Senators demand Linda McMahon ask DHS to stop immigration enforcement near schools
Source: NBC News
Oct. 24, 2025, 5:00 AM EDT
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and at least a half a dozen other senators are calling on the U.S. Department of Education to pressure immigration authorities to refrain from carrying out immigration enforcement within 1,000 feet of any school property, citing recent classroom disruptions in the Chicago area.
On Friday, they sent the letter, first provided to NBC News, to Education Secretary Linda McMahon, demanding that she step in and ask the Department of Homeland Security to curb its operations around schools.
“Federal agents continue to use unwarranted, excessive levels of force around Chicago, demonstrating an alarming lack of care or regard for the health and wellbeing of children, particularly by conducting unfocused, inflammatory operations within close proximity of school grounds,” the senators wrote in the letter. “We demand you pressure your colleague, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, to reinstate restrictions on Federal immigration enforcement operations in and around places of education.”
The letter asks for “common sense” civilian immigration policing around schools, arguing that “if society can agree that alcohol, tobacco and drugs should be kept at least 1,000 feet away from our schools, surely we can agree that tear gas—a chemical weapon which causes burning, pain, skin inflammation and respiratory distress—and other violent DHS tools and tactics also belong on that list.”
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/senators-demand-linda-mcmahon-ask-dhs-stop-immigration-enforcement-sch-rcna239427