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Law enforcement agents attempted entry into a Chicago elementary school Friday morning, but were not allowed inside or permitted to speak to anyone inside, Chicago Public Schools officials said.
Around 11:15 a.m., the agents attempted to enter Hamline Elementary School, Chicago Public Schools’ Chief Education Officer Bogdana Chkoumbova said. School officials said the agents were from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which ICE denied.
“School staff followed CPS established protocols,” Chkoumbova said in a news conference Friday. “They kept ICE agents outside of the school and contacted CPS law department and CPS Office of Safety and Security for further guidance. The ICE agents were not allowed into the school and were not permitted to speak to any students or staff members.”
Chkoumbova emphasized protocols were followed, ensuring student and staff safety, and reiterated the district’s commitment to protecting students and families in accordance with the Illinois Trust Act and Chicago’s Welcoming City Ordinance. The district does not ask for or share family immigration status with ICE, she said.
The district will only allow ICE agents into schools with a criminal judicial warrant signed by a federal judge, and access will not be granted based on administrative warrants or detainers, Chkoumbova said.
When reached by CNN for comment, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials denied their agents were involved.
“This was not a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement encounter,” a spokesperson for the agency said in a statement to CNN Friday afternoon.
The Chicago Police Department also told CNN it was not called to the school.
Staff followed protocols, ensuring safety of students and upholding their right to an education, Hamline Principal Natasha Ortega said at the news conference.
“I am very grateful to all of our Hamline staff here for upholding all of our protocols and ensuring the safety of our students,” Ortega said. “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.”
Earlier this week, Acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman announced that federal immigration authorities will be permitted to arrest people and carry out enforcement actions in and near places such as churches and schools, marking a departure from long-standing policy to avoid so-called sensitive areas.
“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,” the statement reads.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement set a policy in 2011 preventing agents from making arrests in sensitive locations. The Biden administration put out similar guidance. Immigrant advocates have shared concerns over stripping that policy, arguing that doing so would stoke fear in immigrant communities and keep children from going to school or people from seeking care at hospitals.
“There’s no sanctuary for criminal aliens in this country, nor is there a sanctuary for child trafficking, for child smuggling or for child endangerment,” Homeland security adviser Stephen Miller told Fox News Friday in response to reports that ICE went to a Chicago elementary school.
“ICE officers will take the actions necessary to protect the lives and safety of our children and to identify individuals who are involved in the smuggling and trafficking of our children in order to conduct these investigations, in order to protect the safety and security of children all across America, federal law enforcement is unrestricted access to conduct basic investigations,” Miller said.
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