Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago public school officials falsely claimed last week that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrived at an elementary school, as President Donald Trump’s administration continues enforcement operations targeting violent illegal immigrant offenders in the sanctuary city.
ICE said its agents never arrived at Hamline Elementary School, located in Chicago’s Back of the Yards neighborhood, and the U.S. Secret Service released a statement saying it was their agents who stopped by on Friday to investigate a threat made against an unspecified government official. Chicago Public Schools later admitted their mistake, citing a “misunderstanding,” but affirmed that the school system will not coordinate with federal immigration authorities.
In front of local news cameras on Friday, Chicago Public Schools Chief Education Officer Bogdana Chkoumbova told reporters that earlier that morning ICE agents “showed up” at Hamline, but “school staff followed CPS established protocols.”
“They kept ICE agents outside of the school and contacted CPS’s Law Department and CPS’s Office of Safety and Security for further guidance,” Chkoumbova said. “The ICE agents were not allowed into the school and were not permitted to speak to any students or staff members. Here is the bottom line: Our students and staff are safe…. We will not coordinate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.”
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“We will not open our doors for ICE, and we are here to protect our children and make sure they have access to an excellent education,” Hamline Principal Natasha Ortega said at the same press conference, according to video published by WMAQ-TV. “We stand in solidarity with our families and the Back of the Yards community.”
The governor chimed in on X.
“After a week of Republicans sowing fear and chaos, the first reports of raids in Chicago are at an elementary school,” Pritzker wrote Friday, sharing a ChalkBeat.org report. “Targeting children and separating families is cruel and un-American.”
The post was slapped with a Community Note, reading: “This was not ICE but the U.S. Secret Service visiting the school due to an unspecified threat.”
There has not been an update posted on the governor’s X account, and Fox News Digital reached out to Pritzker’s team for comment on Monday, but they did not immediately respond.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson released a statement of his own on X, correcting the record and chastising officials who amplified unverified claims.
“Chicago will always be a welcoming city, and we will always uphold the welcoming city ordinance, and we will always protect our students and every resident of our city,” Johnson, a Democrat, wrote. “Today Secret Service agents, not ICE, were present at John H. Hamline Elementary School. While people across the city are worried about heightened immigration enforcement, it is imperative that individuals not spread unverified information that sparks fear across the city.”
Chicago Public Schools Chief Executive Officer Pedro Martinez initially repeated the dubious allegations on Friday. During an appearance on MSNBC, he said “individuals” came to Hamline “and presented credentials and shared that they were from ICE.”
“Our staff followed the protocols. We’re very clear,” Martinez said. “We’ve been training our principals, our security guards, any front office staff… making sure that they know that we are not to share any information with anybody from the immigration department or ICE. Unless they have a judicial order, they’re not even allowed to enter the building.”
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ICE said it was not involved in the encounter. In a statement obtained by Fox News Digital, Anthony Guglielmi, chief of communications for the U.S. Secret Service, revealed that special agents from the Chicago field office on Friday had been “investigating a threat made against a government official we protect.”
“In the course of their investigation, agents first visited a residence in a local neighborhood and then made a visit to Hamline Elementary School,” Guglielmi said. “Agents identified themselves to the school principal and provided business cards with their contact information. The agents left without incident. The Secret Service investigates all threats made against those we protect. We do not investigate nor enforce immigration laws.”
Chicago Public Schools officials walked back their earlier claims on Saturday.
In a message addressed to families, Martinez and Chkoumbova said, “Agents presented school staff with credentials from the Department of Homeland Security, the federal department that oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).”
“We later learned that these officials were not from ICE, but rather from the U.S. Secret Service – a different federal law enforcement agency also overseen by the Department of Homeland Security,” the statement said. “While this incident was due to a misunderstanding, it reflects the fear and anxiety that is present in our city right now, and it reflects the degree of caution that we are taking given recent federal policy changes.”
The school officials also decried DHS’s decision last week to rescind a directive that had prevented ICE from carrying out immigration enforcement at sensitive locations such as churches, schools and doctor’s offices.
Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, who has been overseeing ICE raids in Chicago and across the country as part of the president’s mass deportation strategy, defended the reversal during an appearance on ABC News on Sunday. Homan said many MS-13 gang members are often around age 14 and well-trained ICE agents should have the discretion to weed out public safety and national security threats.
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“Earlier this week, the new presidential administration rescinded a longtime policy that protected sensitive locations like schools from being targeted by ICE for immigration enforcement. As a result, our school administrators have been on high alert to protect their school communities,” Martinez and Chkoumbova said Saturday. “Despite yesterday’s misunderstanding, the school’s response demonstrates that our school system, in partnership with community organizations and our labor partners, is prepared and ready to keep our students and staff safe.”
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