The school day starts early for the Bicchieri-Galeno family. They aim to be out of the house by 7:45 a.m. and make it a priority to leave together to make the half-block walk, hand in hand, to Orozco Gifted Bilingual Fine Arts and Sciences Academy in Pilsen.
On Friday morning, the family of four’s hands were filled with small white flyers to distribute to parents and students as they entered school. The bold, red capital letters read, “CTU: Defend your rights under the threat of occupation.”
In the days prior, the Chicago Teachers Union blanketed school communities across the city with flyers, reminding people of their constitutional rights should they be stopped by law enforcement. CTU officials said they aim to help the predominantly Latino and Black neighborhoods vulnerable to the actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the National Guard.
Shortly before the bell rang, roughly a dozen others, including teachers and administrators, trickled out of Orozco to join the Bicchieri-Galenos including their son, Leone, 8, and daughter Claudita, 11.
Leone José Bicchieri compared the local anxiety to 2008, when immigrant raids occurred across the country. The flyers and information being shared online from community to community is helping, Bicchieri said, between running from cars to parents outside the building and back again. Orozco’s student enrollment was nearly 97% Hispanic in 2024, according to the Illinois Report Card.
“There are a lot more people that are ready this time,” he said.
The concerns come after repeated remarks from President Donald 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. Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson warned Chicagoans of an expected increased federal presence this weekend that could go on for weeks.
The flyers are a way for the school to ensure the community has essential information by providing it directly to parents, Orozco fifth grade teacher Cynthia Palomares said.
The small paper includes tips on communicating with neighbors to stay safe and reminders that their rights include not consenting to be searched, declining to share birthplace or citizenship status, and refusing to allow agents or officers entry to their homes without a signed warrant.
Both students and parents should feel safe in the building despite the potential threat of ICE or the National Guard, Palomares added.
“I just think it’s important to make our community feel safe,” Orozco fifth grade teacher Cynthia Palomares said. “…That’s our biggest fear, is to have one of our kids wondering if their parents are going to come for them or not.”
CPS also reiterated in several emails to families that school is safe. No district families are required to share their immigration status with CPS. Additionally, ICE cannot access district facilities or personnel unless it has a criminal warrant, and the district will not provide assistance to ICE in the enforcement of federal civil immigration law.
This sentiment was echoed in an additional community note released Friday containing a guidance document from the district with tips for staying safe during school transportation. CPS interim CEO Macquline King reiterated in the letter the importance of students attending classes even with the uncertainty so they can start the academic year strong and build necessary skills.
“I know that with the threat of a federal deployment, it’s hard for parents to feel comfortable going through their daily routines, including sending their children to school. But school is still the best, safest place for students, especially in these early weeks of the year,” King said in the letter.
Talking with curious Orozco students, school officials have compared the sudden presence of flyers to to an emergency drill, Principal Meghan Sovell said. She’s tried to normalize it by explaining it as something the school is doing to make sure everyone in the neighborhood is safe and knows what to do.
“We just did a fire drill yesterday, so just kind of tying it into that normal stuff, like: We do fire drills, we make sure we know what to do if the government’s around,” Sovell said.
On Friday afternoon, teachers and CTU members handed out flyers during dismissal at Beidler Elementary School in East Garfield Park.
“We are flyering today to let our babies know they’re protected,” fourth grade teacher Karen Peterson told the Tribune.
Beidel’s enrollment was about 95% Black and 5% Hispanic in 2024, according to the Illinois Report Card.
Bouncing on their feet, students rushed out of the front entrance, laughing and yelling. One boy whipped his sweatshirt around like a windmill as he waited to be picked up.
The children’s family members, however, were not nearly as lighthearted as they listened to teachers explain their rights in potential interactions with federal law enforcement.
Susan Jones, whose grandson attends kindergarten at Beidler, said she’s already aware of many of her constitutional rights. Still, their presence showed teachers care about their students and community, she said.
“Children, they’re smart — they watch the TV and the news — they see what’s going on,” Jones said. “I’m quite sure that’s confusing for them.”
While Jones said she’s unaware of immigration officials detaining people at Beidler, she’s still scared it could “happen to anyone.”
But other parents and family members aren’t as concerned as Jones about potential ICE and National Guard deployments to Chicago, longtime Beidel teacher Jessie Hudson said at a news conference after the flyer distribution ended. Some even see it as a hoax, she said.
“We’re educating … ‘Don’t react,’” Hudson said. “Let’s learn to think and then most of all, know your rights. Know that you have a leg to stand on and know that you have support.”
But from Peterson’s perspective as a teacher, intimidation and potential detention from federal authorities at any school harms the entire CPS community.
“I want everybody to be safe,” Peterson said.
Parents, students take proactive measures
Communities are already preparing in other ways to ensure students remain in school, including altering transportation methods and the amount of contact parents have with each other.
CPS advocated for families and students to take extra safety precautions in its letter last week, 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 their block or neighborhood to share information quickly if needed.
Those communication patterns are already present between parents in Pilsen and Little Village, including Orozco mother Claudia Galeno-Sanchez and other community members, she said. In the past, she has given other students rides at the last minute when parents, fearing detention by ICE, were too scared to leave their homes. She was able to do that because of the strong communication between the community and a collective desire to be ready to act despite the uncertainty, she said.
“We are just trying to exchange information, share numbers with our neighbors, saying, ‘Who is going to help in case this happens? How are we going to be prepared?’” Galeno-Sanchez said.
Students are also organizing and relaying information. Claudita Bicchieri-Galeno spoke with classmates about the “defend your rights” tips and gave out flyers and pins reading “no human being is illegal” on her own earlier this week while in school.
Her classmates thanked her and didn’t seem too nervous about the situation, though she slightly is, Bicchieri-Galeno said. Passing out and wearing the pins is a form of action for her.
“I think we need to send the message that even the kids know what’s happening,” Bicchieri-Galeno said.
Strategizing is also happening within Lane Tech College Prep High School in Roscoe Village, where students are banding together to keep each other safe and create plans in case ICE does come for undocumented students, Lane Tech grandmother Virginia Martinez said. Students are already carpooling and walking to school together to be safe and parents are also communicating, she added.
“Everybody’s so worried, but I think the parents got everything under control,” Martinez said. “I think all the kids are going to bond together and nothing (bad) is going to happen. I’m hoping for the best.”
