ICE Arrest At Chicago Day Care Sparks Outrage As Latino Voters Move Away From Trump
A day care worker was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents inside a school in Chicago Wednesday morning as kids were arriving.
School officials at Rayito de Sol Spanish Immersion Early Learning Center said Diana Santillana, a Colombian immigrant, passed a background check and had authorization to work. She has a pending asylum case. Despite this, she remains in ICE custody.
Her temporary work permit allows her to work legally while her asylum case is pending, but it does not grant legal status or protect against deportation.
She was described as “always willing to go above and beyond,” known for dressing in silly hats and costumes to entertain the children.
It comes as the Trump administration ramps up its deportation crackdown, targeting Latino communities across the U.S. The Supreme Court ruled in September that federal officials can stop individuals they suspect of being undocumented immigrants based on race and other factors.
The rapid expansion of enforcement power — and reports of U.S. citizens being mistakenly detained — has fueled backlash in Latino communities and appeared to impact Tuesday’s elections.
ON THE ARREST
After Santillana’s arrest, parents started a GoFundMe that has raised over $130,000 to support her legal fees and two children.
“We are full of sadness, but we are also filled with rage,” attorney Tara Goodarzi said Wednesday, as she and other parents of students from the school protested the arrest. “Diana was targeted, stolen on her way to care for our children by armed intruders from a private business without a warrant. They did this during school hours when children were present. These agents care little for the safety of our children.”
ICE responded that law enforcement “did NOT target a daycare and were only at this location because the female illegal alien fled inside,” claiming agents had first attempted to stop a vehicle Santillana was in.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) alleges she paid to have her teenage children brought into the country illegally.
Attorneys in the Mo News community weigh in on the legality:
On the ground, some Latinos are now carrying their passports to prove their citizenship status, as some states issue driver’s licenses to undocumented migrants.
Exit polls show that Latino voters in New Jersey, Virginia, California, and New York City said Trump’s immigration enforcement has gone too far: Roughly 6 in 10 said they’re dissatisfied with the country’s direction, and about 4 in 10 said their vote for Democrats was to oppose Trump. In New Jersey, 18% of Latinos who backed Trump last year voted for the Democratic gubernatorial candidate — a sign that Trump’s support in the Latino community, which grew ahead of 2024, is fading.