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As federal immigration agents ratchet up enforcement in Chicago, some advocates and parents are calling on Mayor Brandon Johnson to abide by state law and create an advisory board focused on the needs of noncitizen students and families for Chicago’s school board.
Illinois state lawmakers required the creation of a Chicago Board of Education Non-Citizen Advisory Board when it established an elected school board for the city under legislation passed in 2021. Lawmakers sought to provide the school board with an advisory panel focused, in part, on improving the outcomes and experiences of noncitizen students and sharing the perspectives of noncitizen parents, who cannot vote in school board elections. The law does not prevent U.S. citizens from serving on the advisory board.
But nearly nine months after the new school board was sworn in, the mayor has not yet established the noncitizen advisory board. State law does not specify a deadline for creating the board or how many people the mayor should choose.
“The current situation we’re living through with the heightened ICE raids in the city have proven why we need to have this advisory board — to be able to advise the school board and the CPS district on how to handle things like this,” said Jessica Cañas, chief of community engagement for Kids First Chicago, a parent advocacy group that helped push for the creation of the advisory committee.
In a statement to Chalkbeat, mayoral spokesperson Griffin Kreuger said Johnson’s office has hosted four meetings with “partners” about the establishment of the committee. He said the office is working to finalize an application for the board, including translating it into multiple languages. The office is also taking additional steps to ensure people’s safety, but did not share more details.
“Due to increased tensions driven by federal immigration enforcement the City has taken added precautions to uphold the safety of our partners,” Kreuger said.
The law doesn’t specify who should be appointed to serve on the board.
Both the noncitizen advisory board and the Black Student Achievement Committee, mandated by Illinois lawmakers in 2024, could run afoul of the Trump administration, which said it will pull $20 million in magnet school funding over multiple years for CPS, in part, because of a district plan to improve outcomes and support for Black students. The administration claims that the plan violates the civil rights of students who aren’t Black; CPS says the administration has not provided evidence of civil rights violations.
The Trump administration has also slashed funding for a federal office that focused on serving English language learners and rolled back guidance about the rights of English learners, many of whom may be noncitizens or have parents who are noncitizens.
Yesenia Lopez, an elected school board member who has been tracking how immigration enforcement is affecting schools in her district, said “it’s crucial” to create this advisory board in order for the school board to hear directly from immigrant students and their parents. But she noted the district is in a precarious position: The city is required to launch this board per state law, but it “contradicts what the federal government wants from us.”
Parents fearful amid federal immigration activity
Stepped-up raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, agents have put Chicago’s immigrant communities on high alert. During a school board meeting Wednesday, two parents raised concerns about immigration enforcement and said there was a need for a virtual learning option due to fears of ICE enforcement during school pickup and dropoff.
Other parents who spoke to Chalkbeat in favor of establishing the advisory board also called for the option to attend school remotely, and the teachers union previously called on the district to have a virtual learning option ready for families who want it. Asked Thursday if CPS should consider offering remote learning, Johnson said “we may have to explore and look at other ways in which we can keep people connected until we fully defeat the tyrant that is in the White House.”
Board member Jitu Brown said school is the safest place for kids and it’s important for communities to be informed of their rights. But, he said board members have raised the question of remote learning to interim CPS CEO Macquline King, and that CPS shouldn’t table that possibility if that’s what many families want.
Elected officials and community organizations have launched school patrols during dropoff and pickup in certain neighborhoods to help alert families if federal agents are spotted nearby. After ICE raided a South Shore apartment building last week — an incident cited by a federal judge in a ruling that found ICE was making “warrantless arrests” in Chicago — and federal agents reportedly lobbed tear gas near a school in another incident, local elected officials and the union called for more support for immigrant students and their families.
CPS officials have emphasized that school is the safest place to be, and federal agents are not permitted in school buildings unless they have a criminal judicial warrant signed by a federal judge. District leaders have so far not offered remote learning options. Chicago schools, like many across the country, saw significant academic declines and negative impacts on student mental health between 2020 and 2022 when the COVID pandemic moved most learning online.
Advisory board should have been established sooner, some parents say
Valentina, a former CPS parent and longtime Chicago resident who is interested in joining the noncitizen advisory board, said immigrant family concerns could have been shared earlier and in a more formal way had the board been established.
“All children should have the opportunity that their parents raise their voice for equity,” Valentina, who is on the Kids First Parent Advisory Board, said through a Spanish translator. Chalkbeat is using a pseudonym for Valentina, who is not a U.S. citizen, because she is fearful of identifying herself publicly.
She added, “It doesn’t matter if the children come from a family that is a mixed family, like parents who have asylum, parents who have no status, parents who are not refugees — all children have a right to education.”
In a separate statement, Chicago Board of Education President Sean Harden said there will be updates on the application process for people interested in serving on the noncitizen advisory board in the “coming weeks.” He said the school board is committed to launching the advisory board, as well as the Black Student Success Committee and a committee focused on special education.
“The Board is making every effort to protect partners and stakeholders, and it supports the Mayor’s Office in doing so as well as they advance the work for the Non-Citizen Advisory Board,” Harden said.
Brenda Rivera, who also sits on the Kids First Parent Advisory Board, said one way to navigate those concerns is appointing both citizens and noncitizens to the board, and those who are comfortable can speak on behalf of people who are fearful of speaking publicly.
Norma Rios-Sierra, an appointed school board member who is also tracking immigration-related concerns, said she and some of her colleagues are interested in creating an “ad hoc committee” where board members can receive more information on how CPS is responding to immigration concerns and discuss other issues related to “crisis planning,” including the possibility of virtual learning.
Lopez, the elected school board member, said establishing the noncitizen advisory board right now should be done carefully in order to protect parents who are interested in it. She also wondered how the state might support Chicago if the Trump administration tries to penalize the city for establishing the committee.
“How can the state step in to provide financial support if we get more funding cut?” Lopez said.
Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.
