Officials of Chicago Public Schools had a calm, friendly conversation with two US secret service agents outside the Hamline School when the district created a nationwide panic when it was incorrectly declared immigration and customs enforcement agents According to the recently released security footage, tried to enter the building. ,
About 7 minutes of conversation raises questions about how misunderstanding happened and misinformation was already shared with the frightened community. Neither CPS nor US Secret Service will comment on the video, which was obtained under the Independence of Information Act.
CPS Safety and Safety Head Zadin Chow is leaving the district this week, although district officials said it was a planned departure and was unrelated to Ice Snafu.
From January 24, footage, two, 30-minute recording was released, which offers different angles of conversation, starts with two agents in Sadekloth, which lasts to the main entrance and buzzs the Intercom . They then wait for the entry to enter through a window as fidet and colleague. At one point, an agent tries unsuccessfully to open the door.
There is no sound in recording, but agents are seen carrying file folders and showing identity cards that tolerate the US secret service symbol. An agent shows that the main entrance of the building identifies outside the building.
In a video received by the Tribune’s Freedom of Information Act, US Secret Service Agent and CPS officials speak outside the Hamline school in the back of Chicago in Chicago’s yard in January. The original 29 -minute video is edited for length by the tribune. (Chicago Public School)
About 17 minutes after the agents arrive, the Hamline Elementary Principal Natasha Ortga comes out to talk to him from a side door and one of the agents showed him his credibility. During their conversation, the same agent holds the file folder with the secret service logo.
In safety footage, Ortga is recognizable to be known wearing a black and white coat.
Shortly after, a man in a black jacket joins the conversation. He gives Ortga a small hug and shakes the hands of two agents before continuing the conversation. After this, another woman in the video is revealed to be pulled into a dark car and joining the discussion for about five minutes.
CPS would not say whether two people who joined Ortga and were agents district employees. However, the recording shows him standing next to the principal and describes him.
In the black coat, the man can be seen making two phone calls while agents stand near the doors. About 30 minutes after reaching the school entrance, the agents shake hands with all and leave without any clear confrontation with school officials.
The CPS called a news conference about two hours after that brief conversation, which extinguished a fire of nervousness in the city and the nation. In addition to local news organizations, the announcement received coverage on all major cable news networks and went viral on social media.
For many immigrants and their advocates, the declaration represented his worst fear. He spent the week waiting for President Donald Trump waiting for a long -deprived raids, when he “sensitive places”, such as health care facilities, day care, churches and schools to prevent a policy to prevent exclusion of immigration enforcement in churches and schools. Reverse.
Later, the school district said in a statement that “original communication was the result of a misunderstanding.”
But how this misunderstanding happened is not clear based on video footage released by the school district.
The district did not immediately respond to an request for the comment as to when and how misunderstanding, the Hamline Principal Ortega was discussing with the federal agents and why did the CPS announce the presser that the agents were snow.
Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi told the tribune hours after the 24 January press conference that the agents were with the Secret Service, who were investigating the threat against “Protectory” in relation to Tiktok. Guglielmi will not identify security, but the federal agency, President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, oversees protection for his immediate families and former presidents.
“The US Secret Service does not investigate or implement immigration cases,” Guglelmi explained The Tribune.
The Gupta service refused to comment on the footage beyond the information provided in January.
In the press conference of last month, Ortga said the school staff “followed the protocols we have trained and practiced and discussed.” After the footage was released in the tribune, Ortga refused to interview.
It is the responsibility of the district to provide training to the principals related to exile activities in schools, which Kia Banks, head of the Chicago Principal and Administrators Association, said in a statement to the tribune. Banks said that members of the Principal Union have established a task force to help improve the guidance of the district when the ice conversation is handled.
CPS employees are also receiving training through the Union how to answer the best of ice encounters.
Since two secret service agents tried to enter the haemline elementary, Trump has targeted Chicago with an intensive set of raids that both have been swept away with criminal records, but also with those.