A shocking incident is getting a lot of news coverage here in Chicago. Tahman Bradley, Marisa Rodriguez, and Brónagh Tumulty report at WGN:
CHICAGO — A day care teacher was taken into ICE custody Wednesday morning on the city’s North Side, WGN News has confirmed.
The incident happened around 7:05 a.m. at Rayito de Sol Spanish Immersion Early Learning Center, located at 2550 West Addison Street in the North Center neighborhood.
An SUV of federal agents followed the teacher’s vehicle to the day care, then proceeded to follow her into the building — where children were in attendance at the time.
According to Congressman Mike Quigley, the agents did not have a warrant.
“It’s just absolute terror. Why are you at a day care at 7 in the morning? This isn’t right. This isn’t American. This isn’t who we are. It’s an absolute travesty,” said Adam Gonzalez, a lawyer and rapid response team member.
The piece goes on to quote numerous others.
The press release at DHS.gov contradicts that report in a number of particulars:
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today released the following statement correcting inaccurate and false reports claiming that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers targeted a daycare in Chicago, Illinois.
This illegal alien from Colombia, Diana Patricia Santillana Galeano, was encountered by Border Patrol on June 26, 2023 after she illegally crossed the southern border. The Biden administration released her into the U.S.
Just last month, Galeano reportedly paid for smugglers to illegally bring her 17-year-old and 16-year-old children into U.S. via the southern border. Facilitating human smuggling is a crime.
On October 19, 2025, the two children, a 16-year-old and 17-year-old, entered the U.S. illegally near El Paso, Texas. Customs and Border Protection apprehended the children, and they were processed as Unaccompanied Children and brought to a shelter in the Chicago area.
That is followed by a point-by-point litany:
“ICE law enforcement did NOT target a Daycare. Officers attempted to conduct a targeted traffic stop of this female illegal alien from Colombia. Officers attempted to pull over this vehicle, which was registered to a female illegal alien, with sirens and emergency lights, but the male driver refused to pull the vehicle over. Law enforcement pursued the vehicle before the assailant sped into a shopping plaza where he and the female passenger fled the vehicle. They ran into a daycare and attempted to barricade themselves inside the daycare—recklessly endangering the children inside. The illegal alien female was arrested inside a vestibule, not in the school,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “Upon arrest, she lied about her identity. The vehicle is registered in her name, though she claims that she didn’t know the man who was driving her car and just picked him up from a bus stop.?Facts including criminality and information on the male assailant are forthcoming and we will update the public with more information as soon as it becomes available.”
FALSE CLAIM: DHS law enforcement targeted a school or daycare center in Chicago.
THE FACTS: ICE targeted an illegal alien, Diana Patricia Santillana Galeano, from Colombia, and attempted to pull her vehicle over as it was being driven by another individual and Galeano was in the passenger seat. The driver ignored law enforcement emergency lights and sirens and both of the illegal aliens fled the vehicle, attempting to barricade themselves inside of the daycare center.
FALSE CLAIM: ICE made an arrest inside a daycare center in Chicago.
THE FACTS: The male passenger barricaded himself inside the daycare center—recklessly endangering the children inside. However, Galeano could not enter through the second set of locked doors.
FALSE CLAIM: ICE arrested the illegal alien in front of children.
THE FACTS ICE did NOT arrest her in front of children.
FALSE CLAIM: ICE is not going after the ‘worst of the worst.’
THE FACTS: President Trump and Secretary Noem are restoring the rule of law in the U.S. and directing ICE to target criminal illegal aliens. More than 70% of all ICE arrests are of aliens with pending charges and convictions in the U.S.
FALSE CLAIM: Diana Patricia Santillana Galeano was in the country legally with employment authorization.
THE FACTS: Work authorization does NOT confer any type of legal status to be in the U.S. The illegal alien’s work authorization was approved by the Biden administration which exploited this loophole to help facilitate the invasion of our country.
I took the trouble of reproducing the format of the DHS press release because it is so unlike the format I would expect in federal government websites. More like something on Reddit.
My question is whom should we believe? My answer is that I don’t believe either account. I that the parties are doing their level best to make their cases and the truth is the first casualty. We’ll probably never know what actually happened.
There are three other points I want to make. First, I want to commend Molly DeVore and Mack Liederman at Block Club Chicago for publishing what is to my eye a good effort at reporting the facts in an objective manner.
Second, I suspect that although the ICE agents were within their rights in apprehending Ms. Santillana Galeano they probably did enter the daycare center and they did make some arrests in front of the children there. At the very least that does not paint the agency in the best light.
Third, there’s an unreported story. Rayito de Sol is a chain of Spanish-language immersion daycare centers located in majority Hispanic neighborhoods of Chicago. Having such things are well within people’s rights but their existence does contradict some key aspects of the prevailing narrative about the most recent groups of immigrants crossing our southern border. Despite significant efforts I was unable to identify a chain of Tamil immersion daycare centers in Chicago.
I think the government should be explaining what it’s doing more. There are a lot of articles that report a mystery about someone arrested, a neighbor says they are citizen (how would they know?), and we don’t know the basis of the arrest (immigration, interference, other?). How does Congressman Mike Quigley know they didn’t have a warrant (or did he actually say “judicial warrant”?), or does he know that once she fled they didn’t need a warrant? Mostly the mystery casts doubt on what the government is doing without much more than question marks.
A little offpoint, but I also think a distinction needs to be drawn btw/ ICE and Border Patrol operations. ICE has been doing targeted operations, probably based upon their own immigration records. The Border Patrol has been going to places where it believes illegal aliens are likely to be and stops people to ask questions and conducts signature operations (like the raid of the Southside apartment complex) for home entertainment. I wish the media would note the distinction since I make different assumptions. They both say ICE here.
Agree completely.
I should add there is no definition of “the worst of the worst”. The apparent definition, taking the DHS piece at face value, is “guilty of a crime other than coming into the country illegally”. I don’t belief that Rep. Quigley, just to cite one example, agrees with that definition.