This week, as part of the Trump administration’s drive for mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, a man dropping off two students outside charter schools in Chicago was arrested by federal immigration authorities.
The man was arrested during the school drop – off period. The administration claims to have arrested over 20,000 immigrants in just one month.
According to a letter sent by the principals of Victoria Soto High and Jovita Idar Elementary schools to families, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained the man at around 8:15 a.m. on Wednesday outside these schools.
The letter stated that school officials “escorted these students away from the car and to their respective campuses.” No one was hurt during the incident.
The principals said in the letter that the agents did not try to enter either school, and “nor were they permitted to.”
The letter read, “We understand how stressful and upsetting this is to our school communities.” It also added that the schools would keep an eye on campus activities “to ensure the safest environment for all our students.”
This school year, the two campuses together serve over 1,000 students. According to Acero Schools of Chicago, 98% of these students identify as Latino or Hispanic.
An ICE spokesperson told NBC News in a statement that the man arrested in Chicago was 37 – year – old Francisco Andrade – Berrera. The agency said Andrade – Berrera was part of a street gang and had criminal convictions for “drug trafficking, gang loitering, and damage to property.” He had also been removed from the United States twice before.
Last month, the Trump administration announced it was ending a policy that limited ICE agents’ ability to arrest undocumented people at or near “sensitive locations” like churches, schools, and hospitals. This arrest worried some school officials and families. It comes as the administration keeps boasting about its efforts to detain and deport undocumented immigrants.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement, “Since Jan. 20, ICE has significantly increased its immigration enforcement activities.” In fiscal year 2024, the Biden administration made 113,431 immigration arrests.
Although the Trump administration says it’s prioritizing the “worst first” for arrests and deportations, new data obtained by NBC News shows that the number of detainees in ICE custody without a criminal conviction or pending criminal charges rose by over 1,800 in the first two weeks of February. These detainees made up 41% of the 4,422 total new detainees in that time. Border czar Tom Homan and Trump officials have said that those without criminal backgrounds could be caught up in these actions and consider anyone in the country illegally as a legitimate target.
During fiscal year 2024 under the Biden administration, 28% of immigration arrests were of people with no criminal convictions or pending criminal charges.
In Arkansas, a statewide operation led to the arrest of 219 undocumented immigrants in the past three weeks. Jonathan Ross, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, called it “the largest collaborative law enforcement effort to enforce immigration laws in Arkansas history” at a news conference on Thursday. Ross said the 219 people arrested included those with criminal records and some with no criminal charges.
David Clay Fowlkes, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, said at the news conference that the people targeted for arrest were those who “had come in contact previously with law enforcement within the last three years and for one reason or another they were not removed at that time, or they were not eligible to be removed at that time.”
Ross also said that other immigrants who were with or near the intended target at the time were also arrested.
He said, “I think that the majority of the individuals who are being removed are not being charged with violent criminal offenses.” He added that the immigrants arrested in Arkansas came from 23 different countries.
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