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Striking a defiant tone, immigrants and their advocates in Chicago responded immediately to President Donald Trump's executive orders Wednesday to jump-start construction of a border wall with Mexico and strip funding for sanctuary cities.

"Our community is strong and united, and we will not live in fear," said Mony Ruiz-Velasco, executive director of the West Suburban Action Project. "Whatever walls Trump wants to build, we will fight to tear them down."

The comments came at a news conference near the Chicago Immigration Court and Department of Homeland Security headquarters in downtown Chicago shortly after Trump signed the orders during a ceremony in Washington. He had just honored Homeland Security's newly confirmed secretary, retired Gen. John Kelly.

Roughly 50 people turned out to urge city leaders to resist Trump's deportation policies, maintain Chicago's sanctuary status and call on community members to organize.

"We are here to tell the new administration that we are going to fight back," said Jude Ssempungu, a board member at the United African Organization. "We are not going to retreat in fear."

Trump said his executive actions on immigration show that "beginning today," the U.S. will get back "control of its border."

The administration will be working in partnership with Mexico to improve safety and economic opportunity for both countries and will have "close coordination" with Mexico to address drug smuggling, he said.

"We're going to save lives on both sides of the border," Trump said.

The National Border Patrol Council, which represents U.S. Border Patrol employees, praised Trump on Twitter, saying it is "a new day for border security and immigration enforcement."

The union, which said it represents 16,500 employees, endorsed Trump for president.

Chris Cabrera, a spokesman for the union, said the group was encouraged by Trump's executive orders.

"It's about time we get this border secured," Cabrera said.

The union feels Border Patrol agents have been constricted "for years," and have been waiting for change, Cabrera said.

"It looks like he's going to hold up his end of the deal and get things done," Cabrera said.

But Trump's orders also prompted criticism, including from national groups.

The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism released a statement calling the border wall "a deeply misguided means of addressing the very real challenges facing our immigration system."

"Instead of myopically prioritizing border security alone, we need immigration policies that holistically fulfill our national security imperatives, meet the needs of employers and workers, and unite and strengthen families," the statement said.

Local attorneys also expressed dismay over the orders.

Michael Jarecki, vice chairman of the American Immigration Lawyers Association's Chicago chapter, said, "It's pretty disappointing the president wants to focus on an enforcement-only approach.

"We need to fix the broken immigration system and find a way and a path forward for individuals who are here," Jarecki said.

At the protest in Chicago, a diverse coalition of immigrant rights and community-based organizations took turns denouncing Trump's orders.

"These policies don't work. They don't make us safer. They do the opposite they make us targets of government policy and of racist hate crimes," said Hatem Abudayyeh, executive director of the Arab American Action Network. "They make immigrant and black communities in this country unsafe."

Abudayyeh said the event was one of many steps the immigration activists are taking to protect "the most vulnerable targets of Trump's agenda."

"None of this is a surprise. Our communities have been bracing themselves for this announcement for a while now and gearing up for resistance to racist, xenophobic and Islamophobic policies from a president who doesn't have a mandate from the people."

Activists from various organizations including Black Lives Matter Chicago, Organized Communities Against Deportations and the Council On American-Islamic Relations also participated in the event. People held signs that read, "Immigrants Are Welcome Here" and "No Ban, No Wall," and "We Will Resist."

"As we fight for change on the federal level, we demand intervention on the local level here in Chicago," said Becky Belcore, of the Korean American Resource and Cultural Center. "Chicago must be a welcoming city for all immigrants and refugees and all targeted communities, and by all, we mean all of our people."

Van Huynh, of Asian Americans Advancing Justice in Chicago, said Trump's immigration policies are a "haunting reminder" of the Chinese Exclusion Act of the 1880s and the Japanese internment camps established during World War II.

"These policies tear families apart and jeopardizes our values as a nation," she said. "I think we're sort of taking steps backwards. A couple of years ago, we were talking about immigration reform, ... and now all of a sudden, we're taking this very expansive role in keeping everyone out."

Associated Press contributed.

nmoreno@chicagotribune.com

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Immigrants, advocates vow to fight Trump orders on wall, sanctuary cities - Chicago Tribune