President Donald Trump's plan to dispatch National Guard troops and immigration agents into Chicago has put many Latino residents on edge, prompting some to carry their U.S. passports while giving others pause about openly celebrating the upcoming Mexican Independence Day.

Though the holiday falls on Sept. 16, celebrations in Chicago span more than a week and draw hundreds of thousands of participants. Festivities will kick off with a Saturday parade through the heavily Mexican Pilsen neighborhood and continue with car caravans and lively street parties.

But this year the typically joyful period coincides with Trump's threats to add Chicago to the list of other Democrat-led cities he has targeted for expanded federal enforcement. His administration has said it will step up immigration enforcement in Chicago, as it did in Los Angeles, and would deploy National Guard troops to help fight crime. In addition to sending troops to Los Angeles in June, Trump deployed them last month in Washington, D.C., as part of his unprecedented law enforcement takeover of the nation’s capital.

Although details about the promised Chicago operation have been sparse, local opposition is already widespread and includes suburban communities with their own bases of immigrant communities. State and city leaders have said they plan to sue the Trump administration.

The extended Mexican Independence Day celebrations reflect the size and vitality of Chicago’s Mexican American community. Mexicans make up more than one-fifth of the city’s total population and about 74% of its Latino residents, according to 2022 U.S. Census estimates.

In Pilsen and Little Village, two of the city's best-known neighborhoods with restaurants, businesses and cultural ties to Mexican culture, residents expressed disappointment at the fear and anxiety the potential federal intervention was instilling within the community during a time of year usually characterized by joy, togetherness and celebration of Mexican American culture and heritage.

Fabio Fernandez, 39, owner of 3W We Will Win, an art and T-shirt company with a residency at a Pilsen streetwear shop, called it “troubling” and “disheartening” that potential federal intervention was impacting Mexican Independence Day celebrations

“So there's anxiety, there's uncertainty. And at the same time, traffic around these areas has not been the same in general. And so even the small businesses here feel it,” said Fernandez.

Alejandro Vences, 30, became a U.S. citizen this year, “so it does give me a little bit of comfort during these times,” he said while eating pozole verde at 5 Rabanitos, a local Mexican restaurant, on Friday afternoon.

Still, he said the anxiety is palpable.

“It's still something that kind of makes us feel alien, even if we aren't,” said Vences.