ICE, ICE, Baby: ICE in schools is Undermining the Education System.
Teachers sit with trembling first graders at lunches, count reduced attendance rates and hand out pink pieces of paper with information about what to do if ICE arrives on that first grader’s doorstep. ICE is the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. It deals with homeland security, specifically around enforcing legal immigration and public safety. So why are so many kids so scared? They or their parents could be undocumented, which means that under the current federal policies, they could be deported at any time.
According to Brian Boggs, Assistant Professor of Policy and Educational Leadership at the University of Michigan, and writing for The Conversation, ICE is now able to legally enter K-12 Schools. Schools, hospitals, and churches have long been considered “sensitive” and off-limits to Immigration control agents, except in emergencies. That policy has been reversed under the current administration. This means that ICE can use a judicial warrant (Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution) to question or detain someone where they have a reasonable expectation of privacy, which would include school. The Migration Policy Institute think tank estimates that about 733,000 school-aged undocumented children live in the US. Most are too young to apply for and be protected by DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which provides temporary protection from deportation and work authorization to young undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children), leaving them vulnerable. Allowing ICE in schools not only targets the most vulnerable in our society, but also undermines foundational goals of the school system: safety and education.
In a world where ICE rules, so does fear. Children as young as six are afraid they’ll return home after school to deported parents—or that they’ll be the ones taken. That fear makes school feel unsafe, and when somewhere doesn’t feel safe, it becomes impossible to focus there. Kids are showing up distracted, anxious, or not at all especially in the wake of highly public (and flippant) deportations. Teachers interviewed by CNN have reported students sobbing through class, struggling to concentrate, or skipping school entirely after an immigration sweep in their community. Some children even end up funneled into the already struggling foster care system if their parents are detained. Others leave the country with their families (even if they have legal protections like DACA) – some by choice, others by force.
The fear ICE creates spreads beyond the undocumented students themselves. When a classmate is pulled aside or questioned, it doesn’t go unnoticed. It’s traumatic. And it tells every other student watching that school isn’t necessarily a safe place.
Furthermore, school is intended to be a resource to improve lives and even provide a path for citizenship. That’s why in the 1982 Supreme Court case Plyler v. Doe. judges ruled that free, public education must be made available to all children regardless of immigration status, and schools must not engage in practices that might discourage enrollment or attendance due to how families are classified under immigration law. This upholds Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. Supposedly, we want legal immigration. We want people to have legal citizenship. If kids are too afraid to come to school, how are they supposed to learn English, understand our government, or figure out a legal pathway to citizenship? School is essential for all of that.
ICE’s presence in schools is doing real harm. It’s scaring kids out of classrooms, tearing families apart, and making it harder for schools to do the one thing they’re meant to do: teach. If we want an education system that works, it has to include every student, regardless of immigration status. Schools should be places of safety and springboards to the future, not battlegrounds for immigration enforcement.
