Since Trump’s reelection for the president, he has emphasized the need to strengthen the United States immigration system. His first bill, the Laken Riley Act, signed into law January 25, which according to Congress.gov, forces the Department of Homeland Security to “detain certain non-U.S. nationals who have been arrested for burglary, theft, grand larceny, or shoplifting” even if they had not yet been convicted or even had already been acquitted for their crimes. The signing of this bill started the process of Trump’s process of strengthening border security. Many concerns for the new emphasis on immigration have arisen, but one has both the immigrant youth and parents of immigrant children in America worried; ICE in schools.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, of ICE, rescinded the memorandum “Enforcement Actions in or Near Protected Areas” on January 20, there has been uncertainty whether ICE would start to target schools, as schools were protected by said memorandum.
According to Vox, on January 24, two Secret Service agents showed up to Hamlin Elementary School in Chicago amid an investigation of “a threat made against a government official.” According to NBC Chicago, school officials denied entry to the agents due to misidentification of the agent’s credentials, “Originally, Martinez had told MSNBC that the identification was that of ICE agents, but a later statement clarified that the documentation was from the Department of Homeland Security, which does oversee ICE.”
Schools across America are trying to settle people’s fears of ICE. According to NBC 4News, schools never question the status of a family’s legality and do not share any compromising information without explicit permission.
According to CNN, the New York Department of Education vowed to “continue to fight for schools to remain safe zones” and that “students deserve an education free from fear, humiliation and trauma.”
Denver Public Schools asked federal judges to block the rescission of the “Enforcement Actions in or Near Protected Areas,” according to USA Today, there has been a drop in attendance rates due to the fears of being deported while in school.
Additionally, parents are noticing the drop in attendance as well. According to WPTV, during a school board meeting, a parent named Brendan Kreeger spoke on the issue, “Attendance has plummeted because kids are fearful of going to school so that’s obviously an issue,”
Furthermore, parent named Sarai Condreras said that children were speculating on if they would be raided by ICE,“We heard yesterday that there was [a] rumor going around that there was going to be an ICE raid at Stuart Middle,” and that “These shouldn’t be conversations that I should be having with my middle schooler.”
