Trump authorizes ICE to target schools and churches as mass deportation fears grow in Chicago

Fears over Trump administration immigration raids impacting Little Village businesses

ByLissette Nuñez , Michelle Gallardo, and Rob Hughes, WLS
Wednesday, January 22, 2025
Trump authorizes ICE to target schools and churches amid raid fears
The Trump administration authorized federal immigration authorities to target schools and churches amid fears about mass deportations in Chicago.

CHICAGO (WLS) -- On his first full day in office Tuesday, President Donald Trump took steps to make good on a campaign promise to carry out mass deportations.

The Trump administration authorized federal immigration authorities to target schools and churches, revoking a policy that barred arrests in "sensitive" areas, the Department of Homeland Security said.

"We're getting them out of the country. We just started that, we're getting them out of the country and they're going to be gotten out of the country fast," Trump said.

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The directive preventing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection from arresting suspected undocumented immigrants in a variety of locations goes back to 2011.

Schools and houses of worship were classified as off-limits. But now, just hours into Trump's second term, Chicago Public Schools teachers and religious leaders are preparing to protect their students and parishioners as the possibility of immigration agents showing up looms.

"Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America's schools and churches to avoid arrest. The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense," a DHS spokesperson said.

This comes as sources have told the ABC7 I-Team that federal authorities have identified dozens of targets for deportation. All targets are either in custody, on bond or wanted by law enforcement, sources said.

Erin, CPS teacher and Chicago Teachers Union delegate for her school, says teachers have been preparing for changes to immigration policy.

"I think that it's rather disgusting and shameful that he's decided to target children, or you know, people that seek refuge in churches. And I think a lot of educators feel similarly, which is why a lot of them have decided to start or join sanctuary teams at their school," Erin said.

Erin says the so-called sanctuary team at her school includes nearly a dozen teachers. The CTU says theses teams are an effort to make sure educators know what to do in case of a raid.

"We started attending know your rights training so that we could know how to defend ourselves and our students, if anyone tries to, if ice tries to communicate with us or potentially detain somebody," Erin said.

In a statement to ABC7, CPS says it "does not plan to share private student-level information with Immigration and Customs Enforcement except in the rare case where there is a court order or consent from a parent or guardian. We remain committed to ensuring that our schools remain the safest places for all students."

This comes after Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez reminded families all CPS schools are safe havens amid possible mass deportation plans in Chicago.

READ ALSO | Federal authorities have identified dozens of targets for deportation in Chicago area, sources say

"I want our families to feel confident they can send their children to school; we are not going to interact with ICE," Martinez said.

The CTU issued a statement Tuesday, saying, in part, that Trump "has decided to make the City of Chicago the opening scene for his mass deportation horror film" and called on Martinez to take more action to ensure student safety.

The mix of bitter cold temperatures and fear of immigration raids is keeping some people indoors and out of businesses in Chicago on Tuesday.

In a lengthy statement Monday, Chicago police said, in part, "The Chicago Police Department does not assist federal immigration authorities with enforcement action solely based on immigration status. Additionally, CPD does not document immigration status and does not share such information with federal authorities."

Chicago police ended that statement by making clear they will not intervene in immigration enforcement, but they will continue to enforce the law if a crime occurs, regardless of citizenship status.

But that enforcement could be for something like a traffic violation, and while the promised raids have not yet materialized in Chicago, the immigrant community here is on edge.

"Now that we are on the first day or second day of the Trump administration, God knows what the enforcement is going to look like. It is that unknown that really has people worried," 22nd Ward Ald. Michael Rodriguez said.

In Pilsen, Pastor Emma Lozano of Lincoln United Methodist Church says they have gone virtual with their service to protect parishioners, roughly half of whom she says are undocumented immigrants.

"Some people are going to have to hide and stay out of stay out of sight, you know, maybe some kids won't go to school. We don't know," Lozano said.

Activists and elected officials are continuing to canvass the neighborhoods like Pilsen and Little Village, letting people know what their rights are should ICE come knocking.

Director of the Immigrants' Rights Clinic at UChicago Law School Nicole Hallett talks about how the Trump administration's planned ICE raids in Chicago could play out.

Up and down Cermak Avenue Tuesday, business after business prominently displayed the same flyer: "Don't open for ICE." Little Village business owners told ABC7 it is the least they can do.

"People need to stick together, no matter their immigration status," Little Village business owner Jose Luis Vasquez said, in Spanish.

He has owned this computer and phone repair shop for nine years now.

A few blocks away, at the Little Village arch, a handful of activists braved the subzero wind chills to rally against the Trump administration's stated plans to conduct mass deportation raids in Chicago.

"We've been out here since 5 a.m., educating the community, educating our people that they have rights. You have the right to an attorney. You have a right to a trial," said Baltazar Enriquez with the Little Village Community Council.

Rodriguez was among those canvassing the neighborhoods. The alderperson spent the morning passing out informational flyers, instructing people what to say should ICE come knocking.

There has been little foot traffic in Little Village on Tuesday, and while much of that may very well be related to the cold, there is most certainly fear. Lawrence Benito, the executive director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, told ABC7 their hotline has been inundated with calls.

"From January 1st to January 19th, we saw 800 calls. But on January 20th alone, we saw almost 400 calls," Benito said.

But even as images of the 2007 raid carried out in Little Village are still vivid in the eyes of many here, it is unclear if and when that same level of crackdown will be seen again.

SEE ALSO | Resources available to undocumented individuals who may be impacted by Trump's immigration plan

Border Czar Tom Homan appeared on Fox Business on Tuesday.

"The president's been clear. That right out of the gate we're looking for public safety threats. ICE agents are out there doing that now," Homan said.

Gov. JB Pritzker said the number of people targeted - those with criminal records - might be much higher than initially believed.

"They've not communicated with us, so we don't know when exactly those enforcement actions might take place. We have heard that they're targeting as many as 2,000 people initially in the city of Chicago alone," Pritzker said.

While at least one of those scheduled for Tuesday was moved online due to the cold weather, "Know your rights campaigns" appear to be here to stay for the time being, with Pilsen's Perez Elementary school hosting weekly sessions every Tuesday starting next week.

Full CPD statement:
"In accordance with the City of Chicago's Municipal Code, which includes the Welcoming City Ordinance, the Chicago Police Department does not assist federal immigration authorities with enforcement action solely based on immigration status. Additionally, CPD does not document immigration status and does not share such information with federal authorities.

CPD is prohibited by the Welcoming City Ordinance from participating in civil immigration enforcement operations or assist in the civil enforcement of federal immigration law. CPD's Responding to Incidents Involving Citizenship Status policy also states that if the Department receives a request from an immigration agency to provide assistance with a civil immigration enforcement operation, a supervisor will respond to the scene. If the request is to assist in the enforcement of civil immigration law, the supervisor will decline the request. If the request is unrelated to civil immigration law, appropriate police action will be taken. The Responding to Incidents Involving Citizenship Status policy was recently revised to require a supervisor of higher rank (a Watch Operations Lieutenant or Street Deputy) respond to the scenes of these requests, in addition to the previously required supervisor from the district of occurrence.

To be clear, the Chicago Police Department will not assist or intervene in civil immigration enforcement in accordance with the City of Chicago Municipal Code. As always, we will continue to enforce the law if a crime occurs, regardless of the citizenship status of those involved."

Full CPS statement:
"Chicago Public Schools remains committed to protecting the rights of all students to a free public education, regardless of their immigration status or the immigration status of their family. While the District understands there is an executive order to rescind language about "sensitive locations," including schools, and ICE arrests, CPS does not plan to share private student-level information with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) except in the rare case where there is a court order or consent from a parent or guardian. We remain committed to ensuring that our schools remain the safest places for all students and that the focus remains on providing a high quality pre-K-12 education."

Full CTU statement:
"Today, the Chicago Public Schools are staring down a real threat. According to reporting from various sources, our newly-minted U.S. President has decided to make the City of Chicago the opening scene for his mass deportation horror film -an attempt to use the power of the White House to rip apart families, disrupt communities and potentially try to violate the safest places in our neighborhoods, public schools.

Here is the reality: Donald Trump told everyone who he would be when he returned to the White House. Anyone in a leadership position not doing everything in their power to prepare and respond is doing a disservice to the communities they serve. This reality should cause our CEO, Pedro Martinez, to get busy ensuring that our city's public schools are safe for our vulnerable immigrant students, parents and educators and taking action to safeguard Black history, gender equality, the recruitment of Black teachers, and the other pieces of Chicago's education system that we know are in the crosshairs of this new administration.
A couple of years ago, the CTU fought for and won sanctuary policies at CPS to make sure our students can learn in a safe environment regardless of their immigration status. Because of our last contract, there are protocols to prevent ICE officers from having free access to our school buildings, to activate legal responses, and to protect our students' rights-we need our CEO to enforce our contract with implementation and training protocols that help keep our students and their families safe.

CPS has sent out an email on the topic but has not provided training to our members. We are concerned that CPS and CEO Pedro Martinez have violated our agreement to conduct joint training to address these circumstances. Section 46.7.6 of our agreement requires CPS to collaborate with CTU to design and implement district-wide training, beginning in 2019, to protect school communities from unauthorized ICE agent entry into school buildings. Unfortunately, despite our requests and efforts, this need has not been met and we have sent recent communications to the CEO to comply with CPS' contractual commitments.
Despite not receiving training from the district, we are preparing our members to create 'sanctuary teams' and working in each school to ensure educators know what to do in case of a raid and are prepared to protect our students and their rights. Students should know that one of the safest places they can be is at their school."

And that is why we will continue to push our CEO to work with us to ensure that our schools are safe and welcoming places for all of our students. Sanctuary and safety includes fully staffing our schools with guidance counselors, social workers, librarians and a high-quality school day, one that will bring joy, affirmation, and academic success."

ABC News contributed to this report.

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