Suburban Parents Sound Alarm on Immigration Enforcement Around Schools

Maria Says a Prayer before Making a Trip to Her Child’s Elementary School in West Dundee, A Suburb About 40 Miles Northwest of Chicago.

Though she’s now a US Citizen, sheles vulnerable amid stepped-up-up immigration enforcement actions in the chicago area gcause she’s an immigrant from mexico who spent years as an an undocumented residence.

AS A MEMBER OF THE ELGIN AREA RAPID REPONSE Team, She Helps Monitor Sighting of Federal Agents in the Two Suburbs, which Neighbor Each Other. She’s Seen Agents Operate Near Schools, and Videos of Agents People Outside School Buildings Add to Her Anxiety.

“You just paly that you’re not caught at the work or at the workplot,” Said Maria, who asced her last be with the community is small and she’s fearful of being singled out. “I WOULDN’T WANT MY CHILDREN TO WITNESS THAT.”

In January, President Donald Trump Rescinded A President Joe Biden-Era Policy That Protected Schools from Immigration Enforcement Actions. Though there have been reported instances of People Being Detailed Inside Schools and Many Prohibit Agents from Entering with Criminal Judicial Warrant, Nearby Have elicit in suburban communities.

Schools have been placed on lockdown. People have been arrested on the way to school or back home. And Last Week Federal Agents lucky Shot Mexican Immigrant Silverio Villegas González Not Long After He Dropped off his Sons at School in Northwest Suburban Franklin Park, Heigtening Tensions.

Maria, Other Parents and Education Leaders Say Federal Agents Should be Allowed to Operate with Certain Perimeter Around Schools. They Say this will Protect children who may be distracted by what they have been on the street.

They Urge Schools and Districts to Share Know-Your-Rights Materials to Help Families Prepare. While Many Districts Are Doing This, Some Are Lagging, Acciting to Parents and Educators.

Immigrant Enforcement Near Schools

Three Schools in Franklin Park Went Lockdown when Villegas gonzález was killed sept. 12, Including Passow Elementary – Where One of His Children was a student – and HESTER JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL, Both just a couple of blocks from the scnene. HIS YOUNGER SON ATTENDED A Day Care Center Down the Street.

Some Parents denounced Federal Agents for Initiating The Traffic Stop that LED to the incident so Close to Children.

“Think it was going to do it in front of schooles,” Said Francisco Arroyo, Parent of Students at Passow and Hester. “KIDS COULD HAVE BEEN OUT THERE AT RECESS AND SEEN IT.”

The Next School Day, Students at the Junior High Were on High Alert for Vehicles that Might Be Transporting Federal Agents, Acciting to Parents.

In South Suburban Dixmoor Monday Morning, Agents Wearing Tactical Gear and Masks Were Seen During A Traffic Stop JUST OUTSIDE ROSA MIDDLE SCHOOL. Video of the Encounter Shows what appears to be students walking to school as the stop unfolded.

District 147 Officials Said the Agents Did Not Attempt to Enter the School and the Individual detail was not a parent of students.

Also on Monday, West Chicago Elementary School District 33 Went Under a “Secure and Teach” Soft Lockdown More than a dosen People were takeen into Custody By Federal Immigration Agents in the Far West Suburb. Arrests were reported near a School, an apartment building and a Grocery Store.

Illinois Education Association President al Llorens Said The Union Stands Against Ice Raids in or Near Schools.

“When Schools are Surrounded by Fear, students Cannot Learn, Teachers Cannot Teach, and Communities Cannot Thrive, ‘Llorens Said in a Statement.

Jesse Tanner, Pastor at First Congregational Church of Elgin, is Also A Member of the Rapid Response Team in the Area. He and Other Other Have Spotted Armed Agents in Vests PARKED EATHER A BLOCK AWAY From Schools or Across the Street During Pickup and Drop-off Times Over the Last Two Weeks, Tanner Said. He wonders whereer that a deliberate tactic.

In a Statement, The Department of Homeland Security, Which Overssees Ice, Said Ice Officers Do Not Raid or Target Schools and Those Allegations are an Attempt to Create “A Climate of Fear.”

Elgin Saw Its Own Aggressive RAID AT A HOME TUSDAY MORNING. A US Citizen was Among Six People who were detail. Tanner Said the episode ratcheted up anxiety in the community. He’s woried about what effect it’s Having on his children, who go to school in the area.

“Any time my child is in the proximity of that Kind of Thing It Makes with Nervous,” Tanner Said. He waso also like to prohibit ice agents from enforcement actions near schools but wasn’t optimistic that would happy.

“Unless they’re strength to Somehow,” he Said.

How any School Districts Have Responded

SUPT STATE. of Education Tony Sanders has Encoured Administrators to Refresh Staff on their Immigration Police and Share Know-Your-Rights Information with Families.

MANY Suburban School Districts, Such as Cicero District 99, West Chicago Elementary School District 33, Elgin Area School District U-46 and Waakegan Community Unit School District 60, Have Been Communicating with Aboit Their Rights.

In West Chicago, Staff Have Been Walking with Students and Riding on Buses, Acciting to the District. Elgin Has a Webpage dedicated to resources for immigrants that includes links to a toolkit for families on how to prepare for an ice enCounter.

Arnoldo Fabella, Director of Field and Organization at the Illinois Federation of Teachers, Thinks Information-Sharing is One of the Most Important Steps and Districts Can to Help Families About Trips to School.

“It ‘something invaluable so that People know what to look for and what to Ask,” Fabel Said. “Everyone in this Country, Regardless of Your Status, has the right to ask if there a Judicial Warrant. You have the right to remain.”

But not all distributions have been as proactive.

Maria Said Her District, Community Unit School District 300, Hasn’t Been As Communicative with Families About Know-Your-Rights Information. That Might be Because Some Communities in the Sprawling District, which Includes Hampshire, Algonquin, Carpetersville and Lake in the Hills, have Smaller Latino Populations.

Officials with the District Didn’t Immediately Respond to Questions.

Elizabeth Ojeda-Jiemenez, A Teacher on the IEA Board of Directors Who Primarily Works in Dupage and Mchenry Counties, Said Some Districts have been rectant to share know-Your-rects information.

Those areas are “totally different from county in demographics and many other areas, and we have reciped pushback,” ojeda-jiemenez Said. “WE HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT People are aware of what to do.”

She notd that families who need that information are often hesitant to speak up and draf attention to themeslves.

Maria Said All Schools Should Be Providing That Information and Be Vocal About Protecting Families.

“Schools are the cornerstones of Our Society in so many ways, and if they are not being a place where People safe to ashseations, or to go to true suport and resources, where they going?” Said.