Pall of ICE spoils weekend celebrations in Chicago: ‘I think people are just scared’

Despite Illinois governor's plea to let families celebrate Halloween and Dia de los Muertos, agents used pepper spray and continued to arrest people

For 40-year-old Cecilia Romero, the days before and after Halloween are not just any other holiday. It's the time of year when she can take her kids trick-or-treating in the neighborhood she's from - and a connection to her own past when she would go celebrate as a little girl.

She remembers years of streets brimming with families and children, with street vendors selling food and cempasuchil, the marigolds that loved ones place on altars for Day of the Dead - or Dia de los Muertos - from 1 to 2 November.