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This story has been updated with a statement from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirming the arrest.
Principals at a charter school campus on Chicago’s South West side told families Wednesday that an adult who was in a vehicle with two students was detained by federal immigration enforcement officials during school dropoff.
In a letter to families, the administration of Acero Schools’ Soto High School and Idar Elementary said they escorted the students into the building away from the scene, which took place at the corner of 51st and St. Louis Ave. in Gage Park.
“We understand how stressful and upsetting this is to our school communities,” the two principals, Elizabeth Obrzut and Nicolle Macias, wrote. “Focused support is being made available for those directly impacted by this event. Both schools will have additional social work support available for scholars.”
According to the Acero administration, agents from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, also known as ATF, detained an adult in a vehicle outside the schools around 8:15 a.m. The school leaders said the agents did not attempt to enter either school.
A spokesperson for ICE confirmed agents in Chicago arrested Francisco Andrade-Berrera, 37, on Wednesday “without incident.” The statement said he is a citizen of Mexico and “a known member of a violent street gang with criminal convictions for drug trafficking, gang loitering, and damage to property” and had been deported twice before in 2005 and 2013.
Collectively, the two Acero schools on the single campus serve more than 1,000 students and 98% identify as Hispanic.
Helena Stangle, Acero’s chief culture officer, said the campus staff followed the network’s protocols Wednesday and also contacted Chicago Public Schools Office of Safety and Security. She added that Acero administrative staff undergo “intensive training” on what to do in these scenarios and the network provides families with a “Civil Rights Resource Hub.”
Last month, the Trump administration ended a policy that treated schools and child care centers as “sensitive” or “protected” locations where immigration enforcement could not take place unless there was an immediate danger to the public.
Yesenia Lopez, the elected school board member representing District 7 where the schools are located, commended the Acero principals and school staff who stepped in to support the students “during such a traumatic moment.”
“No child should be afraid of going to school because they fear seeing their parents ambushed during school drop offs,” Lopez said in a statement to Chalkbeat. “Our schools should be places of safety and learning, not fear and separation.”
Ald. Jeylu Gutierrez, whose ward includes the Acero schools, said the person arrested is a father of three kids, two at Idar and one at Soto. He was dropping the two younger kids off to school when he was arrested, she said. Gutierrez, who said she got in touch with the family, said Wednesday she didn’t know why the father was arrested.
“All the family is devastated and the school community,” said Gutierrez, who was at a candlelight vigil Wednesday night focused on saving three Acero schools, which serve a largely Hispanic student population, from closure. She said several families decided not to attend the event to take extra precautions.
When the gathering — hosted in conjunction with the Chicago Teachers Union — ended, union staff told families to watch out for each other.
“Remember your rights,” Hilario Dominguez, the union’s legislative director, told the crowd. “You don’t have to talk to ICE.”
The incident during school dropoff Wednesday comes weeks after another Chicago elementary school in Back of the Yards on the city’s South West side mistook U.S, Secret Service agents for ICE, prompting a flurry of confusion and fear in the community.
Many of Chicago’s South West side neighborhoods are predominantly Latino and home to many immigrants. These communities, like many across the country, have been on high alert since the Trump administration took office and stepped up immigration enforcement.
Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.
Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.
