School police in Los Angeles announced new measures to prevent federal agents from enforcing immigration law near public schools in California, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.
Critics of the Trump administration have pointed to some incidents where agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement sought to gain entry to schools in order to detain illegal aliens in deportation proceedings.
‘Our families are now forced to live in fear, looking over their shoulders on the way to school or their child’s graduation. This is just simply wrong.’
Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said the school police would be deployed to ensure that the families of students were safe from federal enforcement at graduation ceremonies.
“We stand strongly on the right side of law,” said the superintendent. “Every student in our community, every student across the country, has a constitutional right to a free public education of high quality, without threat. Every one of our students, independently of their immigration status, has a right to a free meal in our schools. Every one of our children, no questions asked, has a right to counseling, social-emotional support, mental support.”
Los Angeles has seen violent rioting over the weekend from protesters opposed to increased deportation operations ordered by President Donald Trump. Dozens have been arrested by police, and National Guard troops have been deployed to the area as well as some U.S. Marines.
Carvalho said school officials were prepared to oppose federal troops if they attempted to gain entry to schools with a judicial warrant.
“I think that would be a preposterous condition,” he said. “But then again, we have seen preposterous actions taken recently by this administration. We are prepared for everything.”
The report noted that if federal officials obtained a judicial warrant, school officials have no legal recourse to oppose their entry into schools.
Carvalho cited one example where a family was scared to see their daughter graduate because of the possibility of immigration officials catching them.
“I’ve spoken with parents who’ve told me that their daughter would be the first in their family to graduate high school, and they’re not going to be there to witness it because they have a fear of the place of graduation being targeted. What nation are we becoming?”
School board members spoke against the deportations in statements to the Times.
“Our families are now forced to live in fear, looking over their shoulders on the way to school or their child’s graduation,” said board member Rocio Rivas. “This is just simply wrong. It is also very, very cruel.”
Board member Tanya Ortiz Franklin made similar comments.
“This isn’t about keeping our community safe,” she said. “This is about a backwards belief about who belongs and who should be pushed out, locked up, and shut up.”
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