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A federal company’s presence at a Chicago elementary faculty Friday amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown provoked worry and led faculty district officers to level the finger at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
However in line with a U.S. Secret Service spokesman, it was a Secret Service agent who was on the faculty as a part of an investigation, ABC7 reported.
Chicago Public Colleges officers on Friday afternoon stated employees at Hamline Elementary in Again of The Yards blocked ICE brokers from getting into the predominantly Latino faculty at about 11:15 a.m.
An ICE spokesman, nonetheless, informed the Chicago Solar-Occasions the company was not concerned. CPS CEO Pedro Martinez informed MSNBC that brokers recognized themselves as ICE to high school employees.
ICE and Secret Service spokespeople haven’t responded to Chalkbeat’s requests for remark.
The worry, confusion, and conflicting accounts may very well be a preview of what’s to come back within the weeks forward at colleges with giant immigrant populations now that longstanding protections are gone.
Earlier this week, the Trump administration cleared the best way for immigration enforcement at or close to colleges, church buildings, and different “delicate” places which have been thought-about off-limits for years.
CPS chief schooling officer Bogdana Chkoumbova stated faculty employees adopted district protocols and turned brokers away. District coverage is to not enable ICE into colleges until the brokers current a legal judicial warrant signed by a federal decide.
Chkoumbova stated faculty employees contacted CPS’s authorized and safety departments for assist and didn’t enable the brokers to talk to college students or staffers.
The morning’s occasions despatched ripples of worry via Hamline Elementary in Again of The Yards, a Ok-8 faculty that’s 92% Latino and the place greater than 68% of the scholar inhabitants are thought-about English learners, a quantity that grew by 20% over the previous decade. Because the information swirled via the college and the neighborhood, a handful of oldsters and guardians got here to the college within the frigid chilly; a few folks seemed to be taking their kids out of faculty early for the day.
Natasha Ortega, principal of Hamline, stated the college’s safety staff adopted “the protocols that we’ve been skilled [on] and practiced and have mentioned.” Ortega expressed gratitude to her employees for “making certain the protection” of scholars.
One Hamline staffer, who requested anonymity, stated the college went right into a 30-minute lockdown through the incident. CPS officers didn’t instantly verify the lockdown.
Rumors have been swirling all week that Chicago – a so-called sanctuary metropolis – could be the goal of elevated immigration enforcement within the wake of President Donald Trump taking workplace. Trump has already signed a sequence of govt orders geared toward immigration, together with eliminating the “delicate location” coverage that required U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, referred to as ICE brokers, to get approval to conduct arrests at or close to colleges and church buildings.
The Trump administration has additionally ordered the Division of Justice to research and probably cost native officers who don’t cooperate with immigration enforcement. CPS doesn’t ask for or observe college students’ immigration standing, and late final 12 months the Board of Schooling authorized a decision reaffirming the district’s intention to guard immigrant college students.
Since final week, CPS has issued steering to high school employees and households about what to do if ICE brokers come to a campus constructing.
Earlier this week, district CEO Pedro Martinez informed Chalkbeat that households shouldn’t be afraid to ship their kids to high school. Regardless of the reassurances, unfounded rumors of ICE raids at different Chicago colleges have circulated.
CPS reiterated it is not going to share pupil info with ICE, “besides within the uncommon case the place there’s a courtroom order or consent from a mother or father or guardian.”
Exterior Hamline, Chicago Lecturers Union President Stacy Davis Gates informed reporters that the union has been engaged on initiatives and coaching since Trump’s first time period to assist employees learn about their rights associated to immigration.
“Colleges are for youngsters; colleges are open for youngsters,” she stated. “We’re gonna work our hardest to make it possible for our youngsters and their households know that they’ll come on this place with our members and really feel each supported and guarded – not simply bodily, however emotionally and mentally as effectively.”
Gloria Marquez, a lifelong Again of the Yards resident and mom of two Hamline college students, got here to the college simply earlier than 1 p.m. after listening to about what was occurring. Marquez declined to take her kids out early and stated she wasn’t frightened of immigration brokers. However she expressed anger on the considered immigration enforcement exhibiting up, saying that if somebody is “not a legal, then they don’t deserve to return” to their native nation.
Marquez stated the worry of elevated immigration enforcement has been palpable within the neighborhood. An area retailer she frequents was far emptier than normal on Friday. Individuals are not strolling round “like they used to,” she stated.
Earlier this week, Marquez stated she acquired an e mail from the principal noting that the college’s attendance was about 60% on Wednesday and questioned if mother and father have been hesitant to ship their children to high school. The lengthy weekend and chilly climate may be elements.
Reema Amin is a reporter protecting Chicago Public Colleges. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.