On Wednesday morning, agents from the ATF and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained a father who was dropping off two of his kids at a Chicago charter school campus, according to school administrators. It was a “traumatic moment,” school board member Yesenia Lopez told Chalkbeat. “No child should be afraid of going to school because they fear seeing their parents ambushed during school drop offs. Our schools should be places of safety and learning, not fear and separation.”
If you remove the parts about immigration arrests, Lopez’s statement is identical to those officials repeat after school shootings: Kids shouldn’t be afraid of going to school; schools should be for learning. They should be safe.
As schools across the country prepare for potential immigration raids, educators are recognizing the striking parallels with the threat of school gun violence. A teacher in Boston told Mother Jones that students wanted to know if they’d be practicing for ICE raids, as they do for active shooter drills. One high school teacher in El Paso told Teen Vogue that her preparations felt one and the same: “I think that that’s why, as terrible as it is, teachers are kind of prepared for this moment, in a way, because we’ve always had to think of that worst-case scenario.”
The arrest at the Chicago charter school was enabled by two new policies from President Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security. One rescinded the practice of treating “sensitive locations” — like schools and hospitals — as spaces where immigration enforcement should be allowed only in immediately dangerous situations. The other granted some Justice Department agencies, including the ATF, the authority to carry out the “functions” of an immigration officer.
Federal law enforcement’s expansion of immigration arrests comes amid turmoil at the FBI, with the looming threat of mass firings and promises from its newly sworn-in director, Trump loyalist Kash Patel, to remake the agency. On Monday, Patel was also sworn in as the acting chief of the ATF, the Associated Press reported. As The Trace’s Champe Barton reports, Patel is cozy with the extreme flank of the gun rights movement; one former ATF agent said Patel doesn’t believe in firearm regulations, calling his appointment “demoralizing.”
There are consequences to all of this. FBI agents fear that terror plots may go undetected, and experts say that Americans could be exposed to more domestic terror threats, too, as federal law enforcement moves away from policing far-right extremism. Gun laws may be relaxed, or go unenforced. In everyday life, events like the immigration arrest in Chicago become more frequent.
One fact that shouldn’t be neglected: The federal agents conducting these arrests are armed. Though their business may be sanctioned by the government, anywhere they go, they bring another gun into the picture.
From The Trace
What Kash Patel’s Leadership Could Mean for the ATF: Patel, the FBI director and newly appointed head of the nation’s top firearms regulator, is cozy with the most extreme flank of the gun rights movement.
Trump’s Jan. 6 Pardons Cover Gun Charges, Too, Says Justice Department: Prosecutors have moved to dismiss cases against three accused rioters who were found with firearms when law enforcement searched their homes.
A Philadelphia Pastor Combats Gun Violence Through Bible Study — and Boxing: Before he became a mentor and advocate, Buddy Osborn experienced glory in the ring, five years in prison, and a painful revelation. Now, his Rock Ministries church is reaching thousands of young people in Philly’s Kensington neighborhood.
What We’re Reading
Mexico prepares to appear before the U.S. Supreme Court in suit against gun manufacturers: The case comes to the Supreme Court at a moment of diplomatic tension between the two countries. [CNN]
The Teacher in Room 1214: When a gunman killed two of her students, Ivy Schamis was the only adult in the room. Her journey through guilt and healing sheds light on the impossible role of American teachers. [The New York Times]
Groups helping LGBTQ+ victims of violence could face a catastrophic loss of federal funding: The people leading groups founded specifically to support LGBTQ+ people say that for them, there is no hiding: The executive orders specifically target the people they are focused on serving. [The 19th]
Neo-Nazis targeted a majority-Black town. Locals launched an armed watch: Residents of Lincoln Heights, Ohio, are guarding their streets with rifles after criticizing the police response to a neo-Nazi rally. [The Washington Post]
An armed SWAT team burst in the wrong door — but this North Texas family can’t sue: The Supreme Court declined to hear a case from the Jimerson family, who say they were traumatized when police raided and damaged their home. The justices’ decision left in place a lower court ruling that granted the officer who led the raid qualified immunity. [KERA]
Pennsylvania hostage-taking and shootout highlight rising violence against U.S. hospital workers: Attacks against health care workers in hospitals are on the rise. This violence is uniquely challenging to protect against: It takes place in spaces where emotions already run high, and should an attack take place, caregivers are reluctant to step away from a bedside, for fear of leaving patients unguarded and vulnerable. [Associated Press]
The trans Americans turning to guns for protection: “Trans people have every reason to be afraid,” said one trans woman who went out and bought a gun after President Trump was elected. [The Washington Post]
In Memoriam
Tahiry Broom, 29, was all sunshine — she was sweet and vibrant, “a maelstrom of energy, a force of nature” with “a smile that could light up the darkest rooms,” according to her obituary. Broom, who was from Cleveland, was shot and killed in Southfield, Michigan, earlier this month. Her killing is being investigated as a hate crime. Broom, who was trans, was a beloved member of the LGBTQ community, her aunt wrote on a GoFundMe page. She loved Nicki Minaj and making people laugh, and she had a lifelong quest for knowledge. Broom held tight to her family and friends, of which there were many — and she formed bonds easily and generously. She wanted people to be happy. Broom, her aunt said, shone a light “that’s gonna shine forever and ever and ever and ever.”
Spotlight on Solutions
Something unusual is happening in Alabama: Democrats and Republicans are coalescing around a proposed gun restriction. The measure on the table is a ban on machine gun conversion devices, accessories that transform a semiautomatic gun into a weapon capable of emptying an entire magazine with a single pull of the trigger, part of a public safety package put forward by Republican Governor Kay Ivey. While the devices are already banned under federal law, the move to prohibit possession in Alabama represents a rare consensus on gun violence prevention in the state, the Associated Press reports. Earlier this month, a bipartisan coalition of mayors, lawmakers, and law enforcement endorsed Ivey’s package.
Pull Quote
“If you know how to hold your own hands, you won’t feel the need to carry a weapon that can take someone’s life.”
— Aanjhrue Williams, a mentor at Rock Ministries, a program in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood that helps prevent youth gun violence through a combination of boxing and Bible study, to The Trace
