On Chicago’s north side, a Spanish-speaking teacher persuaded a nervous migrant mother, who had stopped sending her son to school because of fear of the Trump administration’s immigration raids, to let him come back.

In Brighton Park, a majority Latino neighborhood on the city’s southwest side, an elementary school principal has been sharing his experience as an immigrant, so that families feel more comfortable.

In Pilsen, a predominantly Latino neighborhood and historically a neighborhood where Mexican families have immigrated to, a high school launched an emergency immigration chat and told parents that it’s OK for students with immigration concerns to stay home.

As part of a vow to crack down on illegal immigration, President Donald Trump in his first week in office canceled a previous policy to keep ICE agents away from “sensitive locations,” such as schools and churches. Federal agents have stepped up “targeted immigration enforcement” in Chicago, arresting at least 100 people in the city and surrounding suburbs, Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling told reporters Tuesday.

During a Chicago Board of Education meeting Thursday, Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez urged parents to send their children to school “so they can receive the education they deserve.”

“School is where every child in our city belongs regardless of their immigration status, and we will do everything in our power to protect them while they’re in our care,” Martinez said.

CPS schools, which have received thousands of migrant students in recent years, are training staff and families on their rights and grappling with how to convince their communities that schools are safe. The Chicago Teachers Union has called on the district, which has trained principals, to train more staff; CPS said it is “exploring additional options for providing teacher training.”

Those efforts were put to the test on Friday, when staff at Hamline Elementary School in the Back of the Yards neighborhood falsely reported turning away Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, sparking fear among already anxious staff and students. The district later confirmed that the agents were U.S. Secret Service investigating a threat, but advocates said the school’s response was proof that staff was trained well.

“This is the first time that I had heard of the protocol working after the sensitive locations memo was pulled, and that’s really important evidence for us advocates — [and] even parents — to see this could work,” said Alejandra Vázquez Baur, who leads the National Newcomer Network, a group of educators, advocates, and researchers who focus on equity for newcomer immigrant students.

Chicago Schools Respond to Fears of Migrant Mom

Nathy, who came to the United States in 2023 from Venezuela to flee political persecution, kept her son out of his elementary school last week, even though the school told families that it’s safe. She also stayed home from her job at a nail salon.

Chalkbeat is only using Nathy’s first name to protect her privacy.

Nathy and her family have Temporary Protected Status, which allows her to live and work in the U.S. This type of status was extended to October 2026 by former President Joe Biden’s administration shortly before he left office. However, on Tuesday, the Trump administration revoked the extension, making it unclear how long people like Nathy can remain legally in the U.S., the New York Times reported. Nathy had applied for asylum, which provides a path to citizenship, but her request was denied during an immigration court hearing in December, she said.

Read the full article about how Chicago school are responding to immigration enforcement by Reema Amin and Samantha Smylie at Chalkbeat.