FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, November 6, 2025
CONTACT: Daniela Perez, [email protected]
Chicago, Illinois — The National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) joins the IL Domestic Worker Coalition – Arise Chicago, Latino Union of Chicago, the Alliance of Filipinos for Immigrant Rights and Empowerment, the Shriver Center on Poverty Law, and Women Employed – in condemning the horrifying abduction of a day care teacher by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at Rayito de Sol Spanish Immersion Early Learning Center on Chicago’s North Side. According to local reports, federal agents followed the teacher to the center at about 7 a.m. Wednesday, chased her inside the building, and dragged her out in front of children and coworkers.
The following is a statement from Ai-jen Poo, President of the National Domestic Workers Alliance:
“No one should be hunted at their workplace or torn away from their family in front of children — not in a day care, not in a school, not in a home, not anywhere. This child care worker is a beloved part of the care community at Rayito de Sol, and so much more.
This detention is not an isolated incident; it is part of a broader, escalating pattern of immigration enforcement that is traumatizing children, families, and school communities across the country. The ripple effects of these abuses reach far and wide. Care workers are already facing converging crises: poverty wages, attacks on labor protections, and threats to Medicaid and other public benefits their families rely on. Layering violent raids on top of all of this is a deliberate attempt to push a vital workforce even further into the shadows.
Care is the invisible infrastructure that sustains families and supports every other job to exist. When immigrant care workers are targeted, entire communities and workers across industries are harmed. We should be ensuring a safe and nurturing environment for our children and their caregivers. An attack on immigrant caregivers is an attack on all of us. Our response will determine whether our children grow up in a country defined by care or by fear.”
Statement from Laura Garza, Executive Director of Arise Chicago:
“It is a moral outrage that a child care worker, someone caring for our little ones, was taken by ICE in front of them…no one should experience such cruelty and live such terror. We will continue to mobilize, organize and resist these attacks against immigrant workers and our community.”
Statement from Miguel Alvelo Rivera, Executive Director of the Latino Union of Chicago:
“ICE is separating our families and traumatizing our children. They are implementing a campaign of fear and betting on compliance through silence and inaction. But our communities across Chicago refuse to stay silent and are standing up for each other against this cruelty. After the abduction of a child care worker, her coworkers and the families of the children she cares for are speaking out and demanding her release with every resource at their disposal, together with community organizations and elected officials. We know that the best way to keep our children and all of our communities safe is to keep organizing together and refuse to give in to despair.”
Statement from Christina Green, ASPIRE Senior Program Manager from Women Employed:
“Women Employed is appalled that a child care worker was detained by ICE at her place of employment in Chicago, in front of the children she cares for. Nobody should live in fear of going to work. Actions like this place us all at risk. Child care workers are the backbone of a thriving economy and economically secure families. Without them, many of us couldn’t manage our own jobs and families. The people who care for our children deserve dignity and safety in the workplace.”
National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) is the leading voice for dignity and fairness for millions of domestic workers in the United States. Founded in 2007, NDWA works for respect, recognition and inclusion in labor protections for domestic workers, the majority of whom are immigrants and women of color. NDWA is powered by over 70 affiliate organizations and local chapters and by a growing membership base of nannies, house cleaners and care workers in over 20 states. Learn more at www.domesticworkers.org. NDWA is a non-partisan non-profit organization that does not endorse, support, or oppose any candidates for public office.
