Sacramento school leaders resist Trump directive authorizing ICE to target campuses
Sacramento and Yolo County Offices of Education have both affirmed their commitment to keeping federal immigration authorities off of school campuses in response to new directives from President Donald Trump’s administration.
Department of Homeland Security acting Secretary Benjamine Huffman issued a new directive Tuesday that rolls back a 2011 federal guidance that limited immigration enforcement activities at or near schools, child care centers, churches and hospitals.
“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,” a DHS spokesperson said. “The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement.”
Yolo County Superintendent of Schools Garth Lewis stated his office’s opposition to the federal directive in a statement Thursday.
“The federal administration’s directive to rescind protections for sensitive locations (such as schools, churches, and hospitals) from ICE enforcement actions undermines the trust and safety essential to our communities,” Lewis said. “These spaces are pillars of support, learning, and healing, not places for fear and intimidation. This policy shift threatens to disrupt the educational environment and instill unnecessary anxiety in children, youth, and families.”
The Sacramento County Office of Education has publicly committed to ensuring all students receive the free public education they are entitled to, but did not mention the recent federal guidance from DHS specifically.
“SCOE will continue to provide our schools, programs, and school districts with the most up to date legal and policy information, and resources to help protect students’ access to their constitutional right to education, regardless of immigration or citizenship status,” Sacramento Superintendent of Schools David Gordon said.
Statewide pushback against new immigration policy
These local agencies join many other state officials, agencies and county offices of education in rebuking the new DHS guidance, including California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
Guidance issued last month by Bonta says that school officials are not required to allow immigration agents to enter schools without a judicial warrant under California law. Bonta reaffirmed this in a joint statement with 10 other state attorneys general Thursday, writing that the federal government cannot commandeer states into forcing federal laws.
“The President has made troubling threats to weaponize the U.S. Department of Justice’s prosecutorial authority and resources to attack public servants acting in compliance with their state laws, interfering with their ability to build trust with the communities they serve and protect,” they wrote. “Rest assured, our states will not hesitate to respond if these words become illegal actions.”
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond threw his support behind a state bill last month that would establish a one-mile safety zone around schools, as well as protect against the use of school data for deportation efforts. The California Department of Education sent guidance to all county and school district superintendents and charter school administrators Tuesday with resources for immigrant students and their families.
“This is an abuse of power and goes against the constitutional right of every child to have a public education,” a spokesperson for the Association of California School Administrators said in a statement Tuesday. “We know from past experience that this decision will result in some students not attending school, families disengaging, academics being disrupted, and severe impacts on social-emotional well-being.”
This story was originally published January 23, 2025 at 4:41 PM.
