Ex-Chicago Teacher Held for ICE Deportation Over Ties to 2024 Tren de Aragua Mass Shooting

Giovanna Mercedes Moreno Occhipinti, a 32-year-old Venezuelan national with dual Italian citizenship, has been sitting in ICE custody since May 13, 2026, awaiting deportation over her alleged role in a December 2024 mass shooting on Chicago's Southwest Side, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Three people were killed and five wounded when gunmen opened fire at a house party in the Gage Park neighborhood on December 2, 2024. DHS says the shooters, Ricardo Granadillo Padilla and Edward Martinez Cermeno, had ties to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. Moreno Occhipinti allegedly drove both men to the scene and helped them evade police afterward, per DHS and confirmed by CBS News Chicago.

Chicago police arrested Moreno Occhipinti just three days after the shooting, on December 5, 2024, on charges of unlawful use of weapons and other weapons offenses. Officers reportedly found multiple guns in her vehicle at the time, according to DHS.

She was released from custody without ICE ever being notified, which DHS attributes to Chicago's sanctuary city policies. DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis put it bluntly: "Although Chicago police arrested this illegal alien shortly after the shooting, sanctuary politicians released her from jail without notifying ICE. Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, DHS is doing the job that sanctuary politicians in Illinois refuse to do."

DHS and Fox 32 Chicago both report that the Cook County State's Attorney's Office declined to prosecute the case. CBS News Chicago reported the opposite claim from the same office: the Cook County State's Attorney's Office says charges were not rejected and that this remains an ongoing police investigation. DHS's account and the local prosecutor's own statement directly conflict, and it hasn't been resolved in the record.

HSI Chicago agents took Moreno Occhipinti into custody on May 13, months after the shooting, once federal authorities decided to act independently. HSI Chicago Special Agent in Charge Matthew Scarpino called her actions "calculated and deliberate, leading to the loss of three lives."

DHS marked the case with a photo posted to its official account on July 23, showing Moreno Occhipinti on a tarmac in a sweatsuit, captioned "Bye bye." The Daily Wire highlighted the image and framing directly, presenting it largely as vindication of the administration's deportation push.

Moreno Occhipinti entered the U.S. in October 2021 under the Visa Waiver Program, which required her to leave by January 2, 2022. She never left, according to DHS. Fox 32 Chicago reported she worked as a teacher at an unnamed school in Elgin, a Chicago suburb, but noted Illinois officials have refused to confirm which school employed her.

CBS News Chicago tried to get clarity from the Illinois State Board of Education on her employment history and got nothing specific back. Parents and school administrators in whatever district employed her still don't have official confirmation of where she worked or what oversight, if any, flagged her background.

15th Ward Alderman Raymond Lopez, whose district borders the shooting scene, told CBS News Chicago he'd flagged the Tren de Aragua connection back in 2024 and was ignored. "I said then that this had the hallmarks of Tren de Aragua. People didn't want to hear it," Lopez said. "Everyone wanted to sweep it under the rug like it wasn't true, and yet, here we are today." Lopez also pointed to what he calls flaws in Chicago's welcoming city ordinance as the reason ICE wasn't looped in after her initial arrest.

The two alleged shooters, Granadillo Padilla and Martinez Cermeno, were both previously deported. Martinez Cermeno had briefly been released from ICE custody in January 2025 after a federal judge ruled prosecutors hadn't met their burden to keep him detained pending trial, according to Fox 32 Chicago.

DHS says this arrest is part of a broader surge. ICE has deported roughly 706,000 illegal immigrants since President Trump returned to office, according to data DHS provided The Daily Wire. Todd Bensman, a former senior adviser to the ICE Office of the Director who left the role last month, said detention capacity and staffing delays slowed things early on: "Bed space and detention centers had to be rebuilt and 10,000 agents hired and Congress wouldn't pass the big beautiful budget bill for the first six months. Everything is finally in place now."

At least one ICE source described internal strain from leadership pushing for both volume and high-profile arrests simultaneously: "They want big arrests and numbers at the same time. It's hard to do both, not enough time or days to do it."

Moreno Occhipinti remains in ICE custody pending removal. The core factual dispute between DHS's public statement and the state's attorney's own account given to CBS News Chicago remains unresolved.