A Democratic congressman chided Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for making an arrest near a school building, despite that individual being a confirmed member of a street gang with multiple criminal convictions.
Illinois Democratic Rep. Chuy Garcia issued a scathing statement Thursday evening in reaction to an ICE arrest that took place outside of a Chicago charter school the previous day. Garcia, who referred to the apprehension as an “ambush,” touted legislation he introduced in Congress that would prohibit deportation officers from making such arrests at “sensitive locations” such as schools or hospitals.
“In my district, ICE ambushed a parent while dropping off their child at school. No family should have to fear being torn apart in a safe place meant for learning,” Garcia stated in a social media post.
“This is why [New York Democrat Rep. Adriano Espaillat] and I introduced the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act — schools, hospitals, and places of worship are off-limits! Congress must act now,” Garcia continued.
The Illinois congressman was reacting to a Chicago Tribune article about a parent who was apprehended by ICE agents Wednesday morning while dropping off two students at an Acero charter school in Chicago’s Southwest Side. The article did not identify the detained individual.
However, ICE confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation that this individual is Francisco Andrade-Berrera, a Mexican national who’s been deported twice, a member of a “violent” street gang and previously convicted of several high-profile crimes. His immigration status was not specified.
“ICE Chicago arrested Francisco Andrade-Berrera, 37, a citizen of Mexico, Feb. 26 without incident,” an ICE spokesperson said in a statement provided to the DCNF. “Andrade is a known member of a violent street gang with criminal convictions for drug trafficking, gang loitering, and damage to property who was previously removed from the U.S. to his home country in 2005 and 2013.”
The agency’s statement further clarified that ICE supervisors exercise discretion on when to conduct immigration enforcement actions at or near schools. Their operations, the agency reiterated, prioritize criminal migrants and public safety threats.
It’s not immediately clear how or when Andrade-Berrera was able to re-enter the U.S. after his second deportation in 2013.
Garcia’s office did not immediately respond to a DCNF inquiry asking if the congressman stands by his statement or whether he ever finds it acceptable for ICE agents to perform enforcement actions on school property to remove criminal gang members.
Garcia was not the only high-profile individual angry at ICE. Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) President Stacy Davis Gates called the arrest “an act of terror” in a separate public statement.
“I don’t care what agency they turn out to be, targeting a father as he tries to provide an education to his children at their place of learning is a deliberate act of terror on behalf of this government,” Gates stated Thursday. “Our union will join with the Acero mothers tonight to denounce the targeting of anyone in our school communities and demand leadership from the board, CEO, mayor, and governor that actually stands up to the sadists in charge of federal policy and their corporate friends who bank off their cruelty.”
The CTU did not immediately respond to a DCNF request for comment regarding Andrade-Berrera’s criminal history.
Controversy surrounding the Chicago charter school arrest follows a January directive by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that freed ICE agents to conduct enforcement actions at so-called “sensitive locations,” such places like schools, hospitals or churches that were previously deemed off-limits. Under the new changes, deportation officers have far more discretion on where to conduct arrests, making it much harder for criminal migrants like Andrade-Berrera to avoid justice.
Federal agents arrested more than 20,000 illegal migrants during the Trump administration’s first month in office, smashing the Biden administration’s pace of illegal migrant arrests, according to DHS. President Donald Trump has vowed to conduct the largest deportation operation in U.S. history, and has so far issued a flurry of executive orders and other administrative edicts aimed at restoring order to the immigration system.
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