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The Trump administration’s increased immigration enforcement efforts have turned some classrooms into battlegrounds as schools work to prevent federal immigration officials from operating on school grounds.
California’s Oceanside Unified School District is beefing up security and providing scripts for staff to “keep ICE out of schools,” according to a report from The San Diego Union-Tribune.
Front-office staff in the district are provided with scripts in the event Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrive, the report said. Oceanside Unified serves a large Latino student population, and “about one in eight students is learning English,” according to the Tribune.
The Trump administration rescinded a longstanding policy that prevented ICE officers from conducting arrests of undocumented individuals at schools, houses of worship, hospitals or other so-called “sensitive locations.”
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Oceanside Unified School District has reportedly been working more closely with community organizations in “more preventative and proactive work.”
Staff members also received training on how to respond if immigration officers arrive on campus and how to record any such encounters, the Union-Tribune reported.
Jordy Sparks, the district’s executive director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Student Support, said that they have “a script that basically front office staff can walk through.”
Districts across the state are expected to update state guidance by March 1 to ensure students are shielded from immigration enforcement.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced last month that “approximately 133,000 undocumented children attend California’s public K-12 schools, and many more have parents or relatives who do not have legal status.”
“I know many California teachers and administrators are wondering how best to protect their students amid the Trump Administration’s indiscriminate, callous mass deportation campaign,” Bonta said.
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For instance, ICE agents are not permitted to enter non-public areas without a valid judicial warrant, subpoena or court order.
Per the 59-page state document, “Schoolbuses or other vehicles to transport pupils to school are by their nature non-public, and agents or employees of agencies conducting immigration enforcement should not be permitted to access the inside of such vehicles without a valid judicial warrant, judicial subpoena or court order.”
The school district has also increased security measures.
“Visitors must be buzzed in by staff in order to enter past the front office. Front-office signs have been updated, and signs have gone up to identify areas restricted to students and staff. Sparks said there’s training for all schools and all staff around areas like awareness building and education code. But there’s also an optional training led by the district’s immigration response team, which he’s on, that delves further into what staff can do as community members,” the Union-Tribune reported.
Oceanside Unified School District told Fox News Digital said the district is “following updated state laws.”
“OUSD is following updated state laws on this topic, though practices on law enforcement on campus have been part of our board policy since before 2020,” the spokesperson said.
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Teachers unions, lawmakers and school staff all over the country shared concern about ICE entering campuses following the recent fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis last week.
The American Federation of Teachers and Minneapolis Federation of Educators released a joint statement calling for ICE to stay away from schools.
“Why can’t this administration focus on working with communities to help them thrive, instead of stoking fear, violence and death? Right now, Minneapolis schools are closed and teaching and learning has been halted to keep students and families safe,” the American Federation of Teachers said.
The Chicago Teachers Union also issued a statement accusing the Trump administration of “normalizing terror.”
“Our mayor has made it clear: ICE will not be allowed to stage on city property, and Chicago will not be complicit in these abuses,” the union said.
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