Following widespread backlash over the arrest of a Chicago kindergarten teacher this week, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security released a statement Thursday alleging that the teacher crossed the southern border illegally in 2023 and last month paid a smuggler to also cross the border with her teenage children.
DHS said in a statement that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents attacked Diana Patricia Santillana Galeano of Colombia at a traffic stop while she and an unidentified male passenger were traveling early Wednesday morning. It said she entered the US illegally on June 26, 2023 and was “located by Border Patrol” and that “the Biden Administration has released her into the US.”
However, the question remains whether the woman was attacked before the traffic stop. School officials said Santillana had a permit to work at the day care center and passed a background check. DHS did not respond to questions beyond its statement, which said Santillana and the male driver were in a vehicle registered to a “female illegal alien.”
In a widely circulated video of Santillana's arrest at Rayito de Sol, an early learning center and Spanish language school in North Central, agents can be seen dragging a screaming Santillana from the school's lobby. She can be heard saying in Spanish, “I have papers,” as agents pin her against the officers’ car.
The confrontation was reported in news outlets around the world as agents of President Donald Trump's Operation Midway Blitz – his crackdown on immigration in Chicago – took the unprecedented step of entering the school.
But DHS argued that “a work authorization does NOT provide any legal status to be in the United States. The illegal alien work permit was approved by the Biden administration, which took advantage of this loophole to facilitate an invasion of our country.”
Santillana's lawyer, Nayara Testai, filed the habeas corpus case on Wednesday and said Santillana is expected to have a hearing next week. Testai declined to provide further details on the case. The Colombian consulate said it was aware of the situation and was working to provide assistance.
The years leading up to 2023, when the Department of Homeland Security reported Santillana had crossed the border, saw record numbers of people traveling from South America to the United States, prompting Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to send migrants on buses and trains to Chicago and other immigration-friendly inland U.S. cities as a political stunt to draw attention to limited resources in border cities.
At a press conference on Thursday, Maria Guzman, a parent of a child in Rayito, said: “This is something out of a horror movie. I couldn't sleep last night thinking about the safety of my children. This is very, very personal.”
Although her parents said they had no information about her immigration status, they continued to steadfastly support the teacher, whom they called “Miss Diana.”
“Our experience with her has been amazing,” said Sara Nepomuceno, 29, whose 5-month-old daughter has been in Santillana's class for about two months. “I'm a first-time mom,” she said, and “going back to work can be a very difficult experience, but Diana made it so easy.”
The arrest occurred around 7:15 a.m. Wednesday, just after school opened, according to officials, witnesses and school staff. Agents followed Santillana and the man into the school parking lot at 2550 W. Addison St., near Lane Tech College Prep High School.
School officials told the Tribune that agents entered the school without a warrant before dragging her outside. Elected officials say video footage from the school shows agents inside.
“They went into the daycare center and questioned and took someone into her locker room to prove that she had identification. We saw them going in and out,” U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez, a Democrat, said Wednesday after the arrest.
DHS accused Santillana of “barricading herself” in a day care center with an unidentified male passenger, “recklessly endangering the children inside.”
The Department of Homeland Security also said Santillana crossed the border “illegally” and that she paid “smugglers” to transport her two children, ages 16 and 17, last month through El Paso, Texas, to a Chicago-area shelter as unaccompanied children.
“Facilitating human smuggling is a crime,” DHS said in a statement.
Although parents at the school said they knew Santillana was the mother, it remains unclear whether or how Santillana was reunited with her children.
Unaccompanied minors are typically first introduced to U.S. Customs and Border Protection or U.S. Border Patrol, according to Julie Contreras, a pastor and immigrant advocate with United Giving Hope, which has worked for more than 30 years to reunite unaccompanied children with their families and help them obtain asylum. The Office of Refugee Resettlement, also part of DHS, then reviews the children's reunification with their parents or guardians, she said.
It's unusual to accuse a birth mother of human trafficking or smuggling her children across the border, she said. Human trafficking involves forced exploitation, and smuggling requires physically transporting someone illegally, something the mother couldn't do if she was already in the U.S., Contreras said.
“I don’t know her personally or the children, but how terrible that would be because her only fault was being a mother who loved her children and wanted to be reunited with them,” Contreras said.
Parents at the school said Santillana looked after six children at the school. They described her as someone who was “always willing to go the extra mile” for her school community.
“She would dress up in silly hats and unicorn costumes to entertain the kids,” Laura Tober, whose 14-month-old has been in Santillana’s class in Raito since July.
According to a “Meet the Teacher” brochure provided by a parent whose child was in Santillana's class, Santillana has two children and has worked with children in schools and daycares for 10 years. She received her degree in Early Childhood Education from the University of San Buenaventura in Medellin, Colombia, where she is originally from.
“She loves to nurture and leave a mark on the lives of young people,” the brochure said.
