Secret Service agents, not ICE, attempted to access Hamline Elementary School in Chicago, officials say

Agents from the U.S. Secret Service came to a South Side school on Friday to investigate a threat and were not immigration agents, according to a Secret Service spokesman. Chicago Public Schools officials said the agents had only identified themselves as part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, setting off fears of a potential immigration raid at the school.

The Secret Service is part of the Department of Homeland Security, as is Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. The spokesman said the Secret Service agents left their business cards for school officials.

“It had nothing to do with Chicago or the community, other than they were investigating the … person who made the threat,” the Secret Service spokesman said, who didn’t identify who the threat targeted.

The spokesman said the threat was to a person the agency protects, and it was related to the recent ban of the social network TikTok. The agency went to the school after initially looking for the suspect at a nearby home.

CPS officials say they didn’t let the agents into Hamline Elementary School, believing they were immigration agents from ICE.

• This report was published in partnership with the Chicago Sun-Times. For more, visit chicago.suntimes.com.