Camilla Forte/Borderless Magazine/Catchlight Local/Report for America and courtesyAfter ICE agents followed and detained a daycare worker on Chicago’s North Side, parents are questioning whether schools and childcare centers are safe from immigration enforcement.
When Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained a teacher at Rayito del Sol daycare in North Center, parents were left to wonder whether their children are safe from immigration enforcement while in school.
[ICE agents] “have entered safe spaces – schools, churches, daycares,” said Maria Guzman, a parent of two children at Rayito del Sol. “For them to enter a daycare, it’s shameful and embarrassing.”
Last week, ICE agents followed and detained teacher Diana Patricia Santillana Galeano in the early morning at a daycare on the North Side of Chicago. Footage circulating on social media and shared with the press shows agents dragging Galeano out of the door and attempting to handcuff her before driving away.
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As President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement continues throughout Chicago and the nearby suburbs, federal agents’ detention of a daycare teacher, who was part of a system reliant on immigrant workers, shattered what many had considered an inviolable sanctuary.
For families across Chicago, the raid represents a new reality in which no space feels safe or protected as ICE continues indiscriminate arrests and military-style raids.
“It worries me that ICE enforcement has become this entity that can’t be trusted to follow norms or treat people in a humane, dignified manner,” said one parent who asked to remain anonymous out of safety concerns.
“And programs can do what they can, but when you continue to see this type of action, I’m not really sure what you can do as a parent.”
Crossing a line
Trump has signed executive orders aimed at reforming immigration policy since taking office in January. These changes include conducting military-style sweeps in Democratic-led cities, including Chicago.
For months, Chicago communities have been on high alert as federal immigration agents carry out “Operation Midway Blitz.” The operation has involved agents shooting and killing a man, using teargas on communities, pointing guns at civilians, arresting parents at school drop off, and detaining several minors near schools.
During the arrest at Rayito del Sol, Galeano is seen being dragged out of the daycare by two ICE agents. A person can be heard screaming inside the vestibule before the doors open to the parking lot. It is unclear from the video whether Galeano is the one screaming.
In part of the video, Galeano can be heard telling one of the agents in Spanish that she has documentation.
For years, the federal government had an internal policy that limited immigration enforcement in places essential for people’s basic needs, such as schools, hospitals, and churches, says Wendy Cervantes, the director of immigration and immigrant families at the Center for Law and Social Policy.
The first formal policy limiting ICE enforcement in “sensitive locations” was implemented in 2011.
“This is a bipartisan policy that, no matter how you feel about immigration enforcement, has been in place to ensure that immigration enforcement doesn’t unnecessarily harm children and families and keep kids out of school,” Cervantes said.
However, Trump repealed the policy in January, leaving immigrant families vulnerable to ICE detentions in places of worship, schools and hospitals.
Galeano has since been relocated from Broadview Detention Facility to an ICE facility in Clark County, Indiana. According to Galeano’s immigration attorney, she has a valid work permit, which permits her to live and work legally in the United States.
Galeano’s attorneys also allege that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) arrested her without a warrant — a violation of a federal consent decree which requires agents to have a signed judicial warrant when making detentions.
A DHS spokesperson did not respond to Borderless’ request for comment before publication.
Galeano’s attorneys filed a petition for her release and a hearing seeking her release is set for Thursday. A GoFundMe has raised $150,000 to cover Galeano’s legal fees.
Families wonder about the safety of their children
For months, the impact of “Operation Midway Blitz” on families has rippled across schools in Belmont Cragin, Albany Park, Pilsen, Little Village and Back of the Yards, with reported lower student attendance since September.
Now, with the arrest in Rayito del Sol daycare, parents, school leaders and experts are questioning the long-term psychological implications on their children.
“I could not sleep last night, thinking about the safety of my children,” said Guzman, a Rayito parent. “This is deeply, deeply personal.”
Parents watched as toddlers and preschoolers witnessed their beloved teacher taken away by federal agents.
In an interview with NBC, a Rayito family said they had to answer questions from their five-year-old son as to “why his teacher was stolen” and whether she would be coming back.
A July 2025 report by the University of California, Riverside confirmed that even the persistent threat of separation and a child’s anticipatory anxiety of a relative being detained can instill long-term emotional harm in children, researchers said.
“These fears have been shown to lead to school absenteeism, academic disengagement, and heightened emotional distress,” according to another research study.
“When you subject them to that kind of trauma, and take away a childcare worker right before their eyes, that is a disruption to the stability that they need,” Cervantes said. “It is going to have long-term consequences, and we as a country are going to pay the price for our kids.”
Childcare system relies on immigrants
In recent months, parents seeking guidance have flooded Know Your Rights sessions hosted by local organizations and advocacy groups. These workshops have helped some families feel more prepared, and early learning programs have seen attendance gradually recover, according to the Migration Policy Institute.
Even when ICE isn’t following the law, Cervantes said it’s useful for childcare facilities to have plans in place to protect their children and workers, in addition to knowing their rights.
“I think all of these preparations just help take away some of the element of surprise,” said Cervantes. “Being prepared goes a long way in terms of reducing panic when something actually happens.”
After the arrest at Rayito’s, parents want assurances that schools and daycares are off limits from enforcement actions under the Trump administration.
The childcare system itself relies heavily on immigrant workers – 21% of the early care and education workforce nationwide was born outside the United States. In Illinois, that figure is 20%, according to the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment.
Child care programs already struggle to hire and maintain staff, given their low wages. But the early childhood care labor force across the country relies heavily on the work of immigrant women, including childcare providers operating in home-based settings, according to the latest analysis by the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment.
Maria del Carmen Macias, who has operated an at-home daycare for 14 years, highlighted the vulnerability of home-based providers. “If this can happen in a center, can you imagine at a home?” she said. “So it’s scary.”
In the wake of Galeano’s arrest, the sense of helplessness continues to ripple as parents grapple with worry for the caregivers who nurture their kids daily.
“It made me feel terrible for these people who are protecting and raising these kids,” said another Rayito parent. “They are the ones in the most vulnerable situations here. They go to work and give 100%, and at the same time, they have to deal with this.”
Parents and elected officials demand safe spaces from ICE
Less than 24 hours after Galeano’s detention at Rayito, hundreds of Chicagoans — many of them parents — gathered in North Center Town Square demanding that schools and learning centers like Rayito be recognized as safe spaces protected from enforcement actions.
“Diana is a wonderful mother, teacher, and friend to our community and we are grieving her absence tonight,” said Tara Goodarzi, a parent whose son attends Rayito. “We are full of sadness, but we are also filled with rage.”
Goodarzi said the teacher 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,” she said. “These agents care little for the safety of our children.”
Alice Dryden, a teacher at Mary Crane Center, said ICE agents and federal officials have breached the sanctuary inside schools.
“My classroom is supposed to be a sanctuary for the toddlers I care for,” Dryden said.
In downtown, elected officials and advocacy groups called for an end to heavy immigration enforcement in schools and for community members to protect each other. They held the press conference in front of the Reliance Relocation Services (RELO Direct), which received $7.3 million to relocate ICE employees as part of “Operation Midway Blitz.”
Illinois Sen. Graciela Guzmán condemned federal agents, calling for a recognition of sanctuary spaces, especially for vulnerable children.
“You can no longer be a child in peace while authoritarian hands play out in Chicago,” Sen. Guzmán said. “We deserve services and a workforce, a care system that parents can trust to take care of their children.”
For parents, elected officials, and school communities, the message is clear: release Galeano and restore protections for schools and childcare facilities.
“Our children are worthy of our protection, and they are deserving of growing up to achieve their full potential,” said Cervantes.
Tara Mobasher is Borderless Magazine’s newsletter writer and reporter. Email Tara at [email protected].
Max Herman contributed to this report.
