In a startling turn of events on Wednesday morning, a female daycare worker in Chicago was apprehended by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. The arrest took place as she was arriving at her classroom at the Rayito de Sol Spanish Immersion Early Learning school, sending shockwaves through the community.
Footage captured the tense encounter, showing the woman, dressed in black, desperately trying to break free from the agents’ hold. The incident unfolded around 7 a.m., leaving onlookers stunned by the unexpected federal intervention.
According to Marisel Mari, a teacher at the daycare, the detained woman reportedly possessed a valid work permit. Mari also alleged that the ICE agents entered the premises without presenting a warrant, as reported by The Chicago Tribune.
As of now, it remains unclear whether the daycare worker is still in the custody of Homeland Security (DHS) or the specific reasons behind her detention. The situation has left many with unanswered questions about the motives and legality of the arrest.
After being escorted from the school, the woman was taken to a car where she was made to stand with her hands behind her back, although she was not handcuffed. A federal agent held her arm as she was led away, eventually being transported in an unmarked DHS vehicle.
She was later driven off in an unmarked car owned by DHS.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told the Daily Mail that agents had been pursuing the woman, who is from Colombia, in a car prior to detaining her at the daycare.
She and her male companion fled into the school and ‘attempted to barricade themselves inside the daycare,’ McLaughlin said. The woman was arrested in the vestibule and her companion is being looked into by ICE.
An unidentified teacher at the Rayito de Sol Spanish Immersion Early Learning school in Chicago was detained by federal agents around 7am on Wednesday
ICE agents entered the learning establishment without a warrant, teacher Marisel Mari said
‘Upon arrest, she lied about her identity. The vehicle is registered to in her name, though she claims that she didn’t know the man who was driving her car and just picked him up from a bus stop,’ McLaughlin said.
Tara Goodarzi, who works as an immigration lawyer, said she was horrified to find out about the arrest while driving her three-year-old to the school.
‘To do it in a place where children are, with complete disregard for what children see, there’s no low these people won’t stoop to,’ she told The Tribune.
She later told her son that everyone needs to ‘be careful about the safety of our neighbors.’
‘We will all be on lookout now. The parents in this community are excellent, we care so much about the teachers, and we intend to mobilize to get her back and prevent this from happening again,’ she told the outlet.
Maia Reed, 40, who has two kids at the school, said she hates to see how militarized the community has become and how ICE has began targeting the Latino community.
‘We feel so blessed and lucky to be part of this school in this community, “and it’s infuriating that just because they are brown and they speak Spanish, they are a target,’ she told The Tribune.
Democratic Representative Mike Quigley condemned the raid on X.
‘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 wrote.
It is unclear if the teacher is still in the custody of Homeland Security or why she was detained
The school is a Spanish immersion school located in Chicago
Chicago has been one of the forefronts of the immigration crisis. Last week, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson accused the Trump Administration of ‘zip-tying’ black babies in the middle of the night
Last week, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson accused the Trump Administration of ‘zip-tying’ black babies in the middle of the night in a bizarre rebuke of its ICE crackdown.
Johnson, the Democrat leader of the sanctuary city, raged against the White House for its ‘dangerous, racist and nasty’ actions amid a step-up in deportations in Chicago.
‘No one is going to convince me that what the Trump Administration is doing against black people and brown people can ever be justified,’ Johnson said.
‘It is racist when you have black babies being thrown in the back of vans, zip-tied in the middle of the night, and masked men sticking guns in the faces of black and brown people.
‘That is nasty, is vicious, is racist.’
It is unclear which event Johnson was referring to when alleging ICE agents are zip-tying black babies and throwing them into vans.
However, his remarks come as a lawsuit in Chicago accused the Trump Administration of unlawfully arresting at least three US citizens in a raid at the end of September, reports the Chicago Sun Times.
Last week, federal agents also sparked backlash after allegedly deploying tear-gas onto a street just moments before a local kids’ Halloween parade.
Amid the escalating ICE activity in his city, Johnson has become a frequent Trump critic, including accusing the president of wanting to ignite a ‘Civil War’ rematch earlier this month.
