Operation “Freaky Friday”: What You Need To Know

Prepared by the National Immigrant Justice Center & Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights

WHAT FAMILIES NEED TO KNOW

• Operation “Freaky Friday” appears to affect a limited group of children who arrived in the United States as “unaccompanied children.” It does NOT appear to target all immigrant children more broadly.
• This operation does not appear to involve any imminent threats of ICE arrests.
• This operation also does not appear to involve any increased ICE presence at schools, shelters, or any other locations.
• This operation is separate from the ongoing, heightened enforcement by ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) across the Chicagoland region.

On Thursday, October 2, a widely circulated email, citing trusted sources, reported a forthcoming ICE operation called “Freaky Friday.” This operation appears to pressure certain vulnerable children in federal care, and possibly some young people who were previously detained, to give up their legal rights and applications for humanitarian protection and to agree to depart the United States.

This information is circulating at a time of heightened anxiety within immigrant communities. The Trump administration continues to escalate its enforcement on a near daily basis in Illinois, and is using dehumanizing tactics as a way of spreading panic.  It is important for all of us to be well-informed and not create further unnecessary anxiety.

This new operation appears to affect “unaccompanied children” aged 14 to 18.  The operation could also affect unaccompanied children as young as 10.

“Unaccompanied children” are children who arrive in the United States without status and without an accompanying parent or guardian. Under federal statute and a longstanding court settlement in the Flores case, the federal government must provide shelter, health care, and other services for unaccompanied children if they have no other adult to care for them. The Office of  Refugee Resettlement (ORR), an agency within the US Department of Health and Human Services, coordinates care services for these children through contracts with nonprofit shelter operators, including shelters in the Chicago area. Many of these children have filed claims for asylum or other forms of humanitarian immigration status.

The operation appears to target unaccompanied children who are still in the ORR shelters or who had been in the shelters but who are now in the care of parents or other relatives or in foster care.

We anticipate ICE may start sending letters to these children that would encourage them to give up their applications for legal protection and depart the United States. The letters may offer $2,500 as an incentive, and threaten ICE enforcement against those who decline, including possible transfer to ICE custody of the children in federal custody when they turn 18. The letters may also suggest ICE will arrest children’s parents if they are in the U.S.

The operation does not appear to threaten the children themselves with arrest. Many of the children targeted by this operation are already in federal custody in the shelters.

And again, the operation does not itself appear to involve escalated ICE presence or arrests at schools, shelters, or anywhere else in the community. That said, beyond this operation ICE is continuing to escalate its operations in our neighborhoods.  We need to remain vigilant!

Legal service providers should provide Know Your Rights (KYR) presentations to all children they are working with in custody as soon as practicable, advising them of this plan and their right not to sign anything without consulting their attorney. Legal providers are also being advised to prepare declarations regarding how the letters get delivered to the children and any coercion or intimidation used against the children. Organizations representing children in Chicago-area ORR shelters, including the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC), have deployed their legal teams to educate those children.

For all community members:

1. Continue to be vigilant and look out for your neighbors
2. Share know-your-rights information. Know-your-rights cards and flyers and more information are available at icirr.org/fsn and at www.Illinoisimmigrationinfo.org.
3. Call the Family Support Network Hotline at 855-435-7693 if you suspect ICE is in your neighborhood or if someone in your family has been detained
4. Share only verified information about ICE presence, be weary of misinformation, and be cautious of enforcement rumors spread by the Trump administration. You can sign up for our Illinois Eyes on ICE text alert system to get notices of verified ICE sightings at icirr.org/eyesonice.
5. Take action!  Make your voice heard that threats against children and other ongoing escalation of ICE activity is unacceptable. Sign up for action alerts at icirr.org and immigrantjustice.org, and follow us on social media.