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ARREST THEM ALL! Chicago teachers plot to undermine ICE

October 7, 2025 | | Print Article

Members of the Chicago Teachers’ Union (CTU) are reportedly plotting ways to make life harder for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

During an online “Workers Over Billionaires” meeting last week, union member Kat Zamarron explained how they’re working hand in hand with Chicago Public Schools to develop “sanctuary teams” to protect illegals.

“We’re working on sanctuary teams in our buildings, letting students know how we keep them safe at school,” she said. “And then we have protections that are built into our contracts. Since 2019, we have codified sanctuary language into our collective bargaining agreement.”

Zamarron further described how the union has developed a “rapid response network” to respond to ICE raids.

“In Chicago, they’re not approaching homes in the way that they have in other places, because our people don’t open the doors, because we know what to do,” she said. “And so, like, we literally forced them to change their tactics … We’ve got our rapid response network across the city.”

“At schools, we have protocols so that actually, our staff know what to do if federal agents come to our schools, and we know they’re not allowed in without a criminal judicial warrant, which they rarely have,” she added.

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Zamarron continued by celebrating how ICE’s immigration enforcement has helped solidify relationships between activists.

“Building bridges with folks who even maybe very recently did not want to be homies with us, like keeping that door open to make sure we’re actually able to move forward together, I think has been really key in this moment for our collaboration with, unfortunately, … the many bosses and principals,” she said.

“But it’s effective. It’s keeping our kids safe. And then there’s a lot of mutual aid and community defense, so that when ICE is spotted, right, schools maybe go on lockdown, but also people are making sure that kids get home. And so we’re walking kids home, we’re walking blocks after the fact to let people know that ICE was in their area,” she added.

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But it’s not just the teachers’ union that’s engaging in this anti-ICE activity — so are local lawmakers.

Last Thursday, for example, Alderwoman Rossana Rodriguez told Chalkbeat Chicago her office has been putting together teams of as many as 50 people to “notify the community” of ICE raids.

That same day, CTU President Stacy Davis Gates said at a press conference point-blank that ICE isn’t welcome in Chicago.

“I am standing here with educators, teachers, school clerks, teachers assistants, social workers, and nurses to say that again … They [ICE] are not welcome to pick up parents and detain them after they drop their children off at our schools,” she said. “They are not welcome in our neighborhoods to terrorize, to ask for papers.”

“At the Chicago Teachers Union, we are collaborating with Chicago Public Schools and with the principals’ association because we know that right now there is a bigger battle than just our bosses and our buildings. And we know this is a situation where even though we have disagreements … this is a place where we have a united front for the safety of, not just our students, … but of our city, because our students are in every neighborhood of the city.”

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Zamarron also complained about billionaires like President Donald Trump, arguing that the world would be a lot better place if the government could seize their money and waste it.

“There’s a reason that billionaires are willing to pour money into candidates like Donald Trump, like even in New York, Andrew Cuomo, who are not going to stand up to them because they know … what the world could be if we actually taxed them and had fully funded schools and fully funded hospitals and public transportation and, like, just an infrastructure that actually gave live to our people,” she said.

Responding to Zamarron’s words, critics fired back on social media:

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Vivek Saxena
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