Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications warned of heightened traffic downtown this weekend as the city prepares to celebrate Mexican Independence Day.

The city said multiple events and parades will begin Friday and continue through Tuesday, including Mexican Independence Day parades in the Little Village neighborhood and on Commercial Avenue on Sunday. Other large events include the Lakeview East Festival of the Arts on Saturday and Sunday, and Lady Gaga concerts at the United Center next week.

As the threat of an immigration crackdown has escalated under President Donald Trump’s “Operation Midway Blitz,” the fate of the city’s large and culturally significant Mexican Independence Day celebrations seem to be in flux . The downtown festival, El Grito

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