9 December 2025: Spanish Tutor/LLA Zaira’s Experience about Soccer Practice and ICE Raids
9 December 2025: Spanish Tutor/LLA Zaira's Experience about Soccer Practice and ICE Raids
I am a third year college student, but my busiest days aren’t those sleepless nights doing homework, it’s my Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. These days, I spend time with my U-13 soccer team, Milan FC. My team keeps me on my toes because they are the most energetic group of individuals I spend time with all week. No matter how sunny or how cloudy the day is, I have to be ready for school or team drama all the time. A few weeks before the Mexican Independence festivities in the Chicagoland area, we were alerted that ICE raids were to be happening around the same time as the celebrations. When I heard of this, I made sure my mother and father carried their identification and didn’t go out as frequently if it wasn’t needed. That week of, I cancelled Tuesday’s practice because I had homework so I didn’t see Milan until Thursday. Hours before practice that Thursday a mom reached out to me asking if I could pick up her children for practice to which I happily did. Our practice was missing some teammates but they were full of energy, gossip, soreness, and a lot of unnecessary tackles as always. I dismissed the kids once we were done and it wasn’t until the end of practice that I noticed the only 2 parents that were present. The following day everything hit me. My parents weren’t going out because they were scared of bumping into an ICE agent; it wasn’t just my parents, it was also the Milan families, my team.
I am majoring in Spanish and slowly I have been better at directly translating and interpreting information in English. I understand that I am a part of a generation that is spoiled with social media but I also understand that not a lot of people know how to navigate through it. During the ICE raids I would see a lot of information posted online that I knew people like my parents or the Milan families weren’t seeing. Eventually I gave myself this mini mission to pass on any information I could to the families and make sure that I was constantly communicating with them to make sure they were okay. Ever since I started coaching Milan, I told the parents that I would be speaking to them in Spanglish because I thought it would help them maintain their Spanish, and all the parents agreed that it was a great idea. This was one of the first steps I took to earn the trust of the parents in my team. I am grateful to now use our shared language to share such important information with the families and educate the kids on things that are going on around them. This mini community we have created through Milan has created a stronger relationship between families inside and outside the soccer field.