As another year on staff with the Associated Press came to a close, I looked through my images from 2025 and reflected.

Immigration enforcement dominated the news in Illinois, with President Trump’s focus on sending ICE, border patrol and National Guard troops to “sanctuary cities,” including Chicago. Whether it was covering protest after protest outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Broadview, tailing immigration officers on lawfully questionable raids, watching broken-hearted family members search for pieces of information about their loved ones, to interviewing Senior U.S. Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino: a man of short stature with a big personality and loquacious Twitter feed.

Most meaningful was connecting with those affected by the crackdown, following those left in shock by the sudden disappearance of family members — or the fear of — and searching for answers.

There was an abundance of sports, of course, which saw the Chicago Cubs make a postseason run only to fall to the Milwaukee Brewers. White Sox diehards almost forgot about their team’s record in 2025 as new Pope Leo XIV was revealed to hail from the Chicago area and be a devoted White Sox fan.

A pleasantly surprising season has left football fans awaiting a playoff run for the Chicago Bears.

While I enjoy those sports pictures, too, I know the political climate is not going to cool off any time soon, so I’m preparing for another year of uncertainty and hard work. I hope for the strength, empathy and skills necessary to do justice to those whose stories find me in 2026.