Lansing will continue to maintain its policy of requiring law enforcement, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, to bring a search warrant to conduct actions in district schools, Sergio Keck, the deputy superintendent for special populations, said Tuesday.
Keck said he has emailed reassuring messages to families and staff since the Trump administration announced that schools would no longer be off limits to ICE and Customs and Border Protection agents.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announcement Jan. 21 said the new policy “empowers the brave men and women in CBP and ICE to enforce our immigration laws and catch criminal aliens — including murders and rapists — who have illegally come into our country. Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest. The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense.”
In response, Keck emailed families and staff Jan. 28 that “the safety and well-being of all our students remain our top priority. Our schools are, and will always be, a safe and welcoming place for every child in our community.” It was one in a series of messages that included online resources meant to address concerns.
Ryan Gilding, the school district’s communications manager, said the district’s policy regarding law enforcement has not changed.
“We had our procedures in place before the current administration,” Gilding said. “The only change is the climate the country sees itself in. The country is a little bit on edge, which is to be expected.”
“We have to and will comply with a judicial order.”
Asked about “the climate,” Gilding said, “You look at the news, and people are a little confused, not knowing what the directive may be from Washington.”
Keck said no parents have contacted him or the school district with concerns, perhaps because the district has been proactive in delivering the message that “our schools are the safest place for our children.”
Gilding said he expects a discussion on how Trump’s policy “is affecting the climate” at Thursday’s school board meeting.
It’s a conversation taking place across Michigan.
“Unfortunately, we’ve heard a lot of concerns from the community. There’s a lot of reports of people seeing ICE near or around schools,” said Christine Sauvé, the manager of policy & communication at the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center.
She said the center has provided guidance to schools around Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor and Metro Detroit, among others.
Students are concerned, too.
“Every day I go to school with the fear that my sister will get picked up and I will be picked up. I should not be worrying about that,” a student told the Grand Rapids Board of Education at a recent meeting.
Since 2011, Homeland Security has classified schools, churches, hospitals and other locations as “sensitive.” The policy, first formalized under the Obama administration, sought to prevent ICE from disrupting educational environments, religious institutions and essential services.
In 2021, under the Biden administration, Homeland Security expanded these protections by establishing additional areas as “protected,” such as playgrounds, child care centers, and social service establishments.
However, those protections are now gone.
Sauvé said removing the policy raises more concerns and challenges for people who go to those locations for essential needs.
“Our concern is that it could endanger public safety and public health if people are afraid to attend school or go to clinics because now enforcement actions could happen at those locations,” she said.
Michigan Education Association communications consultant Thomas Morgan said educators should not have to enforce immigration policy.
“It has to be an administrative issue,” he said. “Our peer organization, the National Education Association, has put out a lot of guidance to make sure superintendents are the ones running point on any of these issues.”
The NEA says the policy change will “lead to fear and upheaval, mass panic in immigrant communities, and will predictably harm school environments including increased absences, decreased student achievement and parental disengagement.”
Morgan said teachers are already overburdened and should not be expected to act as “junior federal officials.”
“Our members already have enough on their plates trying to teach kids,” Morgan said. “We’re referring any of those issues to local school districts to make sure the superintendent is involved.”
The Michigan Immigrant Rights Center advises immigrant families to prepare, rather than panic.
“We’re encouraging immigrant students and families to become familiar with their rights and then prepare accordingly,” Sauvé said.
Sauvé highlighted the importance of parents knowing their rights and schools having clear protocols in place.
“We’re working directly with school districts to make sure they understand these rights,” she said.
“We also want students and families to be aware that their school cannot share information with ICE without their consent,” she said.
The center has a soon-to-be-published guide, “Student Rights to Education,” detailing the legal protections for students in Michigan, even after the policy change.
With the new administration, immigrant students and their families now face new risks.
“Every family and most of our clients who are undocumented, and those with other kinds of status, always have to make these complicated risk assessments.”
“You know, will I drive without a license? Will I go to this activity in this location?” Sauvé said.
“And so families that are used to making those difficult choices, right now, there are protections for students in place so that schools can continue to be the places of safety that they have been,” she said.
“At this point, we do not have any confirmed reports of students being detained by ICE at a school,” Sauvé said, “but we are watching and monitoring to ensure that schools are following proper protocols.”
Despite the uncertainty, Sauvé and the center’s messages to immigrant families remain clear:
“Prepare, don’t panic,” she said. “Knowledge is power. The more informed you are, the better you can protect yourself and your community.”
Such preparations could include having legal documents accessible in case needed, having an emergency plan for family members, having the name and number of a reliable immigration attorney with them and becoming familiar with their rights.
For more information, families and educators can visit the National Education Association’s website at nea.org and search for guidance on immigration issues.
(Castro is a reporter for Capital News Service at Michigan State University.)
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