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DHS shoots down viral claims that ICE raided Chicago daycare, arrested teacher

November 6, 2025 | | Print Article

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials responded to viral claims that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers targeted a Chicago daycare, dragging off a teacher.

The incident went down early Wednesday morning at the Rayito de Sol Spanish Immersion Early Learning Center in the Windy City’s North Center neighborhood after agents attempted to make a “targeted traffic stop” on a vehicle registered to Diana Patricia Santillana Galeano, an illegal alien from Colombia.

Rather than comply, Santillana Galeano and the man who was driving the vehicle attempted to elude the officers, speeding away into a shopping plaza where the two fled the vehicle and ran into the daycare center, where they attempted to barricade themselves inside, “recklessly endangering” the children, DHS said.

Santillana Galeano failed to gain entry into the daycare center and was arrested inside a vestibule after being blocked by a second set of locked doors, but video of the encounter went viral, with Santillana Galeano screaming and struggling as she was taken into custody.

As is their standard practice, the media and Democrats grossly misrepresented the facts to portray ICE as rampaging bullies, fomenting a dangerous political climate that has led to an astronomical rise in attacks on federal immigration enforcement officers.

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“ICE isn’t going after the worst of the worst. This morning, they took a preschool teacher without a warrant IN FRONT OF CHILDREN in my district,” wrote Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL) in a post to X, sharing video of Santillana Galeano’s arrest.

“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,” according to DHS.

“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,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

“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,” she continued. “The illegal alien female was arrested inside a vestibule, not in the school.”

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In a statement posted to the agency’s website, DHS provides the details that the crooked media left out. Santillana Galeano was encountered by the Border Patrol in June 2023 after illegally crossing into the United States. She was released into the country by the Biden administration.

“Just last month, Galeano reportedly paid for smugglers to illegally bring her 17-year-old and 16-year-old children into the U.S. via the southern border. Facilitating human smuggling is a crime,” DHS stated. “On October 19, 2025, the two children, a 16-year-old and a 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.”

“ICE is NOT targeting schools or daycare centers. The media continues to peddle false narratives that are leading to an 8000% increase in death threats against federal law enforcement,” DHS said in its statement on the incident.

In another example of media manipulation, the Los Angeles-based Fox News affiliate sensationally reported that federal agents arrested a baby at a local Home Depot.

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The outlet cited a pro-illegal immigration activist organization in its reporting that federal officers “snatched a toddler” during what was described as an “unsettling arrest” that took place on Tuesday.

According to activist organization the Los Angeles Rapid Response Network, “the arrests happened as federal agents were staging inside the Dodger Stadium parking lot, which is a short distance from the Cypress Park location of Home Depot, where the detainment took place.”

“Federal agents drove off from the scene with the baby inside the vehicle,” LARRN said, hardly the “arrest” that the outlet promoted in its misleading post to X, pure clickbait that only further contributes to the dangers faced by ICE and Border Patrol agents who have had targets put on their backs by Democrats and their friends in the media.

DHS set the record straight on the “arrest” of the infant.

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“During a targeted immigration enforcement operation, a U.S. citizen exited his vehicle, WIELDING A HAMMER and THREW ROCKS at law enforcement while he had a child in his car,” the agency said in a statement. “He was arrested for assault, and during his arrest, a pistol was found in his car, that is reported stolen out of the state of New York. The individual has an active warrant for property damage. We refuse to apologize for enforcing the law.”

“The operation resulted in the arrest of 5 illegal aliens from Mexico and Guatemala who were all breaking our nation’s immigration laws. Their criminal histories include DUI, driving without a license, and previously removal, which is a felony,” DHS said.

The infant has since been reunited with his mother, the child’s family told Fox LA.

Chris Donaldson
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