Schools brace for immigration arrests after Trump administration changes ICE policy

John Yang:

The day President Trump began his second term, the Department of Homeland Security changed its policy on making immigration arrests at places like schools, hospitals, and places of worship. For more than a decade, DHS had restricted arrests at those places. Now officers are just told to use discretion and a healthy dose of common sense.

Last month, the Denver school system became the first district to go to court over the change. And late Friday, a federal judge denied their request to temporarily pause the new policy. So far, there haven't been any raids at schools, but just the possibility has some parents keeping their children out of classes and some schools scrambling to be ready for them.

Here's what some educators and a student told us. The student asked us to hide his identity for safety reasons.

Man:

I'm a 12th grader and I've been living in the country for five years. My family was afraid because I wanted to go to school, because I want to be someone in the future.

Madeline Negron, Superintendent, New Haven Public Schools:

If a child is too stressed in a classroom to even concentrate, how can they possibly learn anything when they may be sitting at that desk worrying if, when they go back home, if their parents are going to be there or not?

Caryn Shapiro, ESL Teacher:

There are some kids I have not seen since January 20th. I started receiving messages, text messages, WhatsApp messages from students saying, you know, miss, I'm scared. I don't know what to do. My parents don't want me to go to the bus stop.

Negron:

We already know that we have a national teacher shortage in our country. What this is doing is now putting out a stress.

Shapiro:

I know these parents expect me to try and help their children, and that is very sacred. And it's a trust that I will not betray. I see myself as a line of defense for my students.

Man:

We came here to have a better life, so probably, I hope nothing's going to happen to us.

John Yang:

The old policy limiting arrests at what the DHS calls sensitive locations was in effect during all of the first Trump administration.

Kica Matos is the president of the National Immigration Law Center. It's a group that advocates for low income immigrants. Kica, what have you heard about the effects of this policy change?

Kica Matos, National Immigration Law Center:

They have been devastating to immigrant families, to immigrant communities, to schools all over the country that have immigrant children. People are living lives filled with fear, and children are afraid to go to school, and parents are afraid to take them to school. And then the broader community is also afraid that they will see some enforcement action that will affect them even if they're US Citizens. So it's a really, really trying time for our education system and schools around the country.

John Yang:

What advice would you give to parents about how to talk to their children about this and also to school administrators and teachers?

Kica Matos:

So one of the things that we are doing is making sure that immigrant children, immigrant parents, immigrant communities, educators really get a good grasp on what their rights are. We're giving people know your rights information. They're these little red cards that we're giving to people and we're saying to them, can keep these in your wallets. Right? Because we want to make sure that people are not just safe, but that they know what their rights are.

And when it comes to schools, we've had conversations with superintendents all over the country to say that they really need protocols in place. You want to make sure that you identify places in the schools that are private and that are public. Why? Because then you have the protections of the fourth amendment with you in case ICE comes into the schools.

Before, it used to be okay that anybody could just go into the schools. Now you want to direct people to go to an administrator's office, including ICE officers. And if there is somebody who's coming in for enforcement action, you want to make sure that you train, be it an educator, an administrator, the school principal, to look at the warrant that the ICE officer has. Because there's a difference between a judicial warrant and that is a warrant that's signed by a judge with specific information and a date, and what ICE calls an administrative warrant, which really doesn't carry the force of a judicial warrant.

So you want to make sure that if ICE comes to your school with a warrant, that it's actually a warrant signed by a judge and it has all of the specific information about who it is they might be looking for or what access they want to the schools.

John Yang:

As the tensions over immigration build the political rhetoric, it's not just the administration or officials that pose a threat. There was a story out of Texas where an 11 year old died by suicide after being bullied for her immigration status. What's your message to school administrators about bullying over immigration status?

Kica Matos:

So school educators now have to become counselors, therapists. They have to monitor even more closely the kind of interaction that kids are having. They have to pay attention to the trauma that immigrant children exhibit in the classroom.

Schools are the place where we're supposed to feel safe, where we get an education, where we learn about our responsibilities in a democracy, how we show up civically. That should be the mandate of any school in this country. And now our world is being turned upside down because teachers have to fear immigration enforcement.

They have to fear and be concerned about what kids will do to each other. So there is an intimidation that is targeting immigrants all over the country that is really unacceptable and heartbreaking.

John Yang:

Kica Matos of the National Immigration Law center, thank you very much.

Kica Matos:

Thank you.