\n<\/p>\n
Maria Heavener had<\/span> opened the windows of her first-grade classroom to let in the unusually warm October breeze when the sound of helicopters, sirens, and a flood of notifications compelled her to slam them shut. During a raid on a nearby grocery store, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents had hurled tear gas canisters into a parking lot across the street from Chicago\u2019s Funston Elementary School, spreading a thick, choking smog toward the building while class was in session.\u00a0<\/p>\n Heavener had heard rumors that ICE was planning to detain unaccompanied minors and that schools could be a target, but this scenario had never crossed her mind. \u201cWe definitely didn\u2019t expect what happened,\u201d she said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t expect them to throw tear gas right outside of our school building.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n For the last month, the Trump administration has kept Chicago under siege. Customs and Border Protection agents arrested a 15-year-old U.S. citizen <\/a>earlier this week <\/a>after unleashing tear gas into a crowded residential neighborhood. Earlier in October, masked federal agents raided a five-story apartment building in a predominantly Black neighborhood of Chicago<\/a> and zip-tied naked children<\/a> as they dragged their parents away.<\/p>\n The Trump administration claims that Chicago is unsafe and needs order, despite the fact that the city experienced its lowest homicide rate in 60 years <\/a>this summer. But instead of investing in underfunded schools<\/a> or attempting to eradicate poverty<\/a>, which have been shown to increase public safety, the administration is pouring millions into the militarization of American cities<\/a> and fighting a court battle to federalize the National Guard in Chicago.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe didn\u2019t expect them to throw tear gas right outside of our school building.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n The Trump administration\u2019s war on immigrants has had a disastrous impact on the city\u2019s children, Chicago teachers told The Intercept.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe smoke bombs that they dropped in front of school right at dismissal, the detainment of grown-ups after they drop off their children, or as they\u2019re picking them up. All of that is violent. All of that is traumatic,\u201d said Stacy Davis Gates, president of the Chicago Teachers Union. \u201cAnd for the first time, that is what many students in this city are experiencing.\u201d<\/p>\n Heavener said she struggled to explain the events that occurred on October 3 to her class of 6 and 7-year-olds. \u201cA lot of them were sad, worried, scared, nervous,\u201d she said. \u201cSome of them said they\u2019re scared because they don\u2019t want their own family members to be taken away.\u201d<\/p>\n One of her students became so overwhelmed that he had a panic attack. \u201cIt\u2019s very scary because this is their normal,\u201d said Heavener. \u201cYou start forming your memories more solidly around 4 or 5 years old, so they have some happy kindergarten memories. But now all of sudden, this is going to take over their experiences and worldview, and it\u2019s going to shape a lot for them, and it\u2019s traumatic, and they\u2019re all going to hold that in their bodies as they grow up.\u201d<\/p>\n The stakes feel even higher at schools with older kids, where Heavener and other staff fear students will become targets. The recent arrest of the 15-year-old, Heavener said, has had a particular chilling effect.<\/strong> His lawyers allege that the teenager was detained in a federal facility for five hours without anyone telling his family where he was being held. The Department of Homeland Security denied that CBP \u201ckidnapped\u201d the teen, noting that \u201ca U.S. citizen teenager threw eggs and hit a CBP Officer in the head.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe media is sadly attempting to create a climate of fear and smear law enforcement. These smears are contributing to our ICE law enforcement officers facing 1,000% increase in assaults against them,\u201d\u00a0DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin wrote in a statement.\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cICE is not conducting enforcement operations at, or \u2018raiding,\u2019 schools. ICE is not going to schools to make arrests of children. Criminals are no longer be able to hide in America\u2019s schools to avoid arrest. The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement and instead trusts them to use common sense.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAttendance at a lot of [schools] is down,\u201d Gates told The Intercept. \u201cSenior nights have been cancelled. Fall sports and after-school activities have been sparsely attended \u2026 because of the unpredictability and the violence of Trump\u2019s troops.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt makes me want to cry,\u201d said Heavener. \u201cGenerally, the societal norm is that children are sacred, and we take care of our children. Now it seems like they\u2019re being targeted.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n