Some students in Chicago aren’t going to school. Not because they don’t want to learn, but because weeks of aggressive Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids — featuring masked, heavily-armed agents in unmarked cars, and a nighttime, commando-style helicopter raid — have left them too afraid to attend class, advocates say.
Fear in the Windy City grew after the Trump administration ramped up “Operation Midway Blitz.” The immigration crackdown, launched against city officials’ wishes, has led to the arrest of more than 800 undocumented immigrants since Sept. 8, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
“It is a departure from everything that young people have understood from our America,” Stacy Davis Gates, president of the Chicago Teachers Union, says about the escalating presence and actions of immigration authorities in the city.
Aggressive tactics allegedly used by ICE agents include the use of tear gas near an elementary school, raiding a South Side apartment in a predominantly Black neighborhood, and detaining and zip-tying U.S. citizens and children, including Black folks…