Chicago elementary school students, teachers shaken after ICE releases tear gas: 'Violent, traumatic'
Students and teachers at a Chicago elementary school were caught in chaos after tear gas released by federal agents drifted into their classrooms.
Students and teachers at a Chicago elementary school were caught in chaos earlier this month after tear gas released by federal agents drifted into their classrooms, leaving many children terrified and teachers shaken, according to Mirror report.
On October 3, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were reportedly conducting a raid on a nearby grocery store when tear gas canisters landed in a parking lot next to Funston Elementary School in northwest Chicago. The chemical fog spread inside as students prepared for dismissal.
ICE planned to detain unaccompanied minors
Maria Heavener, a first-grade teacher at the school, said she had heard rumors that ICE planned to detain unaccompanied minors but never imagined chemical agents being deployed near children.
“The 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’re picking them up. All of that is violent. All of that is traumatic,” said Stacy Davis Gates, president of the Chicago Teachers Union. “And for the first time, that is what many students in this city are experiencing.”
The incident occurred as the Trump administration pushes for a tougher federal presence in Chicago, a Democratic-led city it has long portrayed as a center of urban violence. Instead of investing in struggling schools or addressing poverty, the White House has sought court approval to deploy National Guard troops to city streets , a move critics call another political show of force.
Trump, Hegseth suggest using American cities as ‘training grounds’ for military
Last month, Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suggested using American cities as “training grounds” for the military, citing what they described as an “enemy from within.” “I told Pete [Hegseth], we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military,” Trump said. “It’s the enemy from within, and we have to handle it before it gets out of control.”
Yet federal data shows a different reality. A WBEZ analysis found that Chicago recorded its fewest summer homicides in 60 years, with overall violent crime at its lowest point in four decades.
Despite those findings, masked ICE and DHS officers have carried out raids across the city’s Black and immigrant neighborhoods. Witnesses described children being zip-tied and families dragged away. In one case, a 15-year-old U.S. citizen was detained after tear gas was used in a residential area.
Heavener said she struggled to comfort her students after the October 3 incident. “A lot of them were sad, worried, scared, nervous,” she said. “Some of them said they’re scared because they don’t want their own family members to be taken away.”
One child had a panic attack, she said. “It’s very scary because this is their normal. You start forming your memories more solidly around 4 or 5 years old, so they have some happy kindergarten memories. But now all of a sudden, this is going to take over their experiences and worldview, and it’s going to shape a lot for them, and it’s traumatic, and they’re all going to hold that in their bodies as they grow up.”
“It makes me want to cry,” Heavener added. “Generally, the societal norm is that children are sacred, and we take care of our children. Now it seems like they’re being targeted.”
Funding for these federal operations has also drawn backlash. Trump’s July spending bill added $29.9 billion to ICE’s budget — nearly three times the $10.25 billion operating budget for Chicago Public Schools.
“Our school budget was slashed by two-thirds here,” said Kathryn, another elementary school teacher who declined to share her last name for fear of retaliation. “ICE is offering $50,000 signing bonuses for people who are willing to kidnap other people. Meanwhile, I have to tell my students, ‘Sorry, you can’t join the band right now because I don’t have enough instruments,’”
The proposed National Guard deployment to Chicago could cost up to $1.59 million per day, according to the National Priorities Project, a figure that educators say underscores the government’s misplaced priorities.
