On Wednesday, officials clarified that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers were not targeting a daycare in Chicago but were instead pursuing an undocumented immigrant who took refuge in the building. This statement came following reports and a viral video that appeared to show a teacher being forcibly removed from the premises.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reported that ICE agents apprehended Diana Patricia Santillana Galeano, a Colombian national, who had previously been released at the U.S. border under the Biden administration in 2023. Santillana Galeano reportedly ran into the building’s entrance area after a traffic stop attempt that morning.
The incident, which sparked public outcry, did not occur inside the daycare itself, according to authorities. They criticized Santillana Galeano’s actions, accusing her of “recklessly endangering children” by entering the facility.
The video in question captures two ICE officers restraining Santillana Galeano as she protested and resisted arrest outside the Spanish Immersion Early Learning Center, Rayito de Sol. Daycare staff can be seen in the footage attempting to reach her after she was placed in an ICE vehicle, with one of them holding a young child.
ICE agents are seen detaining the woman outside the Chicago daycare center on Wednesday, as captured in footage obtained by WFLD.
Representative Mike Quigley, a Democrat from Illinois, stated that Santillana Galeano was employed as a preschool teacher and had legal authorization to work in the United States.
“ICE isn’t going after the worst of the worst. This morning, they took a preschool teacher without a warrant IN FRONT OF CHILDREN in my district,” he said in a post on X.
DHS has since condemned Quigley’s claims as “deliberately misrepresenting the facts” and said similar reports have been “inaccurate and false.”
“Work authorization does NOT confer any type of legal status to be in the U.S.” the agency said. “The illegal alien’s work authorization was approved by the Biden administration, which exploited this loophole to help facilitate the invasion of our country.”
Multiple DHS sources told Fox News Digital that Santillana Galeano was not targeted as a preschool teacher but as an undocumented immigrant who had been caught and released at the border under Biden administration policies June 26, 2023.
Officials added that she allegedly has a history of endangering minors, citing that she told her children, ages 16 and 17, to cross the border unaccompanied last month. DHS said she may have facilitated human smuggling by allegedly hiring individuals to carry out the activity.
Diana Patricia Santillana Galeano was arrested Wednesday in front of a Chicago daycare. (DHS)
Every year, thousands of unaccompanied illegal immigrant children arrive at the U.S. border, putting those children at high risk of exploitation, abuse and trafficking without parents or guardians to protect them, according to DHS.
DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin clarified the situation on X, noting Santillana Galeano was arrested after officers attempted a targeted traffic stop on a vehicle registered to her.
She said the car was being driven by a man who refused to comply even as officers activated sirens and emergency lights. The vehicle reportedly sped into a shopping plaza, where the incident — captured on video — unfolded.
“Law enforcement pursued the vehicle before the assailant sped into a shopping plaza where he and the female passenger fled the vehicle,” McLaughlin said. “They ran into a daycare and attempted to barricade themselves inside the daycare, recklessly endangering the children inside. The illegal alien female was arrested inside a vestibule, not in the school.”
DHS emphasized that Santillana Galeano did not fully enter the daycare as the second set of doors of the vestibule was locked, leading ICE agents to “NOT arrest her in front of children.”
Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., alleges ICE targeted a preschool teacher inside a Chicago daycare. (WFLD)
McLaughlin said Santillana Galeano provided false information about her identity and claimed she did not know the male driver, stating she had “picked him up from a bus stop.”
Authorities have not yet released additional information about the male assailant.
Officials added that her children, smuggled into the U.S. near El Paso on Oct. 19 as unaccompanied minors, were taken into custody by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and placed in a UAC shelter in the Chicago area called Heartland Int Children’s RC.
“President Trump and Secretary Noem are restoring the rule of law in the U.S. and directing ICE to target criminal illegal aliens,” DHS said. “More than 70% of all ICE arrests are of aliens with pending charges and convictions in the U.S. “
ICE and Spanish Immersion Early Learning Center did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
