A constitution college community on the Southwest Facet of Chicago knowledgeable mother and father that an grownup was detained Wednesday morning by federal immigration officers exterior a college constructing when dropping youngsters off for sophistication.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers didn’t instantly affirm the motion.
Advocates say this can be the primary time since President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown began in January that ICE has detained a person as youngsters had been arriving or leaving a Chicago college. The Trump administration final month mentioned it will permit brokers to make arrests at colleges, church buildings and hospitals, ending a coverage in impact since 2011. Nonetheless, Chicago college leaders have pledged to not permit ICE brokers inside colleges besides after they have a correct legal arrest warrant.
Arrests close to colleges are one thing mother and father have feared, whilst they’ve been assured their youngsters could be protected as soon as they’re at school, mentioned Andrea Ortiz, director of organizing for the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council.
“It’s actually terrifying for households and traumatizing for college kids,” she mentioned.
Acero Colleges, the constitution college community that knowledgeable mother and father concerning the scenario, mentioned it’s offering assist for these immediately impacted.
“We perceive how annoying and upsetting that is to our college communities,” community officers wrote in a message to folks on Wednesday.
Within the communication to folks, Acero officers mentioned at 8:15 a.m., brokers from ICE and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives approached a person in a automobile exterior of Soto Excessive College at 5025 S. St Louis Ave. in Gage Park.
Workers from the college escorted two college students from the automobile into college and nobody was damage, based on the communication to folks. Soto Excessive College is on the identical campus as an Acero elementary college, so it’s unclear what college the youngsters attended. A person was detained, based on the Acero letter.
Acero Chief Tradition Officer Helena Stangle mentioned in an announcement that workers adopted protocols. She mentioned Acero has a civil rights useful resource hub on its web site and usually shares details about “know your rights” periods that oldsters can attend.
The constitution college community pledged to folks that it’s going to proceed monitoring “exercise to make sure the most secure atmosphere for all our college students.”
Acero has seen a decline in typical attendance charges by as a lot as 4% since January, although Stangle mentioned within the assertion they don’t know if that is totally attributable to the Trump administration’s threats of mass deportation.
Ortiz mentioned it’s “comforting to see that college directors have acted quick and have moved to attach households to assets and safe the protection of their households.” After the preliminary wave of worry proper after Trump’s inauguration, she mentioned households had been beginning to really feel extra snug sending their youngsters to highschool.
Now, she worries this incident will “refuel these fears.” Nonetheless, Ortiz mentioned she hopes individuals will perceive that the neighborhood will be “extra highly effective than ICE.”
The “neighborhood is dedicated to making sure households really feel ready and prepared on this combat,” she mentioned.
Sarah Karp covers training for WBEZ. Observe her on X @WBEZeducation and @sskedreporter.
