Lorain School Board comments on recent deportation incident

District clarifies its policies

A Lorain City Schools elementary student and her mother have been deported.

Meanwhile, Lorain City Schools Board of Education President Mark Ballard and Lorain police Chief James McCann explained their respective policies on student safety and police response to federal agents investigating immigration cases. They spoke as part of a March 3 joint meeting with the Lorain school board and Academic Distress Commission.

Lorain Schools distributed a news release March 2 saying that Feb. 25, two U.S. Border Patrol agents in plain clothes were at Washington Elementary School accompanying the parent of one of their students on a legal matter.

The issue stemmed from an incident in Bay Village, where police stopped a car and found a man and woman who were in the United States illegally, McCann said.

The couple were ordered to appear in federal court for a hearing in 2017, but did not show up, so a federal judge ruled they would be deported, McCann said, citing his research from federal border patrol agents and Bay Village police.

Sandusky-based border patrol agents took the two into custody and the woman told them her daughter was a student in Lorain, McCann said.

The federal agents asked the woman if she wanted to take her daughter with her or have them help arrange custody while she left the country. The mother opted to take her daughter, McCann said.

That led to the plainclothes agents and the mother arriving at the campus during school hours to withdraw the 10-year-old child from school, McCann and Ballard said.

Both agents produced proper identification, the release said.

The school principal followed district policy and immediately notified Central Office.

A teacher familiar to the student accompanied the student to the parent before leaving the building, according to the release.

At no time did any agents of the federal government enter a classroom, nor conduct any kind of search.

No uniformed personnel were in the building, the release said.

At no time did any district representative assist or participate in any investigation or arrest; the district merely allowed a parent to take a child out of school for a family matter, the release said.

“The mother was going to be deported and she was given the option to be with her daughter,” Ballard

said. “The mother, with two agents in plain clothes, came for her daughter, so we released the student to her.”

Ballard said the family has since been deported to Honduras.

McCann said he had no reason to doubt the investigative details from the Bay Village Police Department or the federal agents. Speaking to an agent in charge, the border patrol agents do not routinely enter schools or places of worship for investigations, the chief said.

The district also provided information to ensure Lorain School District students, their families, staff and community members have accurate information regarding their rights and responsibilities regarding immigration and deportation issues, the release said.

The policy of the School Board is that no federal agents will be allowed to enter any school buildings for any purpose unless and until accompanied by a Central Office administrator and the head of safety, the release said.

If the parent and/or student do not speak English, a bilingual staff member will be present to make sure both the parent and student are fully aware of their rights as well as what proceedings are taking place.

Where possible, the district will ask the Lorain Police Department to be present to confirm that federal authorities have the proper credentials and paperwork.

Except in an emergency, federal officials will be asked to remain outside of the building until all confirmations are made.

At no time will uniformed agents be allowed to conduct searches of any school facility.

If action is necessary it will be undertaken by a school resource officer or appropriate administrator, the release said.

When a student is in a district building during school hours or activities, the district has custody of that child and is responsible for the safety and well being of the child.

Only a parent or authorized custodian or guardian of the child is allowed to remove a child from the district’s custody.

Anyone with additional questions can contact school District Safety Coordinator Reuben Figueroa at 440-830-4016.

As for the Lorain Police Department, the policy remains what it has been the last five years, McCann said.

It is the job of federal officers to enforce immigration law, McCann said. Lorain officers do not routinely search for illegal immigrants, he said.

Lorain police will continue to investigate crimes in the community and if a criminal suspect is an illegal immigrant, the department staff have no choice but to notify federal authorities about the person, McCann said.