Sacramento school district resists Trump directive to allow immigration agents in schools
Sacramento City Unified School District officials presented a united front Wednesday to affirm safety for undocumented students, encouraging families to continue sending their kids to school in the face of fears stoked by President Donald Trump’s directive to allow federal immigration agents on school campuses.
The goal was to keep undocumented kids, whose families may fear that their children’s schools are vulnerable to ICE raids, coming to class every day. Under California law, all children have a right to a free public education regardless of their or their parents’ immigration status.
“To our families, we ask you, please send your children to school despite the anxiety and fear being pushed upon you,” Board President Jasjit Singh said. “Know that this is a safe place. We are here to teach, care for and guide all 38,000 of our students to reach their goals, and we will not let anyone get in the way of that.”
The district passed its safe haven policy in 2017, which bars federal immigration agents from accessing school campuses and protects student information from being accessed by federal officials.
District staff members were provided guidance on how to respond if an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agent tried to enter a campus. If an agent shows up to a campus with a warrant, they will be referred to Superintendent Lisa Allen and the district’s legal staff to determine if the warrant is valid, the 2017 policy reads.
Singh said that even if an agent were to enter campus following the review of a valid court order, it doesn’t mean they would have access to the student, and that they are working with attorneys to make this policy more robust and clear.
“Students still have rights,” he said. “You don’t get to just talk to a student even with a valid warrant.”
Board member April Ybarra addressed families in Spanish, reiterating Singh’s points about the school being off limits to immigration agents.
“Students not only need to feel like they’re safe here but they need to feel like they are part of the community,” Ybarra said. Her words have been translated.
Chief Deputy Superintendent of the California Department of Education David Shapiro also spoke at the meeting, asking for support for a state bill that would prohibit school officials from allowing immigration enforcement on school grounds without a court order.
Support for queer students
The board expressed support for students in marginalized groups, particularly LGBTQ students, in response to the Trump administration’s executive orders targeting transgender people. Singh said that there will be a public conversation about potential resolutions to protect staff and students.
“We understand that there are concerns around LGBTQIA+ students, our gender nonconforming students, refugee students — there’s a lot of stuff coming out,” Singh said. “Our job as a board is to make sure that we showcase the direction of what we’d like to see in our district, and we trust our staff to make the appropriate recommendations to policy change to address anything and everything.”
LaMills Garrett, first Vice President of the Sacramento NAACP, commended SCUSD for already having a safe haven policy and LGBTQ protections in place, and implored other school districts in Sacramento and the greater region to implement similar statutes.
“We challenge you to look at the counties outside of Sacramento — to look at the policies they have in place, to look at the politicians they have in place, to look at the things that they do that cause those students and families within their communities to be threatened,” Garrett said. “The work that Sac City Unified is doing is something that we need more of within our community.”
