Federal immigration enforcement in the Chicago area has intensified since September under Operation Midway Blitz, an initiative that has led to thousands of arrests and a growing number of family separations, with visible effects on children, according to a new sprawling report from the Chicago Sun-Times.
Educators, parents and child psychologists told the news outlet that children whose parents were detained have shown signs of anxiety, behavioral regression and emotional distress that often persist after families are reunited.
Operation Midway Blitz involves federal agents carrying out arrests across immigrant neighborhoods, sometimes near schools and workplaces. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has not released comprehensive data on how many of those detained are parents, but the Chicago Sun-Times documented multiple cases in which caregivers were taken into custody while going about daily activities, leaving children abruptly without parental support…