Gov. Pritzker urges school districts to support undocumented students

BERWYN, Ill. (WTVO) — Governor JB Pritzker visited Berwyn on Thursday to speak out against a pending surge of immigration enforcement, saying the actions affect school communities.

During his visit, Pritzker highlighted the Illinois Trust Act, which restricts law enforcement from cooperating with federal authorities.

Pritzker said the head of the Illinois State Police had received a call from Customs and Border Protection’s chief patrol agent Gregory Bovino on Saturday, saying Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents would be coming to Chicago, but did not give a timeline.

On Thursday, Pritzker encouraged districts to inform undocumented students of their rights.

“Schools are anchors of the community that provide far more than a high-quality education – they provide stability, meals, and a safe space to learn and grow,” said Pritzker.

The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) has provided guidance to school districts on handling potential immigration enforcement actions, encouraging the establishment of protocols and training for staff.

The federal surge into Chicago could start as early as Sept. 5 and last about 30 days, according to two U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss plans that had not been made public.

Unlike the recent federal takeover of policing in Washington, D.C., the Chicago operation is not expected to rely on the National Guard or military and is focused exclusively on immigration instead of being cast as part of a broad campaign against crime, the officials said.

The Great Lakes Naval Station in North Chicago is expected to serve as a central command post for National Guard operations. 

Chicago is home to a large population of undocumented immigrants, and both the city and the state of Illinois have some of the country’s strongest rules against cooperating with federal immigration enforcement efforts. That has often put the city and state at odds with Trump‘s mass deportation agenda.

All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by WTVO. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat from a broadcast script into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by WTVO staff before being published.