Immigration agents take day care worker from inside Chicago facility

CHICAGO — A beloved day care worker at a Spanish-immersion preschool in Chicago was arrested by federal immigration agents Wednesday, sparking outrage among parents, elected officials and the surrounding community as agents in President Donald Trump’s Operation Midway Blitz took the unprecedented step of entering the school itself.

In a video widely circulated online, the agents are seen pulling the screaming woman, a mother of two from Colombia, through the glass vestibule at the Rayito de Sol Spanish Immersion Early Learning Center in North Center, near Lane Tech College Prep High School. She is heard saying, “I have papers,” in Spanish as agents pin her against the officers’ car.

School officials said the woman, who cares for infants, had authorization to work in the day care and had undergone a background check. An agent did not present a warrant when he entered the building, the school’s staff said.

“We were concerned about the safety of the children,” a visibly shaken educator, Marisel Mari, told the Tribune moments after the arrest.

Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin, however, released a statement saying federal officers tried to pull the woman over while she was riding in a car with a man prior to arriving at the school, but the driver refused to stop. And then they “ran into a day care to barricade themselves inside the day care — recklessly endangering the children inside,” the statement said. “The illegal alien female was arrested inside a vestibule, not in the school.”

U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez bluntly refuted that statement in a hastily called news conference afterward with U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley and other Democrats.

“They lie,” Ramirez said. “Over and over and over.”

She said her office was coordinating with the school to release video footage that would show proof the agents were inside the school.

“They went inside the day care center, questioned and took someone to her locker room to prove she had papers. We saw them run in and out,” said Ramirez. “They are lying here. The woman that they’re referring to is a teacher at Rayito de Sol. That is who they targeted.”

In January, Trump threw out policies that limited immigration arrests at sensitive locations, such as churches, schools and hospitals, a ripple of fear spread across the migrant community in the U.S. without legal permission who were stripped of protection in places they once felt safest. Since the operation began in early September, federal immigration agents have been seen inside hospitals, outside of churches and near schools.

“This is an agency that believes that as long as they can cover their face, they can get away with anything,” said Ramirez.

According to the school and parents, the saga began about 7:15 a.m., when the three immigration agents who had been following the woman parked in front of the facility.

The early learning and Spanish immersion center opens at 7 a.m. While most kids were not present when the arrest occurred, Mari, the educator at the school, said she took one of her 3-year old students with her into a car that was left unlocked during the encounter. She said they waited there for an hour until it was safe to come out.

As word spread about the arrest, concerned parents showed up at the school in support. Others showed up with their children, ready to be dropped off for the day.

Tara Goodarzi, a part-time immigration attorney whose 3-year-old son is a student at the school, was on her way to drop off when she heard the news that a teacher was taken.

After what Goodarzi called “the abduction,” everyone “was crying, terrified, huddled together.”

“To do it in a place where children are, with complete disregard for what children see, there’s no low these people won’t stoop to,” Goodarzi said.

Day care was canceled for the day after the arrest. The school holds more than a dozen classrooms for children ranging in age from 6 weeks to 6 years. Parents said each classroom has six to 12 children.

Laura Tober said the teacher detained by agents cares for her 14-month-old at the school and describes her as “always happy, smiling and excited.”

“These are the best of the best teachers that we’ve had,” said Tober, 40. “We’ve been at a couple of different day cares and they’re extremely passionate and amazing. People truly invested in the children.”

Maria Guzman, a parent of a child, spoke at the news conference, where parents from the school, with babies nestled in strollers, held “Hands off Chicago” signs.

Guzman, who is a daughter of immigrants, said she was proud to take her child to Rayito because it celebrated diversity and Hispanic culture.

“What do I tell my children? That they have to be embarrassed of their culture?” Guzman said. “I have raised my children to speak in Spanish because I am so proud. Everything that I have stood on and everything that I have done, is falling apart.”

Goodarzi said she explained what happened to her son by telling him “that one of his teachers was taken by men who are doing things against the law and we all need to be careful about the safety of our neighbors.”

“We will all be on lookout now,” she said. “The parents in this community are excellent, we care so much about the teachers, and we intend to mobilize to get her back and prevent this from happening again.”

The school community organized a GoFundMe for the educator, which quickly raised nearly $30,000 by Wednesday evening. A rally was also planned in North Center for Wednesday night.

“It's extremely distressing,” said Sarah Wirth, whose 2-year-old goes to Rayito. “When we initially heard about it everyone was in disbelief. … You never think this is gonna happen in your world and then all of a sudden it does and it’s shocking.”

Ald. Matt Martin, 47th, was at Rayito de Sol immediately following the arrest.

“It’s an incredibly, incredibly traumatic morning for the entire school community,” he said. “There was a line of parents with their children outside the door and one by one an educator had to go down the line and tell them we’re closed today, ICE took one of our educators.”

Megan Lang, 35, a mother of two children, ages 4 and 1, said she has been taking her kids to the day care since 2023. She said she typically drops her kids off at 7:30 a.m. and picks them up at 5:30 p.m., after work.

When she arrived Thursday, a parent told her an educator had been taken by immigration authorities and she stayed around to support the community.

“This is a wonderful day care,” she said. “I mean, there’s like a really big community around here that supports the teachers and then supports the people that go here and it’s just like it’s filled with love.”

Rayito de Sol means “little ray of sunshine.”

Maia Reed, 40, a mother of a child in the program for 3- to 4-year-olds, said Rayito del Sol is a gift and that her daughter is now bilingual because of the school. She said she is devastated by the militarization of federal immigration agents in the community and the targeting of the Latino community.

“We feel so blessed and lucky to be part of this school in this community,” Reed said, “and it’s infuriating that just because they are brown and they speak Spanish, they are a target.”

_____