Gavin Montijo ‘26, Sports Editor
School is supposed to be a place where you can learn safely and stress free; however, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has now started to threaten the safety of immigrant students, and students that are US citizens. Last year, early on in President Donald Trump’s second term, the Trump administration overturned a policy that prevented immigration enforcement from getting in the way of essential services. These services include schools, places of worship, and hospitals. The dire impacts of this overturned policy are now showing. While ICE cannot directly go into the classrooms without a judicial warrant, they are allowed to enter lobbies of schools and be on school grounds. This has led to ICE agents making multiple arrests in schools’ parking lots as well as following buses and students home in order to detain them accordingly, causing increased anxiety and absences from many immigrants around the country as well as American citizens who are Hispanic or Latino. ICE has detained and deported multiple people with legal status as well, and children are being detained by ICE, increasing to approximately 170 per day and over 4,000 total since Trump took office.
Immigrants can legally attend public schools as the Supreme Court ruled in 1982 in the case of Plyler v. Doe which states that students can not constitutionally be denied a K-12 education based on their immigration status. This is because it would violate the Equal Protection clause in the 14th Amendment that ensures equal educational access to all children. The clause makes schools a safe place for many immigrant students, but also a target for ICE agents as they can easily know where these immigrant children are at all times. Many cases of these arrests have happened during pick up and drop offs at school as well as some at bus stops with ICE targeting both kids and parents. These incidents have created worried parents who are concerned for their young kids as the kids can witness or hear about these arrests and be worried that it could happen to them too. ICE could also take away their friends and in some cases teachers or staff who are not citizens.
A way schools have been trying to help these students in danger is shown at Valley View Elementary in Minnesota. While Minnesota has tried to get an emergency order in court to stop ICE from coming near public schools due claiming it traumatizes students, they have not succeeded. The school has a large Hispanic population with a reported two thirds of the school being Hispanic and have experienced issues with the presence of ICE in Minnesota. With attendance dropping, teachers and staff have taken the charge in multiple ways to have their students continue to learn safely. Some students have switched to virtual learning, and groceries have been delivered by staff, while others have been escorted by staff to and from the building, and some have obtained licenses to drive the students personally to and from schools in order to avoid agents. The presence of ICE in these areas has prevented these students from experiencing a normal childhood where they can freely go outside and go to school. They have to instead live in fear of agents and going to school, which could lead to a traumatic experience. An example of ICE affecting young children is Minnesota boy Liam Conejo who was detained along with his father in his driveway after returning home from school. The superintendent of the school Conejo goes to, Zena Stenvik, said, “Why detain a five-year-old? You cannot tell me that this child is going to be classified as a violent criminal.”
Parents on both sides of the aisle have been concerned about ICE presence at schools with a poll done by the National Parents Union (NPU) finding that 90 percent of Democrats and 59 percent of Republican-leaning parents are somewhat concerned with ICE disrupting their child’s education. Schools themselves have also intervened with multiple going to courts to stop ICE presence. A spokesperson from NPU spoke on ICE and their effect on schools as Keri Rodrigues said, “It’s not about politics. It’s about whether we are providing our children with a safe environment that allows them to even get to the classroom.”
School is supposed to be a safe place for all kids, and with the disruption brought by ICE to schools across the country, many young children could become traumatized or scared for themselves or others to be forcefully taken away from their families. ICE’s presence around children in schools due to these “routine” interactions and arrests will affect these kids for a long time due to their aggressive nature and wrongful arrests on American citizens. Due to the increased ICE agents around the country, many fear for the agents’ impact on their communities and wonder if it will be similar to how it has affected Minnesota. With even more ICE agents expected around the country, many wonder how it will further impact the lives of Americans.
Lyon Life 