Public schools should be ICE-free zones

Esther J. Cepeda says undocumented students fear that their family will come into contact with a federal agent.

CHICAGO — Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers are all over America’s public schools.

Not physically, of course, but they are ever-present in the minds of millions of students who are either in the country without legal status or have parents who are.

It comes out in countless ways — fidgetiness belying anxiety, depression manifesting itself as anger, and sometimes as just the plain old listlessness of a student who is sleepy in class because he or she was awake in the night wondering if parents, uncles or grandparents will be taken away soon.

Even teachers aren’t immune to such fears. Though educators are never informed by the school about the legal status of students or their families — not only are school personnel prohibited from inquiring about the immigration status of students, by federal law the schools themselves are not allowed to ask families or students about their citizenship — teachers worry.

Sometimes students or their parents openly discuss their immigration problems with teachers they trust. Other times teachers just infer things from conversations with families at open houses or conferences. But in most cases we don’t really know.

Early last week, a Hispanic student was called out of my class by the office for a parent pick-up. The girl looked at me and another teacher in the room quizzically and said, “No, I’m not supposed to go home early.”

We called the office and confirmed that this student was being taken out of school in the middle of the day and, ultimately, she was asked to pack up and go.

At the time, I had the fleeting thought: “Oh no, I hope this isn’t some sort of terrible immigration emergency and this is the last time I’m ever going to see this kid.”

The next day, she didn’t come to school and I willed away negative thoughts about her family being on the run or otherwise in crisis. As of this writing, she still hasn’t been back to school. It’s probably nothing, but I won’t know until I see her again. Realistically, these teacherly moments of stress are nothing compared to what the students themselves are contending with.

According to the National Immigration Law Center, about 2.5 million undocumented youth live in the U.S. and another 4.1 million children are U.S.-born but live in mixed-status households with at least one parent or family member who is unlawfully present. They all have the constitutional right to attend public schools.

And it’s safe to say that whether any of these students have ever laid eyes on an ICE agent or not, the fear of having their family come into contact with one is nothing short of a daily source of trauma.

Some school systems, like the Chicago Public Schools, have told principals not to let federal immigration authorities inside district buildings unless they have a criminal warrant. Schools in California, Utah, Colorado, Pennsylvania and other states are conspicuously putting similar measures into place to ensure that immigration officials do not come onto school grounds without warrants.

Others, in communities with large Latino populations, are going so far as providing teachers with handouts about what they can do in the event that an ICE officer comes to their classroom.

“Ask to see the enforcement agent’s credentials and warrants,” “Ask the enforcement agent why this matter could not be dealt with at the student’s home,” and “Encourage enforcement agents to interview students outside of school hours and off school grounds,” reads one fact sheet.

If this sounds like public schools are having to spend scarce resources and time preparing their administrators and teaching staff to stand up to armed federal agents — that about sums it up.

And these new duties are in addition to having to deal with instances of students making racial slurs and chanting taunts like “Build that wall!” in school hallways.

For schools in communities with large populations of unlawfully present immigrants, the specter of having ICE agents show up during class is revolting. Though there is a policy stating that ICE officers and immigration agents should refrain from enforcement actions at K-12 schools, there is no statute or law guaranteeing it.

There ought to be.

Cepeda’s column is syndicated by the Washington Post Writers Group. Her email address is estherjcepeda@ washpost.com.