Good afternoon, Chicago ✶
Among the slew of executive orders President Donald Trump issued on his first day in office Monday was an effort to end future birthright citizenship for children of immigrants without legal status.
Trump doesn’t have the lone power to end birthright citizenship, and the order is already facing legal challenges.
A federal judge today temporarily blocked the executive order, ruling in a case brought by Illinois, Washington, Arizona and Oregon.
In today’s newsletter, we’re going beyond the headlines for perspective from a Chicagoan whose parents immigrated to the U.S. in the 1990s.
Plus, we’ve got reporting on a nonprofit sparking teens’ interest in directing films, a new mural brightening up a Chicago Lawn viaduct and more community news you need to know. 👇
⏱️: A 7-minute read
— Matt Moore, newsletter reporter
TODAY’S TOP STORY
Chicagoans with birthright citizenship fear for ‘future of millions of others like me’ after Trump’s order
Reporting by Kade Heather
Next gen worries: Audrey Setiawan worries about the next girl like her who has waited all her life to vote in the U.S. The 17-year-old from Lincoln Park said she was “definitely shocked” when President Donald Trump signed an executive order this week aimed at ending birthright citizenship.
An American future: “As a first-generation American, I’m kind of terrified for the future of millions of others like me,” said Setiawan, whose parents immigrated from Indonesia in the 1990s. “America is my home. I could never imagine being born here, living here all my life and not being able to enjoy the right to citizenship.”
Key context: The right guarantees citizenship to anyone born in the U.S. regardless of their parents’ immigration status. It is enshrined in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.
The stakes: If Trump’s order stands, it would block citizenship for children born after Feb. 18 who don’t have at least one U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident parent. Several state attorneys general, including Illinois’ Kwame Raoul, have filed lawsuits against the order.
WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?
- James Beard Awards: As its 35th anniversary approaches, the James Beard Awards announced 22 semifinalist nominations for the 2025 Restaurant and Chef Awards.
- Alleged phone connection: A federal prosecutor told jurors Thursday that then-Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan was involved “from step one” with an allegedly bogus AT&T Illinois contract for a former legislative ally.
- Belvidere to reopen: The automaker Stellantis said it plans to reopen its Belvidere, Illinois, assembly plant to build a new pickup truck, but it will build its next-generation Dodge Durango in Detroit.
- Street race returns: Tickets for NASCAR’s third Chicago Street Race will go on sale Monday.
- Metra seeks bucks for bridges: The commuter rail agency is seeking $230 million from the federal Railroad Rehabilitation & Improvement Financing program to pay for replacing 17 bridges in the Chicago area.
- Oscar nods: The nominees for the 97th Academy Awards were announced Thursday — and past winners Jamie Lee Curtis and Angelina Jolie were among the wickedly snubbed, writes Sun-Times critic Richard Roeper.
- Name a roach: Brookfield Zoo Chicago is once again offering the opportunity to name a cockroach after anyone — perhaps an ex-significant other — for a $15 donation this Valentine’s Day season.
- 3.5 stars for ‘Fat Ham’: Playwright James Ijames plays constantly with two types of expectations — the ones your family places on you and the ones that Shakespeare has placed on all of us in this delicious reinvention, writes Steven Oxman in a review for the Sun-Times.
OUR CITY IN COLOR 🎨
Chicago Lawn mural shines scenes of nature, childhood on gray viaduct underpass
Reporting by Genevieve Bookwalter
As artist Anna Murphy worked on a Chicago Lawn viaduct mural, there were days the paint would freeze.
“I couldn’t paint if it was below 32 degrees,” she says of the mural she finished in December.
Yet, as a result of her work, people passing through the viaduct on 63rd Street at Central Park Avenue are greeted with a fantastical and detailed blue-and-white world on a gold background.
The images — children, forests, critters and flowers — stand in stark contrast to the cold and often gray days of a long Chicago winter.
Murphy says she hopes the mural “inspires people to dream and open their hearts and believe beautiful things are possible.”
BRIGHT ONE ✨
West Side nonprofit gets teens off their phones and into making movies
Reporting by Anna Savchenko | WBEZ
It’s Saturday morning in a West Loop pizza parlor, and the restaurant is packed with teens. There are cameramen, mic operators and actors. The room buzzes with shouted commands and shuffling feet as the cast and crew shoot a short film called “The Last Slice.”
The film follows several teens working in a pizza shop as they plot their revenge against their Gordon Ramsay-esque boss. The storyline was developed by the teens who are starring in and filming the movie.
They’re all part of Luv City, a West Side nonprofit that enrolls teens in film programming to keep them out of trouble in some of Chicago’s most violent neighborhoods.
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Written by: Matt Moore
Editor: Esther Bergdahl
Copy editor: Angie Myers