There was a threat against the life of a public official. The Secret Service went to investigate and talk to the person responsible for those threats. A Chicago government school principal decided that threats are NOT to be investigated on his campus. Why wasn’t this person arrested on the spot for obstruction of justice.
“ICE agents were never at the school, which has a student body that is more than 90% Hispanic. Instead, the U.S. Secret Service said some of their agents visited Hamline Elementary School while investigating threats made against a government official under the agency’s protection.
Secret Service officials said the agents clearly identified themselves, and even left business cards with the principal after they were turned away.
“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,” the Secret Service said in a statement.
This principal, if the public official is harmed, should be charged with being a co-conspirator. The time has come for government to protect us, even from radical, pro-violence school principals.
Secret Service, not ICE agents, were turned away from Chicago South Side school
By Charlie De Mar, Sabrina Franza, Todd Feurer, Jeramie Bizzle, CBS Chicago. 1/24/25 https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/hamline-school-immigration-raid-chicago-ice-agents/
CHICAGO (CBS) — Leaders with Chicago Public Schools caused fear and confusion in the Back of the Yards neighborhood on Friday, after they falsely claimed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents tried to enter a local elementary school.
ICE agents were never at the school, which has a student body that is more than 90% Hispanic. Instead, the U.S. Secret Service said some of their agents visited Hamline Elementary School while investigating threats made against a government official under the agency’s protection.
Secret Service officials said the agents clearly identified themselves, and even left business cards with the principal after they were turned away.
“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,” the Secret Service said in a statement.
Sources said the Secret Service was investigating an online threat that a Hamline student made against President Trump following the U.S. ban on TikTok.
Despite initially having provided false information about what happened at Hamline, CPS officials later said their response shows that they are prepared should ICE agents ever come to a school.
Hamline principal Natasha Ortega and CPS chief education officer Bogdana Chkoumbova had claimed that ICE agents arrived at the school around 11:15 a.m., but they were not allowed entry or permitted to speak with any students or staff.
“Our security and clerk team followed the protocols that we’ve been trained and practiced and have discussed, and due to that we were able to ensure the safety of our school and all of our students,” Ortega said. “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.”
CPS chief executive officer Pedro Martinez later went on MSNBC and repeated the false claims of an ICE visit at the school.
“We had individuals that came to one of our schools, Hamline Elementary School, and presented credentials … and shared that they were from ICE, and so our staff followed the protocols. We’re very clear. 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,” he said.
CPS blames “misunderstanding,” Mayor Johnson cautions people to “not spread unverified information”
ICE denied any involvement in the encounter, and the Department of Homeland Security later said there were no immigration enforcement actions at or near a school in the entire city of Chicago on Friday.
After Secret Service officials confirmed their agents were the ones who were turned away from Hamline, CPS later admitted their mistake, calling it a “misunderstanding.”
Earlier today, Chicago Public School leaders shared that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents showed up this morning (Friday) at Hamline Elementary School.
After our District officials shared public statements, we learned that the agents who visited the school were from the U.S. Secret Service. Our original communication was a result of a misunderstanding, reflective of the fear and concerns in the community amid the new administration’s focus on undocumented immigrants.
Here’s what happened: Two individuals showed up at the school door and presented identification that includes the name Department of Homeland Security, the federal agency that oversees ICE. School officials proceeded to respond to the agents with the understanding that they were from ICE, amid rumors and reports that the agency was in the community.
Regardless of which branch of Homeland Security visited this school, officials followed the established protocols to ensure student safety. The agents were not allowed into the school or permitted to speak with staff or students. Hamline administrators also worked with CPS’ Law Department and CPS’ Office of Safety and Security. The situation was handled with the federal agents leaving the campus without entry.
While this was a misunderstanding in terms of the specific branch of DHS, the school’s response demonstrates that our system, in partnership with community organizations, is prepared and ready to keep our students and staff safe.
Mayor Brandon Johnson released a statement Friday night, urging people to be careful about spreading misinformation amid widespread concern over changes in federal immigration policies, without acknowledging that it was high-ranking Chicago Public Schools officials who were responsible for falsely stating ICE agents had been at Hamline.
“While people across the city are worried about immigration enforcement, it is imperative that individuals not spread unverified information that sparks fear in the city,” Johnson said in a statement on his official social media accounts.
Immigrant rights group says, regardless of which agency was at Hamline, CPS was right to keep federal agents out
Brandon Lee, communications director for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, said a team with the nonprofit advocacy group responded to Hamline after receiving reports of ICE agents at the school.
“There’s been a lot of back and forth about … what department actually it was, or the identification that was presented, but ultimately we believe that school administrators and the school leadership did the right thing by not allowing the agents to enter the school,” he said. “It’s better to exercise caution right now, especially given the range of federal enforcement agencies that are now able to carry out immigration-related activity.”
Before it became clear which agency had been at Hamline, the confusion over the presence of federal agents at a local school stoked fears in the neighborhood about the potential for deportation efforts promised by President Trump.
The Back of the Yards community, with a large Latin American population, has been particularly worried about potential ICE raids with Mr. Trump back in office. Some neighbors said they ran outside when they started to hear commotion at Hamline, in light of Trump’s immigration-related executive orders and promises of mass deportations since taking office.
Among the actions undertaken by the Trump administration this week, the Department of Homeland Security rescinded guidelines set by the Biden administration that prohibited agents from going into schools and churches to conduct arrests.
Last week, reports proliferated that the Trump administration would conduct mass deportations in cities, including Chicago. Local immigrant advocacy groups were on high alert, but it is not yet clear that any significant increase in standard ICE activity has occurred in Chicago since Monday.
This comes as new executive orders and actions signed by the Trump administration have amplified deportation fears in some Chicago communities.
Gov. JB Pritzker has said he’s heard ICE will be targeting as many as 2,000 people in Chicago under the Trump administration’s plans for mass deportations, but federal officials have not communicated with the state on any specific immigration enforcement efforts.
