Crime & Law
North Center Daycare Teacher Detained by ICE Released From Custody
Background: Rayito de Sol Spanish Immersion Early Learning Center, 2550 W. Addison St., is pictured in a file photo on Nov. 5, 2025. (WTTW News) Foreground: Photo of Diana Patricia Santillana Galeano, a Rayito de Sol teacher who was detained by federal immigration agents on Nov. 5, 2025. (Courtesy of Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym, Ltd.)
A daycare worker who was detained by federal immigration agents last week at a North Center preschool and whose arrest was caught on video and widely shared online, has been released from custody, her attorney said Thursday.
Diana Santillana Galeano, who had been held at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention in Clay County, Indiana, was released Wednesday night, hours after a federal judge granted a habeas petition finding that her detention without a bond hearing was unlawful.
“I am so grateful to everyone who has advocated on my behalf, and on behalf of the countless others who have experienced similar trauma over recent months in the Chicago area,” she said in a statement Thursday. “I love our community and the children I teach, and I can’t wait to see them again.”
Santillana Galeano was expected to remain in ICE custody until a bond hearing could be held next week. Her detention sparked an outpouring of outrage and support amid the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration enforcement efforts across Chicago and Illinois known as “Operation Midway Blitz.”
A video of Santillana Galeano’s arrest, which occurred around 7 a.m. on Nov. 5, shows two agents detaining Santillana Galeano at her workplace inside Rayito de Sol Spanish Immersion Early Learning Center, 2550 W. Addison St.
In the video, Santillana Galeano can be heard saying that she has papers.
Santillana Galeano has a work permit that allows her to work legally in the U.S., according to her attorney Charlie Wysong.
During a hearing Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Jeremy C. Daniel granted in part Santillana Galeano’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus, finding that her detention without a bond hearing was unlawful.
He ordered federal prosecutors to schedule a bond hearing in the case to be held by next Tuesday.
Santillana Galeano is expected to be reunited with parents and staff at Rayito de Sol on Friday morning.
“We are thrilled that Ms. Santillana was released, and has been able to return home to Chicago where she belongs,” Wysong said in a statement “We will continue to pursue her immigration claims to stay in the United States. We are grateful to her community for the outpouring of support over these difficult days, and ask that her privacy be respected while she rests and recovers from this ordeal.”
Eunice Alpasan contributed to this report.
