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On a cool morning, teachers in a working classroom at Nash Elementary School chicago The neighborhood welcomed the students with loud cheers and hugs, while also distributing leaflets boldly declaring: “Defend your rights under the threat of occupation.”
President for four weeks donald trumpThe ‘Operation Midway Blitz’ deportation campaign, a citywide mass arrests — wiping out parents and entire families on their way to school — has instilled fear in immigrant communities and a defensive stance among city leaders, the teachers union, parents and teachers. immigration Advocacy.
Under Trump’s orders, about 500 National Guard troops began deploying near Chicago on Wednesday.
“My Latino students, they’re afraid of everything,” said Yaritza Santana, a science teacher at Nash Elementary. “They are afraid they will be bused away.”
Lesson Plan: ‘Know Your Rights’
The Department of Homeland Security said it has arrested 1,000 people in the Chicago area since Sept. 8, when the deportation campaign began.
“Operations around schools are becoming increasingly common,” said city Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez. “This has caused a lot of fear and panic in schools.”
While Chicago Public Schools designated schools as “sanctuary spaces” in 2019, barring ICE agents from entering without a warrant, the halo of protection does not apply on the way to and from school, leaving immigrants at risk of ICE arrest, advocates say.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a press release Tuesday that ICE officers do not target schools, but did not answer specific questions. reuters,
The increased presence of federal agents has generated a variety of reactions from teachers — from street protests to ‘know your rights’ leaflets and lesson plans — according to a dozen reuters Interviews with teachers, parents, the city mayor, the teachers union president and local MPs.
The leaflet advised students that they have the right to remain silent and demand a lawyer, as well as the right to prevent officers and agents from accessing their home without a warrant.
The teachers union is also pressing Chicago Public Schools for e-learning options so students without legal immigration status don’t have to leave their homes, said Stacey Davis Gates, president of the Chicago Teachers Union.
“People should not be afraid to come to school,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said in an interview. reuters“I have made sure that our Chicago Public Schools and all of our public institutions are very clear about the rights that we have and the rights that we have to protect.”
E-learning for immigrant children
Johnson said e-learning is not ideal but he will use “every single tool” he has to protect Chicago residents, including the courts and his executive authority as mayor.
Educators said high-profile patrols in areas popular with tourists and standoffs with protesters — including an Oct. 3 case where ICE agents fired tear gas near an elementary school — are increasing tensions between federal agents and residents and anxiety among schoolchildren.
some teachers reuters Those spoken to said they saw students embracing each other, promising that immigration officials would not separate them; A high school student was brought to tears as she asked her teacher what happened to a missing relative of hers who was believed to be in an ICE detention center; And a class of worried faces during a “Know Your Rights” training.
A school in suburban Franklin Park, Illinois, went into soft lockdown after Silverio Villegas Gonzalez, a father of two, was shot and killed by ICE officers after dropping his children off at daycare and school. Top Illinois officials called for an investigation into his murder, which DHS said was justified.
“I’m not going to lie, I’m afraid. But I’m also very angry, and that anger fuels me,” said Anna Lane, who teaches social studies at Thomas Kelly Preparatory, a high school where most of the students are Latino.
Lane said she recently spent about an hour at a “know your rights” training for her students.
“You’re not going anywhere,” she told students in a classroom decorated with maps and flags. “You’re living here. You just have to make sure you’re informed and know your rights.”
But fear may be keeping some students away. According to Chicago Public Schools enrollment, the number of English language learners dropped to 86,172 from 88,807 the previous year, a decrease of 2.7%. dataHowever, English learners still make up about one-quarter of all CPS students.
Erica Mendoza, a Mexican immigrant with no legal status and single mother of two U.S.-born children attending Chicago schools, began to cry as she described her concerns about ICE in her home in Little Village, one of Chicago’s largest Latino enclaves.
“I feel very scared when it comes to sending my daughters to school,” Mendoza said in Spanish through an interpreter. “I’m scared, but it’s important to be strong. I don’t want to pass on my worries to my daughters.”