{"id":232608,"date":"2025-09-17T00:58:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T00:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/232608\/"},"modified":"2025-09-17T00:58:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T00:58:11","slug":"chicago-public-school-students-rally-against-ice-sweeps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/232608\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Public School students rally against ICE sweeps"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cheers of \u201cViva la Raza\u201d and \u201cViva Mexico\u201d echoed down East Wacker Drive, bouncing off the skyscrapers back to students dressed in red, green and white stationed in front of Trump Tower. Roughly 100 students spilled into the street Tuesday afternoon, using time when they would typically be in class to celebrate Hispanic culture and to denounce the presence of<\/a> U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Chicago.<\/p>\n

The student-organized rally came amid reports that the agency is conducting a sweep across the city<\/a> and the Chicago area. Over a dozen<\/a> people were arrested as of Monday, the day before Mexico\u2019s national day of independence and the first day of Hispanic Heritage Month. These arrests and ICE\u2019s presence in the city were the subject of many signs students held up, whether they were words written on cardboard or loose-leaf notebook paper taped to textbooks.<\/p>\n

Between the chants of \u201cNo ICE\u201d and \u201cNo one wants deportation,\u201d students honored Mexican heritage as they played popular songs and did the \u201cPasayo de rodeo,\u201d a collective group dance often done at parties.<\/p>\n

Students from Chicago Public Schools around the city attended the rally, which was organized in part by UIC College Prep High School student Sofia Martinez, 16. The idea came from a lack of awareness within schools, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI realized a lot of the schools weren\u2019t doing much to organize or to help spread much awareness,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cA lot of my friends have family members who are scared to be outside. And if no one\u2019s going to say anything, we need to do something about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The news of the event spread from school to school after Martinez made a social media account to get the word out, she said. The attendance of students from multiple schools indicated to Rauner College Prep student Oscar Salas, 18, how the topic of ICE detention unites schools despite their differences.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like it shows how much students truly do fear what could happen, like, we all have similarities about us losing our family members, friends, close ones,\u201d Salas said. \u201cI do believe that this really does push that (difference) to the side and we can all really put that to the side and support one another.\u201d<\/p>\n

After having firsthand experience and struggles with ICE, he said, it was important for Salas to come to the rally to stand by his community. His generation and other youth are \u201cnot all about violence,\u201d which is the way he feels they are perceived, Salas said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that this is a prime example that shows that everyone just wants to be positive, we don\u2019t want any violence,\u201d he said. \u201cWe just want everyone to be happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aether Garcia, a 16-year-old student who attends Curie Metropolitan High School on the Southwest Side, held one end of a Mexican flag at the rally. She was there to support people who are afraid to leave their homes because of ICE or might not have legal status, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m speaking for those who cannot speak, who don\u2019t have papers,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cICE has people hiding in their house. It\u2019s kind of like back in the day when people were hiding from the Nazis and I really don\u2019t think that sits well because people shouldn\u2019t live under fear that they\u2019re going to be kidnapped and taken away from their children and family members even though they came here to find a better life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mexican Independence Day celebrations have been quieter this year, Garcia said, which makes her feel like \u201ceveryone\u2019s hiding away\u201d because of fear. Both Pilsen<\/a> and Little Village\u2019s<\/a> Mexican Independence Day celebrations had lower turnout than usual the past two weekends.<\/p>\n

Adults are afraid to take a stand right now against ICE, especially those who are at risk of being detained<\/a>, Garcia said. That\u2019s why it\u2019s important the students speak out, she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it\u2019s not us, who is it going to be?\u201d Garcia said. \u201cAnd if we all have the same mentality of, \u2018oh, someone else is going to do it\u2019, no one is going to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Originally Published: September 16, 2025 at 6:48 PM CDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cheers of \u201cViva la Raza\u201d and \u201cViva Mexico\u201d echoed down East Wacker Drive, bouncing off the skyscrapers back…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":232609,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[11438,12459,12320,14676,87980,960,14677,14678,5404,77440,50014,14682,14683,121655,17073,407,14684,1108,11612,14686,5386,1818,409,77441,6390,31887,35531,4010,14694,1370,728,24563,50,125331,11210,14704,87982,87984,14716,9280,17075,88496],"class_list":{"0":"post-232608","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-arlington-heights","9":"tag-aurora","10":"tag-buffalo-grove","11":"tag-calumet-city","12":"tag-champaign-county","13":"tag-chicago","14":"tag-chicago-heights","15":"tag-cicero","16":"tag-cook-county","17":"tag-decatur-county","18":"tag-dekalb-county","19":"tag-des-plaines","20":"tag-dolton","21":"tag-downers-grove","22":"tag-dupage-county","23":"tag-education","24":"tag-elgin","25":"tag-elmhurst","26":"tag-evanston","27":"tag-franklin-park","28":"tag-il","29":"tag-illinois","30":"tag-immigration","31":"tag-jo-daviess-county","32":"tag-joliet","33":"tag-kane-county","34":"tag-kendall-county","35":"tag-lake-county","36":"tag-lansing","37":"tag-latest-headlines","38":"tag-local-news","39":"tag-mchenry-county","40":"tag-news","41":"tag-north-aurora","42":"tag-oak-lawn","43":"tag-orland-park","44":"tag-peoria-county","45":"tag-sangamon-county","46":"tag-tinley-park","47":"tag-west-chicago","48":"tag-will-county","49":"tag-winnebago-county"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}