>> Hello and thanks for joining us in Chicago tonight, Latino voices I'm joined on this.

Here's what we're looking at.

>> Invest in our educators.

Invest in our schools.

Invest in the future of this great city.

And most importantly, our students.

Chicago's Board of Education delays, a vote on a budget amendment as talks over the teachers contract continue.

>> Authorities ICE and other federal authorities over claims of illegal arrest in the Chicago area.

In Savannah as well Chicago face new challenges as they're set to lose temporary protected status.

>> And now to some of today's top stories, President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to dismantle enclose the Department of Education saying it has been years in the making at an event held at the White House today.

The president announced the order directs Education Secretary Linda McMahon to minimize the agency in return educational authority to the states.

The department is responsible for distributing funding and grants to states ultimately it will be up to Congress to officially approved the closure of the department.

However, the administration has already begun to scale back operations and reduce the number of department employees in a number of layoffs.

>> We're going to be returning education very simply back to the states where it belongs.

And this is a very popular thing to do, but much more importantly, it's a common sense thing to do and it's going to work.

Absolutely.

It's going to work and I can tell you from dealing with the governors and others in the state they wanted so badly.

They want to take their children back and really teach their children individually.

>> The administration says student loans and Pell Grants will still be managed by the department.

Meanwhile, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker says more than 3 billion dollars in federal education funding for the state could be at risk.

>> That is money that can't be replaced by the state government.

3 and a half billion dollars we can't do that.

Not especially on top of the 7 or 8 billion dollars that I suspect they will cut for Medicaid from the state of Illinois.

So this is we're in dire straits.

If they cut funding from Washington, D.C. >> In a separate move, the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights Launch an investigation today into the state Education Department.

Chicago Public Schools and the Deerfield Public Schools for accommodating Tran students, Deerfield parent complained that her teen daughter was forced to change in a locker room in front of a, quote, biological male.

But Deerfield officials say no student is ever forced to change publicly.

Meanwhile, millions of Illinois residents, Social Security benefits could be at risk.

That was Governor JB Pritzker's message today at an event in suburban Romeoville as part of his standing up for Illinois's tore Pritzker and other shows say the Trump administration's attacks on Social Security Administration could mean delays missed checks or wrongly denied claims agency has announced plans to reduce its work first in field offices.

The governor says some 2 million Illinois residents rely on Social Security benefits and local postal workers are speaking out against the potential privatization of the Postal Service.

Chicago was one of more than 150 cities where workers demonstrated today.

They say the United States Postal Service were sold.

It would raise rates and shutter local post offices.

The move comes as agency leadership earlier this week agreed to cut 10,000 workers and billions from its budget.

Up next, no movement on a CPS budget amendment.

Yet we catch up right after this.

>> Chicago tonight, Latino voices.

It's made possible in part by the support of these donors.

>> The Chicago Board of Education calls off a vote today to cover 175 million dollar pension payment amid intense opposition.

The deals a significant blow to Mayor Brandon Johnson and threatens the city's financial stability.

Let's listen to board President Shannon Hardin make the announcement.

>> extremely, extremely calls to settling the teachers union contract.

So as a result, the budget amendment and related items have been withdraw from today's agenda.

And these items will be brought back to the border to later today for consideration.

Very pleased with the progress so steady, the ship and we hope to be able come back very with that.

saw.

>> Here to break it down for us is Wbtw news reporter Heather Sharon.

All right, Heather Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a statement that Harden called off the vote because of negotiations over a new contract with the Chicago Teachers Union, which he said was extremely close to being finalized.

Is that what happened It's part of the story, but it's certainly not the whole story.

>> The city and the Chicago teachers union, by all accounts are very close to a new agreement.

But they're not quite there yet.

But the real issue is that 175 million dollar pension payment, that CPS has known for 6 months that the city was insisting it make.

But yet it did not set aside any money in its budget, nor did they set aside any money to pay for that new contract with the teachers and the union that represents the principals association, mayor Brandon Johnson wanted them to sort of fill this budget gap today that there simply weren't enough votes on the board to do it politics.

If you don't have the votes, you don't vote and take up.

Take us back.

mind is what the board has been expected to vote on and what the mayor had been asking them to do.

Well, there is about a shortfall of about 240 million dollars in the schools budget.

That's enough to cover the pension payment and pay for the new contracts.

The mayor says let's borrow that money and get through the short-term crisis and figure out how to put this in school district on firmer financial condition next year.

The board, however, is not convinced that that's the way to go.

And that opposition is being led by CPS CEO Pedro Martinez, who has repeatedly called this plan fiscally irresponsible.

And this is the issue that led to deep breach between the CEO and the mayor and prompted the last board of Education all appointed by the mayor to fire him.

But Martinez, he's an office until Now this might be the question of the hour.

What is preventing a deal on a new teachers contract?

Well, the big issue seems to be the amount of time that elementary school teachers have to prepare for their day back before this sort of current era.

They had 30 minutes that was slashed by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

They wanted that 30 minutes back.

Cps has said how about 10 more minutes and see to us said we can settle on 20 minutes.

No agreement on that What happened to Well, if CPS and CTU can reach an agreement, maybe the U.S. Budget amendment comes back next week before the CPS port.

If it doesn't, it will be up to the city council to figure out what to do and that will put the city in a precarious financial position because, oh, yeah, they don't have the 175 million dollars either.

Well, thank you, Heather, for that update.

Thanks, John.

And you can read Heather's full story on our website.

It's all at Www dot com slash news.

>> Local activists are saying federal immigration agents violated the rights of 22 people, including a U.S. citizen.

arrest made in the first few weeks of President Trump's term attorneys who filed a lawsuit earlier this week say the arrest violated 2022 agreement between local organizations and the federal government that restricts immigration and Customs Enforcement officers for making lists and collateral arrest.

The agreement covers Illinois and 5 other states.

Joining us now with more is Karen's E WIC, director of litigation at the National Immigration Immigrant Justice Center.

Thank you for joining us.

Now.

As I mentioned, the lawsuit claims eyes unlawfully arrested.

22 individuals and President Trump took office.

Can you explain at this point what the family seek from the lawsuit filed by the end?

I Jaycee and the ACLU of Illinois.

>> Yes, thank you for having me.

As you mentioned.

And in the lead, we filed motion to enforce a 2022 settlement on behalf of 22 individuals who we believe were unlawfully arrested in violation of the settlement from 2022, the motion demands that people are remaining who remain in immigration custody now be released without required to pay bond or be subject to conditions.

And that people who have been already been released paid a bond that those that those bond funds, the return and also because there are so many violations in just such a short period of time.

22 violations in just a few weeks.

We are arguing that there is a pattern disregard for the settlement.

And so we're asking for additional oversight from the >> key to prevent this from happening going forward.

>> And Karen, I want to go back.

The National Immigrant Justice Center sued the Trump administration again.

Immigration sweeps back in 2018 during the president's first term which led to a settlement in 2022, how has the president violated the settlement during the first weeks of his second term?

>> All right.

So this case is actually it isn't.

It is a motion to enforce that.

that settlement from that previous case and the violations here numerous, for example, one of the individuals in this case, fact, a U.S. citizen immigration officials detained 10 an detain him, handcuffed in.

did not ask him any questions about his citizenship.

Help him for more than about 10 hours and released him without any documentation of their.

The fact had ever happened his cause in their custody to begin with.

So all of that is in violation of the settlement because they arrested a person without probable cause that he was, in fact, not U.S. citizen.

And then they failed to document that.

They rested many other individuals without warrants large oftentimes in the community and oftentimes and violent and aggressive manners and then they're trying to circumvent the settlement by issuing what say, our warrants.

In the field, but their I'm putting that in scare quotes because those warrants are issued only after a person is already in handcuffs.

Already.

What we would say in custody of the police and then they're trying to scramble to issue well, our but I warrants in the field after those after those arrests have already been made.

And even in doing that, they're violating policies that they would be required to follow even.

>> She completed administrative or >> and the lawsuit sheds light on the rest of of overall score data from the Chicago suburbs who has been detained since January.

His son into our north.

They gave an emotional testimony in a news conference this week.

Let's take a listen.

>> Ice is doing things that they're not supposed There's they're arresting people where they're not supposed to.

They're stating that there are resting thousands of hard-core criminals.

My father's not a criminal.

>> And Karen, as we just heard the son of the water, though, saying that his father is no criminal, has no criminal record.

What can you tell us about about his case?

>> Well, has missed as it Mrs both in the United States for over 27 years.

He owns a landscaping company and he has been he's never been arrested for any criminal action in his entire life.

As as Eduardo put it in that same interview that you just quoted from.

He just goes to work he comes back to family.

He's a loving and caring and responsible person.

He's someone to look up to an honest person.

His attention has course Mrs. Those attention has forced the business to close the landscaping business and he own that employed 5 to 10 people at any given time.

So it's just evidence of what happens when that it's not just about the one person was arrested, but these kinds of things have effects for that, not just that person but their families and many people beyond >> Karen, how how could of this to know how could this have happened?

>> in in this particular situation, MRS Bull is living He was living with other members of his family and ice claims to have coming to the house to make an arrest for somebody else, but they but they were not.

They were not looking for him and they they took him because he was there and they.

That's what they're doing in these the situation that they call that collateral arrest and they willingly and openly admitting that anybody who happens to be in the presence, others who are subject to the circumstances are vulnerable.

Would you say these are some of the Constand, you know, beings that you've been seeing?

>> Yes, for sure.

One of the biggest one of the biggest patterns and practices targeting of collateral making this the use of collateral arrests.

So what that means is.

>> Ice will go into the field with that claim that they're looking for one specific person and it will use that claim that against that one specific person as pretext to arrest any people that they find along the way for in the course of looking for that one first specific person, even if they even if they don't really think that that person is going to be there or even it, maybe they don't actually believe that the person is in in the place where they are supposedly looking.

Now, Karen lawsuit also alleges a lack of transparency.

Do we know?

>> Ice has arrested in Chicago and the Midwest.

Frankly, no, we 22 examples are just a small slice of what we know based on the.

>> A limited amount limited amount of capacity that we have to screen people on a pick on a quick turnaround and we know that there are many more.

already have another batch of violations of the settlement that we a plan to bring to the court's attention And so I think that the truth matter is, we don't know.

But we do know is that ICE continues to claim that they're going after 2 people whom they would characterize as the worst of the worst.

But none of these individuals meets that criteria by even any stretch of the imagination.

Most of them have had no interaction with the criminal justice system ever in their lives.

>> Well, thank you.

We're gonna have to leave it at that.

Thank you for joining us.

Thank you, Thank you for.

Up next, a major change looms for some Venezuelans in Chicago.

Stay with us.

In just a few weeks, tens of thousands of Venezuelans and Illinois could be put at risk for deportation.

That's because of the Trump's administration's move to cut short.

The 2023 temporary protected status for Venezuela in sunset to end on April 7th.

However, the change does not affect the 2021 protected designation which expires in September without these protections, many Venice ones become undocumented and could lose financial assistance, work permits and other benefits.

Joining us with more on the local impact our day seafood as executive director of Central Middle Monday S cut that he gave in a swollen with protected status and co-owner of the restaurant.

The guided and Hannah Blackwell and Immigration attorney.

Thank you all for joining us this important topic.

Does it want to start with you?

As we know sentimental has been assisting minutes?

Well, as unsettling in Chicago for years.

How could the end of protected status affect their stability?

>> Really, it has been very difficult for us because that the roommate in the film line attending an assist and all us women have a right that your cargo and in in one of the things that I can tell you most of them had come back will some to remand looking for help where the Weichel now, because they not only make not only losing the permit to stay legally and work the seeing the benefits, every student then put assist system house in the system in some of the men became a car in the last minute things us little metal has been how exactly so legal clinic in been also making sure they doing the right things.

The don't in do in the United Now biggest field.

They're in that that is overall the exactly because now the places they used to work, they're asking them being department so losing job, then losing that housing.

So central middle right now is trying to make sure that they know that right what to do if get from comes what did you write?

Because even the UN that comment that you still have rights in this country.

But it seems like it's going to be a challenge any a challenge.

And Hannah, I want to bring you in briefly remind us what the temporary protected status is and what it allows have slowly, temporary protected status is for.

>> It's designated to particular countries around the world.

Venezuela, for instance, right now.

But it's for any country that the Department of Homeland Security deems eyes and having consequences or circumstances going on in their country that make it unsafe to send those people back to.

So, for instance, right now, whether it's a disaster going on, whether it's political corruption, something like that.

Who would say taking this away from them, put them at risk catastrophic.

Absolutely catastrophic.

Yeah.

Real want to talk a bit about your story.

You came to the U.S. in 2014 from Venezuela and and have the 2021 protect the status until September.

You also have built a business in Chicago with your family.

How would you say that this will affect you?

Well, right now, our family, it's filling.

>> And society this emotions that we have most fun because we don't know what's going to served family and a businesswoman.

We have employees.

We have claims we have everyone that does TPS to be here into wake to have, you know, to have a future because that's the reason why we came here to have better opportunities to have a place that we can feel safe but also grow.

Would you say that's the message when people don't understand why Vince Williams come here, correct?

Yes, we have year to be on our country because country.

Thank you.

Bows why we what we need as human beings.

And that's where we came here.

Looking for cash and money.

I would you say that you have concerns over your employees because some of them has the 2023 TPS designation to 18.

It's so hard because they have family.

They have babies.

They have, you know, we need to support them.

But also she mission, we need you know, requirements that will be gated to ask what is so it's so hard right now is Ishan right now is that many tough position?

I want to mention the Department of Homeland Security said about this change and they said we are returning integrity to the temporary protective status system which has been abused and exploited by.

>> Illegal aliens for decades.

President Trump and Secretary Nomar returning TPS to its original status.

Temporary Le Daisy.

What are your thoughts on this?

Believe some people have the Venezuelan migrants are exploiting the system.

I don't think so.

>> You know, it's easy to blame in economic boost.

She's situation to a new group because that have been happening for generations.

So in guns, they if we were looking they come in, come to view to this country that taxpayers their citizens there, people who'll bring the expect thieves, the heads, ball ewells all the Americans here when a bit of fog, mainly when a bit of business, they are men who working.

There's a few oppose.

But that doesn't mean the community of You know, it's it's a hardworking community so that a country viewers people think that they can they think no, they gain.

They pay taxes.

If find they work, they have apartment and they've been paying taxes legally in this country.

So it is a benefit for all.

But downtown.

>> Not only that this is a designation by the U.S. government.

So it's not an exploitation by the people.

They're not asking for this.

This is granted to them.

Yes, you have to apply.

But this is available to all.

This is not exploitation.

Can some of them apply for political asylum?

Absolutely.

Any kind of asylum is available to anyone who does have a valid fear of persecution in their home country based on protected grounds.

Right?

There are limitations.

But these people not only are they eligible for TPS, thinking eligible for asylum and maybe even family petition if they have a family member who is a U.S. citizen it was some of the alternatives, definitely the alternatives.

And I to see a lot of people who I'm currently have TPS also have an asylum application pending as well.

Weather with the courts are with us.

The I S and they're going to have to fall back on that.

Unfortunately, as this is being stripped away.

And we understand change brings a love, a lot of uncertainty you just mentioned now suppose you and your family protection?

What do you think would be your next steps?

>> I mean, you talk about building a business here.

Yeah, correct.

Wait for sure.

And going to go back to Venezuela.

We can't just we can and I have a and I need to start thinking that we're going to do next.

So maybe a 3rd country this point we're not certain of anything.

Is the stories they see that you see here is something on that time day.

>> We have line people outside of our offices coming.

What is my next step?

Definitely no one had said that.

A coin No one.

So we just feel like they still have apartment.

We still legally.

So we still living cards them to you.

new bill, your taxes, though, the things that you supposed to be building, but there's no options will.

But one things that we're doing and we're proud of it, we are told in the know your rights.

No, you're right.

But it's in the community, even though feed that for you is for you, friends for your business.

So I understand correct.

And and Hannah, there's a California lawsuit seeking to bring back the temporary protected status extension which was set to expire in October 2026.

>> This is one of countless losses.

A Trump administration is facing candies legal challenges make a difference and stop the change.

The only way that these legal challenges can make a difference is if the courts, the people, the Department of Justice actually enforces them against the executive branch excite against Congress against whoever is In combat to to those orders.

So it's very exciting that this order is out there and then it's or this this is pending.

And that's available.

Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of faith in it.

Really only have a couple seconds.

But again, mentioned you've been living.

You made a life here.

You know, what does this community in Chicago mean to you?

Chicago is home for right now.

>> And I don't like I cannot imagine being in another country right now because is my home a place where fail to my family and I built everything.

it's and I happened to go to a restaurant yesterday without knowing your Our guests us it's really good.

Thank you so Thank you.

Thank you for joining Thank you so much.

>> And that's our show for this Thursday night.

Join us tomorrow night at 5.37, for the week in review.

Now from all of us here, Chicago tonight, I'm joined at 9 this.

Thank you for watching.

Stay healthy and safe when it's not just.

>> Closed captioning is made possible by Robert a cliff and Clifford law offices are Chicago personal injury and wrongful death.

That prone to