Organizers of El Grito Chicago, a two-day Mexican Independence Day festival scheduled to take place downtown Chicago next weekend, have announced that the event will be postponed as the city braces for increased immigration enforcement from the federal government.

German Gonzalez, the lead organizer of the event, told the Tribune that the choice to postpone the Sept. 13-14 festival was made following safety recommendations from the state of Illinois, city of Chicago officials and community leaders. Last year, 24,000 people attended the celebration.

“It’s a real sadness what is happening, but we strongly feel like this is the right decision (to cancel the event),” Gonzalez said. He added that the reaction has been “overwhelmingly positive and hopeful.”

Gov. JB Pritzker said he expects i

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