Chicagoans of all backgrounds protested at the Donald Trump rally Friday night.

Who were the some of people who protested inside and outside the rally?

They came from all racial and ethnic backgrounds. And they were there to voice their opposition to a candidate that they said has stirred hate, xenophobia and division in the U.S.

Thousands of protesters, driven largely by students at the University of Illinois at Chicago, marched outside the rally. They gathered earlier in the afternoon with handmade signs on the campus quad.

One sign read, “Yes I am a Mexican. …

What Donald Trump can expect to see in Chicago is the largest protest against his presidential candidacy to date.

Around 50,000 people signed a MoveOn.org petition to protest Trump’s visit to the University of Illinois at Chicago. The protest will take place at a parking lot across from the UIC Pavilion.

How many will physically show up to protest is unknown.

If you look at the history of protest in this city, it shows that we have mobilized some of the biggest protests in modern U.S. history.

For the 1968 Democratic Convention tens of thousands protested the Vietnam War. Police beat and gassed demonstrators in what was called “The Battle of Michigan Avenue.” …

Pope Francis is on his first trip to Mexico.

On his way to meet with the president of Mexico, he first stopped Saturday morning to greet the elderly, kiss babies and bless the sick on the streets of Mexico City.

But in a country that is majority Catholic there isn’t a lot of faith that he will make a difference.

The value of the peso has plummeted to 5 cents, the approval rating of Mexico’s president Enrique Peña Nieto is at an all-time low and the disappearance and presumed killing of 43 students has yet to be solved after more than a year. …

MEXICO CITY — The faces of actors Sean Penn and Kate del Castillo have been plastered all over the newspapers this week in Mexico City.

Castillo, a well known Mexican actress who played a drug queen in a telenovela, helped Penn arrange an interview with Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman that was published in Rolling Stone magazine over the weekend.

In the United States, much of the controversy has been around whether Penn is a journalist and how Rolling Stone gave El Chapo approval to review the piece, an unethical practice in journalism.

Some journalists, including Alfredo Corchado, have said Penn insults the memory of Mexican journalists who have been slain by narcotraffickers trying to cover that story. …

From my living room in Chicago, I have been glued to The Weather Channel all morning watching the track of Patricia, at 200 mph the strongest hurricane ever recorded.

Later tonight it is expected to make landfall somewhere between Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo. This stretch of western Mexico is dotted with small beach towns that I know well.

La Manzanilla, Barra de Navidad and Melaque, are part of a region called the Costalegre, ironically the Happy Coast. This is a region that I consider my second home.

These communities are Mexican fishing villages but they also are home to thousands of American and Canadian expatriates. Some are retired and live there year-round, and thousands more head south to spend the winter months in these small coastal villages. …

In Pope Francis’ visit to the U.S. he has spoken on many topics from helping the homelessness to supporting immigrants and against climate change.

I agree with his stance on these issues.

He reminds us that Jesus was homeless and how most Americans have immigrant roots. He compels us to take care of our planet. He tells us to care for the most vulnerable among us. He asks us to welcome the stranger.

But when the Pope speaks about marriage and abortion, I cringe.

I’m pro-choice and for equal rights to marriage for all people. …

Pitbull press photo by Randall Slavin

By Teresa Puente

A new poll found that most Latinos disapprove of Donald Trump’s offensive comments about Mexicans and don’t support him for president.

But he somehow thinks that Latinos will vote for him.

So in the style of David Letterman, who came up with his own awesome Top Ten list about Trump, I have created one too.

10. Trump suggested most Mexicans coming to the U.S. are rapists and criminals.

We know this is a mentira, a lie, plain and simple. Studies show immigrants are less likely to commit crimes.

9. He’s now called for a boycott of Mexico. …

Photo by Michael Vadon via Creative Commons

By Teresa Puente

The worst thing about Donald Trump is that he has built his empire on the backs of immigrant workers, including some undocumented.

He told CNN Wednesday that he can’t guarantee that all of his workers have legal status.

He was sued by Polish workers, including some undocumented, who were underpaid or not paid to build Trump Tower in New York 35 years ago, according to The Daily Beast. And The Washington Post reported this week on immigrant workers building his new hotel in Washington, D.C., …