Migrant communities in cities from New York to Chicago and Los Angeles remain on edge after President Donald Trump vowed to start mass deportations and issued orders including handing immigration agents power to enter churches and schools,

Here & Now 's host Lisa Mullins speaks with Chicago Alderman Raymond Lopez, a Democrat, about why he wants to work with President Trump's administration on immigration. Chicago is a sanctuary city and currently bans local police from working with federal immigration officials.

Immigrants in Chicago and other U.S. cities have been preparing for immigration arrests since President-elect Donald Trump won the November election.

Immigration czar Tom Homan said Monday that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement had “pulled back” a reported Chicago operation, after news of the potential plan leaked over the weekend, but that Americans will see the agency in action “real soon.

The second busiest retail corridor in Chicago is typically a bustling area dotted with taquerias and Mexican grocery stores in the southwestern part of the city. By Monday afternoon it had turned into a ghost town.

A bustling shopping district in Chicago known as the “Mexico of the Midwest” has seen foot traffic plummet by 50% — as residents say they fear the immigration raids promised by President Trump. The sidewalks were empty and some businesses were closed along a two-mile stretch of shops and restaurants on 26th Street in Chicago’s Little Village — the Windy City’s second busiest retail corridor — as Trump was sworn into office Monday.

Activists monitoring for immigration arrests said they had seen no activity, but the threat of deportations continues and the local community should remain alert.