The arrest of an illegal migrant who was dropping students at school in Chicago earlier this week sparked local fury and a rally, but Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have since revealed the suspect is a violent gang member with a long rap sheet.
Francisco Andrade-Berrera, 37, a Mexican citizen, was picked by ICE on Wednesday near a Southside Chicago school, leading to activists and local leaders holding a rally condemning the move. Video obtained by Fox News shows two agents handcuffing Andrade-Berrera near the school.
In response to the arrest, two nearby schools activated “Community Wellness Protocols” and notified parents that additional social work support would be available to help students cope with the “stressful and upsetting” nature of the event.
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During the rally, which took place outside the Chicago Public Schools, Chicago alderman Byron Sigcho Lopez asked: “When parents are being grabbed from our schools, we must ask, what is Chicago Public Schools doing to protect our children?”
Hilario Dominguez of the Chicago Teachers Union also blasted the detention and launched a tirade against President Donald Trump.
“His children watched as their daddy was put in handcuffs by agents carrying out the orders of a tyrant president,” Dominguez said.
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But the outbursts erupted before the full facts of the case came through, with ICE telling Fox News that Andrade-Berrera is a member of a violent street gang with criminal convictions for drug trafficking, gang loitering and damage to property.
He has been removed from the U.S. twice, in 2005 and 2013. He has at least four children, according to prior reports.
The two students who were in the vehicle were taken to their schools after the arrest but agents did not attempt to enter either Victoria Soto High School or Jovita Idar Elementary, ICE and school officials confirmed. It is unclear if the students are his children.
Andrade-Berrera pleaded guilty in 2023 to purchasing roughly five ounces of cocaine that federal prosecutors in Chicago said he planned to sell, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
He was sentenced to three years of supervised release and given credit for two weeks spent in custody.
Andrade-Berrera described himself as a husband and the “father of 4 beautiful kids,” in a letter to a judge explaining that he worked as a chef and dreamed of opening his own restaurant, per the outlet.
“I have worked hard to support my family all these years and made sure they have a good life,” he wrote. “If I could go back in time I would without hesitation.”
His wife told the judge he’s a dedicated father, noting that she and the children “need him with us” and that her biggest fear is him “going away and leaving us.’
This incident follows a similar situation just a month ago, when Chicago Public Schools wrongly reported that ICE agents had tried to enter a different school in the area.
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Tom Weitzel, a former police chief in Riverside, Illinois, said that local Democrats are trying to politicize the arrests and make ICE out to be a boogeyman.
“They’re going to put out anything that benefits their agenda, benefits their narrative, or benefits their political agenda… So they just look at this as a President Trump initiative to just go around the country and just scoop people off the sidewalks and out of our schools. And that isn’t the case.
“There hasn’t been one single case in the United States where ICE has gone into a school and removed somebody forcibly from the school. That is completely false.”
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