A parent dropping off two students at an Acero charter school on the Southwest Side was detained Wednesday morning by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, according to a letter from the charter network’s leadership sent to parents.
In a letter to parents Wednesday, Acero officials said “Community Wellness Protocols” were immediately implemented at two schools, Victoria Soto High School and Jovita Idar Elementary, which share a campus, to “maintain the safety and security” of the schools’ community. Chicago Public Schools’ Office of Safety and Security was also engaged, according to the letter signed by the schools’ principals, Elizabeth Obrzut and Nicolle Macias.
ICE agents did not attempt to enter either school, according to the letter. ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The network of 15 charter elementary and high schools, said focused support will be made available for those impacted by the event, due to how “stressful and upsetting” the situation may have been on the school’s community, both schools will have additional social work support available for students, Helena Stangle, chief culture officer at Acero Schools said in an emailed statement to the Tribune.
Acero “has and will continue to share the Civil Rights Resource Hub with all of our school communities and regularly distributes information about stand-alone Know Your Rights opportunities.”
The school network’s online information center, known as the “Civil Rights Resource Hub,” is updated weekly and includes direct contact information for Acero staff members “positioned to support our school community,” Stangle said.
Three officers were spotted outside the school Wednesday morning in normal-looking cars and clothes, said Evelyn Aguayo, a member of the rapid response team for the community organizing group Increase the Peace Chicago. Aguayo said photos of the agents circulated among response groups later in the afternoon.
The ICE arrest occurred about a month after CPS incorrectly reported that ICE agents tried to enter Hamline Elementary in Back of the Yards in late January. The two officers who tried to enter Hamline were later reported to be with Secret Service, not ICE.
Aguayo and her team have been working to disseminate Know Your Rights information to communities such as Gage Park and Back of the Yards, she said. But after Wednesday’s ICE arrest, she said that work is more urgent.
“These students have a right to be dropped off without trauma,” she said. “I do think a lot of families are going to be scared to take their kids to school.”
