For some reason, Homeland Security agents deemed it necessary to visit two elementary schools in the Los Angeles, California, area. The two schools, Lillian Elementary and Russell Elementary, denied the agents access, despite claims that they identified themselves as such. Alongside disclosing exactly who they were, the agents also tried to seek information about students ranging from first to sixth grade on a false claim that their caretakers had authorized it. Fortunately, there principal sought to uphold the district’s protocols and did not allow the agents entry.
The Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho expressed deep concern about the situation, stating that no one was notified beforehand that such an event would take place. In fact, he even questioned the necessity of such information, saying,
“My very first question starts there, what interest should a Homeland Security agent have in a first grader?”
Despite not being Immigration and Customs Enforcement, student guardians and teachers need to be extremely careful concerning deportation operations from ICE. What most people don’t know is that the Department of Homeland Security also controls ICE. So, it’s very possible that the proceeding events would have been very bad if the agents were allowed on the school’s property.
Carvalho expressed his gratitude to the staff for following their training and preventing a larger issue. It has become increasingly common for ICE agents to use either brute force or undercover strategies to attempt to detain American citizens. Fortunately, the LAUSD had put protocols and guidelines in place for families to follow in the event that immigration agents approached them, even before the current administration signed any executive orders.
The former superintendent of Miami-Dade Public Schools has always been dedicated to the education system. He is also very outspoken about the role of immigrants in education, having come to the United States undocumented from Portugal himself. During his time in the district, he helped them climb out of near bankruptcy by cutting the budget by $2 million and laying off various administration staff but not a single classroom teacher.
Ideally, he will continue to pave the way for other education personnel to also try and turn the tides of the modern-day classroom experience. At the end of the day, no child should fear going to school because of the idea that they might get deported.
