A reported sighting of immigration agents attempting to enter an elementary school on Chicago’s Southwest Side Friday was actually Secret Service agents investigating a threat, a federal spokesperson said late Friday afternoon.
This announcement came hours after leaders at Chicago Public Schools announced they blocked federal immigration officers from going into Hamline Elementary School in the New City neighborhood and talking to students, leading to swift responses from city and state leaders and immigration advocates.
Principal Natasha Ortega said at a Friday afternoon news conference that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents showed up to the school, located at 1548 W. 48th St., at 11:15 a.m. She said school employees “followed the protocols that we’ve been trained and practiced and have discussed,” ensuring students’ safety.
“We will not open our doors for ICE, and we are here to protect our children and make sure they have access to an excellent education,” Ortega said. “We stand in solidarity with our families and the Back of the Yards community.”
An ICE spokesperson later denied in a statement that the encounter involved the agency, while Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told the Tribune it was their officers who were investigating a threat against a “protectee” in connection with TikTok.
Guglielmi would not identify the protectee, but the Secret Service oversees protection for President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, their immediate families and former presidents.
Two Secret Service agents went to a residence near the school before stepping on campus, Guglielmi said. The officials identified themselves as Secret Service agents and left their business cards for school leadership to call them, he said.
“The U.S. Secret Service does not investigate or enforce immigration matters,” Guglielmi said.
Trump reversed a policy this week that for more than a decade has prevented ICE from carrying out immigration enforcement in “sensitive locations,” such as health care facilities, day cares, churches and schools. His executive orders have also sought to end birthright citizenship and deploy troops to enhance border security.
In a Friday night statement, CPS clarified their version of the events, calling it a “misunderstanding” and blamed the confusion on circumstances the Trump administration has created.
“After our district officials shared public statements, we learned that the agents who visited the school were from the U.S. Secret Service. Our original communication was a result of a misunderstanding, reflective of the fear and concerns in the community amid the new administration’s focus on undocumented immigrants.”
In the statement, CPS said “two individuals showed up at the school door and presented identification that includes the name Department of Homeland Security, the federal agency that oversees ICE. School officials proceeded to respond to the agents with the understanding that they were from ICE, amid rumors and reports that the agency was in the community.”
In the Friday night statement, CPS reiterated that the agents were not allowed into the school or permitted to speak with staff or students.
Though there was no evidence by Friday evening that federal immigration officials, in fact, made good on Trump’s threats as far as Chicago’s schools were concerned, the damage was done in sowing fear among the majority Latino community in the Back of the Yards neighborhood.
When school was dismissed about 2:45 p.m., Yelika, a mother from Barinas in west central Venezuela held the hands of her 7- and 11-year-olds and said she wasn’t sure if she’d send them back next week.
The migrant mother said she had lived in the neighborhood for two years and been in Chicago for close to three. They were just starting to get used to life in the U.S., she said. She works at a laundromat and her husband works in construction.
“We just don’t know if they’ll be safe at school,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes. “I might be at work and not know if something is happening to them … so it just feels better to keep them home.”
A grandmother who identified herself as Sonja waited outside Hamline after she’d received news that federal agents had been at the school. She pulled up a photo of her granddaughter on her phone.
“She’s my little girl. She’s my little girl,” she said.
Sonja said her entire family is undocumented, except the children born here. She worried about agents sweeping in to pick her up, too, as she stood outside Hamline waiting to hear an update.
Several mutual aid volunteers told the Tribune they’d advised parents in the U.S. illegally to stay home in case more federal agents were waiting outside the building during dismissal. Hamline has a student population that is about 92% Hispanic as of 2024, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.
Advocates said they’d received reports of a possible ICE presence at Hamline Friday morning, and local rapid response teams were sent to verify the reports, according to a statement from the groups Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, Organized Communities Against Deportations and Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
“Regardless of whether the agents attempting to enter the schools were actually with ICE, the school and community did the right thing by acting quickly to keep students and families safe,” the statement said. “Given the reality that immigration enforcement can be carried out by multiple federal agencies right now, communities and local institutions must remain on alert and take precautions when any federal agent comes to their door.”
Gov. JB Pritzker has previously said he’s heard that ICE will target as many as 2,000 people in Chicago, but that he hasn’t received any communication from the Trump administration. Fears of mass deportations have worried some of the area’s roughly 400,000 immigrants in the country without legal permission, prompting many to skip work and keep their children out of school.
CPS has said they remain committed to protecting the rights of all students to a public education, providing guidance to staff to not allow immigration officers on school property unless they provide credentials and a criminal warrant signed by a federal judge. Hospitals and medical centers throughout Chicago are taking similar measures.
“CPS does not ask for our families’ immigration status. We will not coordinate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (We do not) share student records with ICE except in the rare case where this is a court order or consent from a parent or a guardian,” Chief Education Officer Bogdana Chkoumbova said at the Friday news conference.
A Chicago police spokesperson said the department “was not aware of the incident” before the arrival of agents at the school. At no point Friday did CPD officers respond to any calls for service at Hamline, the spokesperson said.
Leaders across Illinois react
The mayor’s office released a statement Friday evening urging caution in the wake of widespread trepidation over federal activity.
“While people across the city are worried about immigration enforcement, it is imperative that individuals not spread unverified information that sparks fear in the city,” Johnson’s statement read.
Pritzker said on social media that reports of the raid come after a week of “Republicans sowing fear and chaos.”
“Targeting children and separating families is cruel and un-American,” Pritzker said.
A few minutes before the school’s dismissal, Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates said the incident should mark a “moment of solidarity.” The union has urged CPS to recommit to certain protections against deportation in the four-year contract they’re bargaining.
“I want to reiterate as a mother that our schools are a safe place,” she said. “And that they have my leadership and commitment, they have the leadership and the commitment of the 30,000 members of the Chicago Teachers Union and that we will be here to support, to resource and to protect our young people.”
Chicago Tribune’s Alice Yin and Laura Rodriguez Presa contributed.
Chicago Public Schools prevented federal officers from from going into an elementary school on Chicago’s Southwest Side Friday and talking to students, according to school officials.
A reported sighting of immigration agents attempting to enter an elementary school on Chicago’s Southwest Side Friday was actually Secret Service agents investigating a threat, a federal spokesperson said late Friday afternoon.
This announcement came hours after leaders at Chicago Public Schools announced they blocked federal immigration officers from going into Hamline Elementary School in the New City neighborhood and talking to students, leading to swift responses from city and state leaders and immigration advocates.
It’s still unclear what caused the discrepancy, but regardless, parents at the school said the incident elevated their fears about mass deportations under President Donald Trump, and they are worried about sending their children back to school. Officials within Trump’s administration have indicated that large-scale raids to detain immigrants in the country without legal permission would begin this week in Chicago.
Principal Natasha Ortega said at a Friday afternoon news conference that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents showed up to the school, 548 W. 48th St., at 11:15 a.m. She said school employees “followed the protocols that we’ve been trained and practiced and have discussed,” ensuring students’ safety.
“We will not open our doors for ICE, and we are here to protect our children and make sure they have access to an excellent education,” Ortega said. “We stand in solidarity with our families and the Back of the Yards community.”
An ICE spokesperson later denied in a statement that the encounter involved the agency, while Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told the Tribune it was their officers who were investigating a threat against a “protectee” in connection with TikTok.
Guglielmi would not identify the protectee, but the Secret Service oversees protection for President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, their immediate families and former presidents.
Two Secret Service agents went to a residence near the school before stepping on campus, Guglielmi said. The officials identified themselves as Secret Service agents and left their business cards for school leadership to call them, he said.
“The U.S. Secret Service does not investigate or enforce immigration matters,” Guglielmi said.
CPS did not respond to a request for comment by 5:30 p.m. Friday asking them to explain the supposed mix-up.
However, a source at CPS said the officers identified themselves as Department of Homeland Security agents to the principal.
Trump reversed a policy this week that for more than a decade has prevented ICE from carrying out immigration enforcement in “sensitive locations,” such as health care facilities, day cares, churches and schools. His executive orders have also sought to end birthright citizenship and deploy troops to enhance border security.
Though there was no evidence by Friday evening that federal immigration officials, in fact, made good on Trump’s threats as far as Chicago’s schools were concerned, the damage was done in sowing fear among the majority Latino community in the Back of the Yards neighborhood.
When school was dismissed about 2:45 p.m., Yelika, a mother from Barinas in west central Venezuela held the hands of her 7- and 11-year-olds and said she wasn’t sure if she’d send them back next week.
The migrant mother said she had lived in the neighborhood for two years and been in Chicago for close to three. They were just starting to get used to life in the U.S., she said. She works at a laundromat and her husband works in construction.
“We just don’t know if they’ll be safe at school,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes. “I might be at work and not know if something is happening to them … so it just feels better to keep them home.”
A grandmother who identified herself as Sonja waited outside Hamline after she’d received news that federal agents had been at the school. She pulled up a photo of her granddaughter on her phone.
“She’s my little girl. She’s my little girl,” she said.
Sonja said her entire family is undocumented, except the children born here. She worried about agents sweeping in to pick her up, too, as she stood outside Hamline waiting to hear an update.
Several mutual aid volunteers told the Tribune they’d advised parents in the U.S. illegally to stay home in case more federal agents were waiting outside the building during dismissal. Hamline has a student population that is about 92% Hispanic as of 2024, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.
Advocates said they’d received reports of a possible ICE presence at Hamline Friday morning, and local rapid response teams were sent to verify the reports, according to a statement from the groups Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, Organized Communities Against Deportations and Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
“Regardless of whether the agents attempting to enter the schools were actually with ICE, the school and community did the right thing by acting quickly to keep students and families safe,” the statement said. “Given the reality that immigration enforcement can be carried out by multiple federal agencies right now, communities and local institutions must remain on alert and take precautions when any federal agent comes to their door.”
Gov. JB Pritzker has previously said he’s heard that ICE will target as many as 2,000 people in Chicago, but that he hasn’t received any communication from the Trump administration. Fears of mass deportations have worried some of the area’s roughly 400,000 immigrants in the country without legal permission, prompting many to skip work and keep their children out of school.
CPS has said they remain committed to protecting the rights of all students to a public education, providing guidance to staff to not allow immigration officers on school property unless they provide credentials and a criminal warrant signed by a federal judge. Hospitals and medical centers throughout Chicago are taking similar measures.
“CPS does not ask for our families’ immigration status. We will not coordinate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (We do not) share student records with ICE except in the rare case where this is a court order or consent from a parent or a guardian,” Chief Education Officer Bogdana Chkoumbova said at the Friday news conference.
A Chicago police spokesperson said the department “was not aware of the incident” before the arrival of agents at the school. At no point Friday did CPD officers respond to any calls for service at Hamline, the spokesperson said.
Leaders across Illinois react
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office didn’t immediately respond to request for comment, but indicated it is looking into the incident. Pritzker said on social media that reports of the raid come after a week of “Republicans sowing fear and chaos.”
“Targeting children and separating families is cruel and un-American,” Pritzker said.
A few minutes before the school’s dismissal, Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates said the incident should mark a “moment of solidarity.” The union has urged CPS to recommit to certain protections against deportation in the four-year contract they’re bargaining.
“I want to reiterate as a mother that our schools are a safe place,” she said. “And that they have my leadership and commitment, they have the leadership and the commitment of the 30,000 members of the Chicago Teachers Union and that we will be here to support, to resource and to protect our young people.”
Chicago Tribune’s Alice Yin and Laura Rodriguez Presa contributed.
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