“In Chicago, it seems like you’re only one or two degrees of separation from someone who’s had an ICE experience at this point.”
These were the words of Jason Wirth, a Chicago resident and parent of a child who attends the Rayito de Sol Spanish Immersion Early Learning Center, a day care center and preschool, where, on Wednesday morning, witnesses saw a teacher being dragged out by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, as she screamed at them that she had documentation. And seeing as there doesn’t seem to be any available footage of ICE arresting all of these “criminal illegal aliens” who are gang members, drug dealers, rapists and murderers, but there’s a wealth of footage and reports about laborers, green card holders, brown people who turned out to be U.S. citizens, non-criminals accused of overstaying their visas and others who were literally arrested at their immigration hearings — smart money says Wirth is absolutely right.
From the Associated Press:
The employee ran from a vehicle into the Rayito de Sol Spanish Immersion Early Learning Center after officers pulled into the parking lot right after her, Alderman Matt Martin said, citing witness accounts. The employee was detained at the entry while telling authorities she has papers, he said. Authorities went inside to question several people around 7 a.m., when the facility opened, according to witnesses.
It was unusual even under “Operation Midway Blitz,” which has resulted in more than 3,000 immigration arrests in the Chicago area since early September. Agents have rappelled from a Black Hawk helicopter in a middle-of-the-night apartment building raid, appeared with overwhelming force in recreational areas and launched tear gas amid protests.
Maybe “Operation Midway Blitz” isn’t the right title for ICE activities in Chicago. The title sounds like a Call of Duty stage, and makes it sound like a serious military operation. Perhaps “Operation Arrest Brown People Now And Check Paperwork Later” was just too much of a mouthful. “Operation Separate Families For Fun” was probably a little too on the nose.
Of course, the Department of Homeland Security is claiming the woman, who hasn’t been identified publicly, but is reportedly from Colombia, entered the U.S. illegally in June 2023 and obtained authorization to work under the Biden administration, a contradictory allegation in itself, because she’s either here illegally or she’s not. Having work authorization indicates she’s not. The DHS also claims her children, ages 16 and 17, entered the country illegally last month.
DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin claims the daycare center wasn’t targeted in the woman’s arrest, saying the driver of a vehicle registered to the woman and transporting her to the daycare center ignored law enforcement when they tried to pull the vehicle over. (So, an “illegal” immigrant who had permission to work in the U.S. and a car registered in her name. Interesting.)
“They ran into a daycare and attempted to barricade themselves inside the day care — recklessly endangering the children inside,” McLaughlin said.
Funny — people who were actually there seem to see things quite differently.
More from AP:
Parents gathered outside the preschool looking angered and dismayed.
Esmeralda Rosales, whose husband dropped off their 9-month-old child, rushed from work to show support for the staff. She said the woman detained was her child’s teacher.
“These are the nicest, kindest people. They don’t deserve, these children don’t deserve to be living through this,” she said.
Chris Widen, whose 4-month-old also is taught by the woman detained, said the operation came “at the school during the busiest time of drop-off where kids and families have to witness a teacher being forcibly removed and agents kitted up in tactical gear.”
Adam Gonzalez was dropping off his child when he saw people yelling and federal immigration officers in body armor outside the school. Something didn’t feel right to him, he said, so he began recording the worker’s detention.
“The world needs to see what’s happening, that this is not fake, that this is real,” Gonzalez said.
“It’s just absolute terror. Why are you at a day care at 7 in the morning? This isn’t right. This isn’t American. This isn’t who we are. It’s an absolute travesty,” Gonzalez told WGN 9.
“ICE agents followed her in and violently detained her. There was a child inside, and they identified it as a school. Her sister was on site and showed her paperwork. ICE took her away, nevertheless,” said Alderman Matt Martin, who, according to WGN, was quickly alerted to what happened after the arrest. “This is truly horrible. You have the president who will say ‘we’re taking the worst of the worst off the streets’ and ‘there’s more to come in Chicago’ and like, what else? They’ve come to hospitals. They’ve come to daycares. What’s next?”
Exactly. The Trump administration keeps telling us that ridding America of “the worst of the worst” is the point of its mass deportation agenda, while the data consistently show more than 70% of those detained had no criminal records at all. The DHS has claimed time and time again that immigration agents are not racially profiling, even after federal judges said they were, and the administration fought legal battles, allowing them to keep doing so.
The truth about the woman’s legal status is still unclear, but, as always, the government’s rush to vilify her is clear, as is the indifference of the arresting ICE agents.
“She’s telling them, ‘I have papers. I have documentation,’ and they did not care, used a lot of force on her while taking her out,” Mary Lou Moctezuma, another parent whose child attends the center, told WGN 9.
“They did not care.”
Yep — that’s about the size of it.
SEE ALSO:
Elected Officials Accosted By ICE In Chicago
ICE Agents Cuff, Arrest WGN Employee They Say Assaulted Them
Federal Judge Places Restrictions On ICE Arrests In Chicago
The People Of Chicago Are Pushing Back Against ICE
Chicago Residents Continue To Fight Back Against ICE Agents
