Legal enforcement agents tried to enter a Chicago Elementary School on Friday morning, but were not allowed to enter or were allowed to speak to someone, said officials of the public schools in Chicago.
Around 11:15 am the agents tried to enter the Hamline Elementary school, said Chicago Public Schools' Chief Education Officer Bogdana Chkoumbova. School officials said that the agents came from the American immigration and the enforcement of customs, who denied ice.
“School staff followed protocols based on CPS,” said Chkoumbova in a press conference on Friday. “They kept Ice agents outside the school and contacted CPS Law Department and CPS Office of Safety and Security for further guidance. The ICE agents were not allowed to go to the school and were not allowed to talk to students or employees. “
Chkoumbova emphasized that protocols were followed, for which the safety of students and staff ensured and repeated the dedication of the district to protect students and families in accordance with the Illinois Trust Act and the welcome city ordinance of Chicago. The district does not require the immigration status of the family with ICE, she said.
Bogdana Chkoumbova, Chicago Public Schools Chief Education Officer, speaks on Friday with members of the media in Chicago. – Vincent Alban/Reuters
The district will only allow ICE agents to schools with a criminal judicial order signed by a federal court and access will not be granted on the basis of administrative warrants or detainers, Chkoumbova said.
When CNN was reached for comment, immigration and customs enforcement officers denied that their agents were involved.
“This was not an American immigration and customs turning,” said a spokesperson for the office in a statement to CNN Friday afternoon.
The Chicago police also told CNN that it was not called to the school.
Employees followed protocols, ensured the safety of students and maintaining their right to a course, said Hamline director Natasha Ortega during the press conference.
“I am grateful to all our Hamline employees here for maintaining all our protocols and guaranteeing the safety of our students,” said Ortega. “We will not open our doors for ice cream, and we are here to protect our children and to ensure that they have access to excellent education.”
Earlier this week, the acting Minister of Interior Security Benjamine Huffman announced that federal immigration authorities are allowed to arrest people and work enforcement actions on and near places such as churches and schools, which marks a departure of long-term policy to prevent so-called sensitive. areas.
“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in American schools and churches to prevent arrest. The Trump government will not bind the hands of our brave law enforcement and instead it trusts them instead to use common sense, “is the explanation.
In 2011, immigration and customs enforcement established a policy so that agents cannot arrest at sensitive locations. The Biden administration has issued comparable guidelines. Proponents of immigrants have shared concern about expressing that policy, with the argument that this would create fear in immigrant communities and ensures that children go to school or people to seek care in hospitals.
“There is no refuge for criminal aliens in this country, nor is there a sanctuary for children's trade, for smuggling children or for the threat of children,” Homeland Security adviser Stephen Miller Fox News said in response to reports that ICE went to a Chicago Elementary school.
“Ice officers will take the actions needed to protect the life and safety of our children and to identify people involved in the smuggling and trade in our children to conduct these studies in order to the safety and safety of children All to protect all of America is the federal law enforcement unlimited access to conduct basic investigations, “said Miller.
CNN's Priscilla Alvarez, Whiney Wild and Bill Kirkos have contributed to this report.
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