2025 changed patterns of commercial activity across Cook County. Researchers found that residents of neighborhoods with relatively high shares of Latin America–born residents substantially reduced trips to retail stores and restaurants in other parts of the county. The study estimates that this decline in “cross-community” trips corresponded to approximately $1.26 billion in foregone retail and restaurant activity during the first year of heightened enforcement, along with approximately $107 million in foregone local sales-tax revenue. The news conference featured remarks from: • Toni Preckwinkle, President, Cook County Board of Commissioners • Matthew D. Wilson, Ph.D., Senior Associate Director, Great Cities Institute, University of Illinois Chicago; report co-author • José Miguel Acosta-Córdova, Ph.D., Policy Manager, Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus Foundation; Post-Doctoral Research Associate, Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy, University of Illinois Chicago; report co-author • Arne Duncan, Managing Partner, Chicago CRED • Ricardo “Ric” Estrada, President and CEO, Metropolitan Family Services • Rebecca Shi, CEO, American Business Immigration Coalition Action Read the full report and learn more about the findings: https://greatcities.uic.edu/news-stor...