Chicago Public Schools has sent multiple emails out to families assuring them they are prepared for a potential National Guard presence in the city after comments from President Donald Trump stating Chicago is next for his military force crackdowns.
In the midst of the uncertainty, Chicago Public Schools has reiterated to parents and students that school is a safe place to be in a letter sent out Thursday. No families in the district are required to share their immigration status with CPS, and the district is committed to not working with or sharing student records with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, also known as ICE.
The concerns come after repeated remarks from Trump indicating his intent to send troops to Chicago to curb perceived violence in the city, despite a drop in crime rates in the last year. The threat was made seemingly more real last week when the Trump Administration asked to use the Great Lakes Naval Base in North Chicago ahead of a potential “immigration operation.”
Then, Trump doubled down at an unrelated press conference Tuesday in the Oval Office “We’re going in,” Trump said when asked Tuesday about deploying the National Guard in Chicago. “I didn’t say when, but we’re going in.”
The letter also advocates for families and students to take extra safety precautions, including having a group of parents and students to walk to and from school together, creating a carpool group or buddy system while on public transportation, and being in communication with your block or neighborhood to share information quickly if needed.
Quick communication between community members has already started in some neighborhoods, Lowell Elementary School Local School Council member Magdalena Martinez said. If she hears that ICE officers are in the neighborhood — Humboldt Park — she spreads the word so everyone knows, including to local schools.
“The first place I tell is the school,” Martinez said. “I said, ‘they’re around here, and they’re on this street and the street, so be careful.’”
Fear is especially apparent in immigrant communities, Martinez said. Grocery stores seem emptier since the talk of the National Guard first started. Parents are worried about leaving the house, let alone letting their children leave for school, she added.
“They’re scared of sending them to school because they don’t know if they’re going to pick up their kids,” Martinez said. “Our people are already scared. They don’t need to be more scared.”
The district solidified its stance on working with immigration enforcement last year when the Chicago Board of Education passed a resolution stating CPS will not provide assistance to ICE in the enforcement of federal civil immigration law. It also states ICE is not permitted access to district facilities or personnel unless it has a criminal warrant to do so.
For now, Martinez’s two granddaughters within CPS are unaware of the potential threats their classmates might face. At age 3 and 9, they are too small to know, she said, though they might soon be faced with National Guard officers in their neighborhood.
“That’s the reality, that they’re going to be seeing things like this and then we got to tell them, which is very hard to do, because you don’t want them to live in an environment where all have to be scared where we live and where we’re at or who we talk to,” Martinez said.
The deployment also raises the question of how much federal money will be spent on the National Guard’s presence, Bronzeville Classical Elementary School parent and Local School Council Advisory Board member Stephen Miller said.
“There are other ways, more efficient, more sustainable ways to deal with the issues, as opposed to just sending troops and having them on the street and scaring people,” Miller said.
The biggest concern for Miller is the federal financial resources used to bring the National Guard to Chicago that could go elsewhere. The National Guard should not come, he said, and instead use those resources to help people directly, like people experiencing homelessness.
“I think it will probably be more of an agitation than a help,” Miller said. “…Let’s look at some proven things that help reduce crime for longer periods of time and not this kind of showboat approach to crime, which really won’t do anything for the long run anyway.”
A better use of those funds would be at schools like those in CPS and across the country, which are facing tighter budgets and fewer resources after federal cuts to the U.S. Department of Education, he added.
With the view that the city itself needs more money from both the government and the state, the prioritization of sending the National Guard to Chicago to stop crime seems financially unnecessary, Miller said.
“The amount of money that they’re spending on that kind of stuff we could be using to keep teachers in the classroom, we could be using to help restore buildings, we could be using for afterschool programs,” Miller said. “All of those things are what we really need, and they all help curb crime, not just having tanks in the streets.”
It is unclear if Trump will follow through on those deployment threats. The president’s use of the National Guard in Los Angeles during immigration enforcement protests earlier this year was deemed illegal by a judge Tuesday morning, who determined the action violated federal law.
Even with the ruling, it is yet to be determined if Trump tries something similar in Illinois. Over 50 people were shot throughout a Labor Day weekend that included multiple mass shootings, news the president is now pointing to as more of a reason to come to the city, which he called a “hellhole” Tuesday during a White House press conference.
Interim CEO Macquline King reiterated many of the letter’s key points at the Chicago Board of Education meeting Thursday, sharing that the district is in conversation with city officials and labor partners about what to do if the National Guard were deployed. Public safety issues like this are the responsibility of the city and state, so CPS will follow their lead, King said.
“We don’t know when or even if this will happen, but I want our school communities to know that CPS is prepared,” King said. “I know that anxiety among many families has been high since the new administration took office, so the possibility of an even greater federal presence in our city has been making this tension that much worse.”
The district hears parents’ worries, King said, apologizing that the potential military presence is coming amid a time when students should be happy.
“I wanted our families to hear directly from the district that we understand their concerns and that their children will remain safe, supported and loved every day that they are in our school,” King said.
In the meantime, the district will remain in communication with its families regarding anything about the potential deployment of the National Guard, King said.
“The start of the school year should be about learning and discovery, not fear and intimidation,” King said. “I know there’s a lot of fear out there, but I hope our families will trust me when I say that the best and safest place for our children is still at school.”