Labor unions representing teachers and school employees have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its immigration crackdown. They say arrests are instigating fear and leading to some children dropping out of school.
The National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers, the two largest teacher unions in the country, allege that immigration arrests at schools are in violation of the law. On Tuesday, they joined a lawsuit that had originally been filed by a group of churches in April in Oregon. They had sued the Trump administration’s directives to open houses of worship to ICE officers, according to the Associated Press.
Why are ICE officers operating at schools and churches?
For decades, ICE agents were told to steer clear of “sensitive locations” such as schools, hospitals and places of worship. In a 2021 memo, the Department of Homeland Security said officers could “accomplish (its) enforcement mission without denying or limiting individuals’ access to needed medical care, children access to their schools, the displaced access to food and shelter, people of faith access to their places of worship.”
The DHS rescinded the memo shortly after President Donald Trump took office. Instead, ICE agents were told to use “common sense” when cracking down on immigration near schools and churches.
“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,” officials said, according to the Associated Press.
Immigration arrests have started being played out at schools and places of worship
Changes in ICE directives have led to immigration arrests being conducted near and around schools. At an Oregon preschool, agents broke a car window and dragged a student’s father from his car after the child had been dropped off, according to the lawsuit. Teachers played music so that students couldn’t hear the scene being played out outside.
“Why a school? Why not someplace else, any place else?” Lauren Fong, the teacher of the child whose father was arrested, said. “It was in the parking lot, where it could be witnessed by so many young children.”
In Los Angeles, ICE agents stopped a car parked next to a high school and handcuffed a 15-year-old boy with disabilities while at gunpoint as they searched for a man with gang ties. Officers released the boy after finding out they had stopped the wrong person, the lawsuit added.
Fear of immigration arrests is leading to students dropping out of school and a drop in Mass attendance
Pennsylvania and Virginia high school teachers said some students stopped showing up to school out of fear of being arrested on campus, according to the lawsuit. A Texas teacher added that there has been a drop in enrollment of students learning English, while a California educator said that children with immigrant parents are no longer being enrolled in special education services.
“America’s classrooms must be safe and welcoming places of learning and discovery,” president of the American Federation of Teachers Randi Weingarten said.
There has also been a drop in Mass attendance, according to church leaders. They allege in the lawsuit that the Trump administration’s allowing arrests at churches violates the First Amendment by making parishioners afraid to go to church. The lawsuit adds that it is a violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, which bars federal agencies from implementing policies that are “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with the law.”
