TRI-COUNTY — Local school districts across the Big Bend are grappling with how new federally-mandated immigration enforcement directives might impact their campuses.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) changed guidelines on January 21 to allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to make arrests at “sensitive areas,” including schools, churches and hospitals, spaces that had been protected since 2011.
States cannot deny undocumented children access to K-12 schools — as ruled in the 1982 landmark Supreme Court Case Plyler v. Doe — and schools are prohibited from inquiring about a student’s immigration status.
Local district leaders including Alpine ISD Superintendent Michelle Rinehart and Marfa ISD Interim Superintendent Arturo Alferez said they were assured by local DHS officials that schools are not the focus of current ICE investigations. Other superintendents from Fort Davis and Valentine ISDs and Terlingua CSD said they had not yet been contacted by any federal agency.
DHS and ICE did not respond to a request for comment on agency communications with local school districts.
Alferez said Marfa ISD teachers and administrators have voiced concerns about immigration enforcement officers showing up on campus. “You just don’t want the disruption in the classroom,” Alferez said. “You see what’s happening in bigger cities. You see it on social media, on the news, and you’re like, well, is that gonna happen here?”
“If you’re at our doors and you’re here to pick up students, we’re going to do everything we can to protect our students,” he added.
Rinehart said the understanding that “there’s truly no changes in terms of immigration actions or the potential for immigration actions on district property” came from DHS officials who the district has “strong partnerships” with, in addition to relationships with Customs and Border Protection officials.
“Historically, federal and state law enforcement don’t conduct immigration actions on district property, and we don’t anticipate that changing moving forward,” Rinehart said.
Rinehart and Alferez said DHS officials told them the focus of enforcement and removal operations are on cases involving violent criminals. “From our conversations with them, with our legal counsel, etc., with different groups across the state, this is what we know that federal agencies focus remains on, investigating immigration cases involving violent criminals and not any kind of school-based intervention,” Rinehart said.
Alferez said that news was a welcome relief. At a school board meeting on Monday he said the district plans to release a statement on the matter to parents via social media soon. “The meeting I had today with a Homeland Security agent, he reassured me, we’re not here to go into the schools. We’re not here to enter churches, we’re part of the community.” Alferez said. “That was very good to know.”
Districts that responded to requests for comment from The Sentinel said they plan to follow existing policies and procedures regarding law enforcement interactions and the advice of their attorneys in the event of ICE presence on campus.
Rinehart said current processes most districts follow include verifying an officer’s identity, asking for a subpoena or legal documentation about the investigation, sending that information onto the superintendent for review, and more.
Terlingua CSD Superintendent Reagan Reed said, so far, the district has not been notified of any policy change from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) regarding ICE investigations or received any instructions from a law enforcement agency.
“As a staff, we have discussed our adopted procedures and that there have been no changes to the educational rights of our students,” Reed said.
Valentine ISD Superintendent Debbie Engle said her staff has discussed what to do in the event that ICE agents arrive. The actions “follow recommendations from school lawyers,” she said.
Fort Davis ISD Superintendent Graydon Hicks said the district has not changed any of their procedures or protocol regarding law enforcement interactions, and it will “evaluate any such event at the time it happens.”
The advocacy group, the National Immigration Law Center, recently released a fact sheet containing details about the protected areas policy as well as recommendations for school district, hospital and church staff. It can be viewed online at nilc.org/resources/factsheet-trumps-rescission-of-protected-areas-policies-undermines-safety-for-all/
