West Cook News

Illegal alien children who arrived at Chicago's Union Station two weeks ago are now enrolled at Countryside's Ideal Elementary School, school sources tell West Cook News.

The Venezuelan children, part of a group of 75 illegal aliens living at the Burr Ridge Hampton Inn after Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot had them bused to the suburbs upon their arrival Sept. 7, speak no English, sources say.

"It's a huge challenge and distraction," a source familiar with the situation told West Cook News. "We're more than a month into the semester."

Ideal is part of La Grange-Countryside School District 105. The Hampton Inn where the illegal aliens are staying is in Burr Ridge Community Consolidated School District 180.

The children came to Chicago after President Joe Biden encouraged residents of poorer world countries to come to the U.S. border to ask for asylum. Millions have flooded to the border, paying Mexican drug cartels to guarantee their safety.

Once the richest country in South America, Venezuela's economy has collapsed over the past two decades as the country abandoned capitalism for Communism. Venezuelans who once fled to bordering Panama and Colombia started coming to the U.S. after Biden's inauguration in Jan. 2021.

Ideal Elementary, 9901 W. 58th St., has 253 students in grades K-6, according to the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). They live in La Grange, Countryside, and Hodgkins.

The school is 64 percent Hispanic, 21 percent white and eight percent black, according to ISBE.

The school principal is Eilidh J. Hall, hired in 2018. She's an Eastern Illinois University graduate who formerly worked as a teacher in Schaumburg and as assistant principal at Spring Avenue School in La Grange.