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 U.S. citizen, she feels vulnerable amid stepped-up immigration enforcement actions in the Chicago area because she’s an immigrant from Mexico who spent years as an undocumented resident.
As a member of the Elgin Area Rapid Response team, she helps monitor sightings of federal agents in the two suburbs, which neighbor each other. She’s seen agents operate near schools, and videos of agents detaining people outside school buildings add to her anxiety.
“You just pray that you’re not caught at the wrong time or at the wrong place,” said Maria, who asked her last name be withheld because her 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In January, President Donald Trump rescinded a President Joe Biden-era policy that protected schools from immigration enforcement actions.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 haven’t been reported instances of people being detained inside schools and many prohibit agents from entering without a criminal judicial warrant, actions nearby have elicited fear 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 fatally shot Mexican immigrant Silverio Villegas González not long after he dropped off his sons at school in northwest suburban Franklin Park, heightening tensions.
Maria, other parents and education leaders say federal agents shouldn’t be allowed to operate within a certain perimeter around schools. They say this will protect children who may be distracted by what they see 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, according to parents and educators.
Immigrant enforcement near schools
Three schools in Franklin Park went into 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 scene. 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.
“I think it was wrong to do it in front of schools,” said Francisco Arroyo, parent of students at Passow and Hester. “Kids could have been out here 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, according to parents.
In south suburban Dixmoor Monday morning, agents wearing tactical gear and masks were seen detaining someone during a traffic stop just outside Rosa Parks 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 detained was not a parent of students.
Also on Monday, West Chicago Elementary School District 33 went under a “secure and teach” soft lockdown after more than a dozen people were taken 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 observers have spotted armed agents in vests parked either a block away from schools or across the street during pickup and drop-off times several times over the last two weeks, Tanner said. He wonders whether that’s a deliberate tactic.
In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees 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 Tuesday morning. A U.S. citizen was among six people who were detained. Tanner said the episode ratcheted up anxiety in the community. He’s worried 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 me nervous,” Tanner said. He would also like to prohibit ICE agents from enforcement actions near schools but wasn’t optimistic that would happen.
“Unless they’re forced to somehow,” he said.
How some school districts have responded
State Supt. of Education Tony Sanders has encouraged administrators to refresh staff on their immigration policies 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 Waukegan Community Unit School District 60, have been communicating with parents about their rights.
In West Chicago, staff have been walking with students and riding on buses, according 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 Fabela, director of field and organizing at the Illinois Federation of Teachers, thinks information-sharing is one of the most important steps schools and districts can take to help families worried about trips to school.
“It’s something invaluable so that people know what to look for and what to ask,” Fabela said. “Everyone in this country, regardless of your status, has the right to ask if there’s a judicial warrant. You have the right to remain silent.”
But not all districts 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, Carpentersville and Lake in the Hills, have smaller Latino populations.
Officials with the district didn’t immediately respond to questions.
Elizabeth Ojeda-Jimenez, a teacher on the IEA board of directors who primarily works in DuPage and McHenry counties, said some districts have been reluctant to share know-your-rights information.
Those areas are “totally different from Cook County in demographics and many other areas, and we have received pushback,” Ojeda-Jimenez said. “We have been told that people are aware of what to do.”
She noted that families who need that information are often hesitant to speak up and draw attention to themselves.
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’re not being a place where people feel safe to ask these questions, or to go to for true support and resources, where are they going?” she said.
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