Teachers hand out 'know your rights' leaflets to students as Trump ramps up deportation drive

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Independent

Friday 10 October 2025 15:50 BST


On a chilly morning, teachers at Nash Elementary School in a working-class Chicago neighbourhood greeted students with high-fives and hugs, while distributing flyers boldly proclaiming: “Defend your rights under the threat of occupation.”

Four weeks into President Donald Trump's 'Operation Midway Blitz' deportation drive, mass arrests across the city – sweeping up parents en route to school and entire families – have instilled fear in immigrant communities and a protective stance from educators, according to city leaders, the teachers' union, parents, and immigration advocates.

Some 500 National Guard troops began deploying near Chicago on Wednesday, under orders from Trump.

“My Latino students, they're fearing everything,” said Yaritza Santana, a science teacher at Nash Elementary. “They fear that they're going to just be taken.”

Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/trump-ice-chicago-immigration-school-b2843290.html

[erronis]

1. More from THe Independent story.

The increased presence of federal agents has produced a range of responses from educators - from street protests to 'know your rights' leaflets and lesson plans - according to a dozen Reuters interviews with teachers, parents, the city's mayor, the president of the teachers' union and local lawmakers.

The leaflets advise students that they have the right to remain silent and to ask for a lawyer, as well as deny officers and agents access to their home without a warrant.

The teachers' union is also pushing Chicago Public Schools for e-learning options so that students without legal immigration status don't have to leave their homes, said Chicago Teachers Union president Stacy Davis Gates.

"People should not be afraid to come to school," Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said in an interview with Reuters. "I've ensured that our Chicago public schools and all of our public institutions are very clear about the rights that we possess and the rights that we get to protect."

[FakeNoose]

4. The e-learning is a good idea - if the kids can stay home they'd be safer

But not all children have a parent at home during the day. Not all families have Wifi or internet access either.

I hate the idea that teachers have been dragged into this, because their jobs are hard enough without having to worry that their students might be kidnapped right in front of them. What's going to happen when ICE goons decide to terrorize teachers into telling them which students are illegal immigrants?

[ck4829]

2. Conservative meltdown in 3... 2... 1...

[republianmushroom]

3. These leaflets should be available at many locations.

Know your rights. Screw the republican Gestapo.