FCPS vows to protect students if ICE agents come to schools
As fears mount following President Trump’s threat to deport many more immigrants, including those here legally, Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Michelle Reid told Annandale Today, “We are committed to the fullest extent of the law to protecting our students and staff.”
Reid said she met with all the principals last week. “We gave them very clear direction on our policies and practices.”
The possibility of ICE agents detaining parents while children are in school is a huge concern among immigrant families, said Mason school board member Ricardy Anderson. “There’s a lot of anxiety. Kids, families, communities are worried. We’re doing our best to ensure that the policies we have put in place and the Trust Policy which I helped put forward in 2022 will be strong enough.”
The Trust Policy “confirms the School Board’s commitment to providing a safe and welcoming space for all students and their families.” It also says, “A safe and inviting environment would be disrupted by the presence of immigration agents or ICE enforcement activities. Such activities create a climate of fear and stress that would impact all students.”
“We have to reach out and remember our humanity. These are kids,” Anderson said. “There’s no reason for kids to go home to empty households. There’s no reason for people to worry about kids being dragged out of school, potentially in handcuffs.”
Related story: Immigrant rights groups respond to mass deportation threat
“Obviously, we’re treating this as a top priority right now. We’re hopeful nothing will happen, but we’re prepared,” said at-large school board member Ryan McElveen.
“We’re advising staff so they know how to handle these situations,” McElveen said. “If ICE agents come to a school, staff will take them to the front office, make sure they are who they say they are, and that they have warrants,” he said. “If they don’t, they’ll be sent away.”
According to Reid, attendance has remained stable since Trump was inaugurated. However, Anderson notes, it’s been hard to tell because of the snow days. And when schools have a two-hour delay, as they did for a couple of days this week, there tend to be more absences.
Reid sent a letter to the FCPS community Jan. 25 stating, “We will continue to do all that we can – to the fullest extent allowable by law – to protect our students and staff and to ensure access to safe and vibrant learning spaces for our students, families, and staff.”
“We are continuing to follow the law,” the letter states. “The 1982 Supreme Court decision regarding Plyler v. Doe established that all children, regardless of immigration status, have the right to a public education.”
That ruling overturned a Texas law that allowed school districts to deny enrollment to undocumented children. “The Supreme Court ruled that this law violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, emphasizing that public education is a critical government function vital to preparing all children for a productive role in society,” the letter states.
In addition, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 protects the privacy of student information, she said. “To be clear, Fairfax County Public Schools is not permitted by law to collect the immigration status of our students or their families.”
FCPS has updated its list of online resources for families concerned about immigration issues.
26 responses to “FCPS vows to protect students if ICE agents come to schools”
Leave a reply
The fact of the matter is as follows: if Mom and Dad are both picked up by ICE during a school day during school hours at a non-school location, ICE is obligated to go pick up any dependent minors who are cared for by these individuals. That means going to the school and picking the kids up. Do you really expect ICE to sit at Mom and Dad’s residence for up to 8 hours u til the bus drops the kid off from school. I don’t. They do the quick, efficient thing and get the kids, and keep the family unit together and process them as a unit.
The even more efficient thing to do is abolish ICE.
Why abolish ICE? Stupid idea if you ask me. He’s not deporting everyone. He’s deporting CRIMINALS. And if you sneak in, you’re illegal not undocumented and you should go back with any crime committed
no. not all Hispanics are arrested. its just the criminals like child rapists and murderers. but racism is bad
if you believe anything ‘benign’ mendacious Felonoius 47 or his brown-shirt cronies you say, you are a fool.
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
—Martin Niemöller
If you don’t believe these american brown-shirts are out to slowly boil as many frogs as possible, I suggest you look at what has happened in Hungary
Under POTUS’ executive order the illegal immigrants being focused on by ICE and deported first are people that are on the terrorist watch list, people that have a criminal record, and then 1.5 million people who have been adjudicated that they are not entitled to asylum. That alone is a big task and one that both political parties in Congress have recently supported by passing legislation in both chambers in the last week & POTUS signed the bill in to law (Laken Riley Act). When ICE agents come to arrest those individuals, any other person that is in the country illegally at the same location will also be subject to arrest and deportation. If a person does not fit into one of those categories and is not harboring or associating (hanging out) with anyone in those groups, then little to worry about. The only reason ICE would go to a school is if someone in one of the three groups above was at a school.
The plans and assurances work until they don’t. One case is all it will take to clear out our schools. Just one.
Good! I know those kids must be terrified. No student should be removed from school grounds by police, unless they are a threat to themselves or others.
It is horrible what is happening to our neighbors and community members. Wishing peace to these affected families.
Bottom line is they must, and will comply, with lawful ICE detainments. Please monitor and report any instances of sanctuary non-compliance to the DOJ.
Rat
What a special creature you must be!
You’re trash and full of hate.
You voted to hurt people. Just wait and see what Trump has in store for you because it’s coming.
By the time they come for you, there will be nobody left to protest. This is how it starts.
Good. Someone needs to have a conscience.
I’m a FCPS teacher in Alexandria with almost 10 years on the job. There are FCPS teachers who no doubt will report their suspicions.
If they share their suspicions, they should also share their identities. We deserve to know who puts their politics before our children.
So the parents are taken from the home .
So a 1st grade student is in school
ICE arrives and wants to take the child.
What about the teacher that doesn’t want the child to go through this alone?
Can they get their class covered?
Some are called to be teacher.
They believe they have a moral obligation towards each and every student under their care.
” just picture a little first grade girl jacket and book bag in hand.
Alone Frightened when moments before they were wrapped within the walls of a loving classroom.”
Each and every teacher is struggling with this question.
Will they receive guidance in advance?
Would make more sense to let those children be virtual at the very least. Most are hiding and now missing school instead of getting their education like they deserve. Obviously it doesn’t matter if they’re illegal or not considering actual Americans have been taken into custody simply for looking or speaking Spanish. My child is scared to even leave the house now and she is american but her Spanish side is very present. Fcps can only do so much to protect these children, if they get the proper warrants to get in then they will get in. Save the trauma and go virtual for those students.
you have not done your part as a parent to explain the situation to them. Just because they look a certain way, they are not and will never being a target. Your child has nothing to fear. Specific individuals known to the criminal justice system are the targets of this enforcement. You need to a better job of explaining to your child that the people the government is collecting are individuals who not only came into this country without following the proper process but also have pending warrants from other nations against them or have already had run-ins with our law enforcement and have been convicted, not accused, of breaking other federal, state, or county laws. The curent enforcement action is getting rid of idividuials who not only came into our country without following the rules but in addition stole, abused children, raped/assulted individuials, etc. These are not the hard working immigrants that we do want to have come to our country.
“they are not and will never being a target”
In tRump’s America, we are all his targets. Resist the f45cist.
It must be nice to be this woefully ignorant
Like the Puerto Rican mother and son who were picked up at the grocery store recently because they were speaking Spanish?
You are deceiving yourself if you think this order applies to only the “bad ones”. ICE is upping pressure on its offices to up their arrest quotas, and quickly. They are not limiting their actions to illegal immigrants with arrest records. In addition, the administration is taking numerous classes of immigrants who were here legally, under temporary protected status (e.g. Venezuelans, Ukrainians, Haitians) and rescinding their status, turning them from legal into illegal.
The current administration has done an excellent job of convincing Americans that huge numbers of criminals are pouring across our borders and that Democratic administrations hardly ever deported anyone. These are both false. Check the stats on immigrant vs native born crime, and the deportation stats.
First they came for the immigrants, and I said nothing because I was not an immigrant…
Do you know what temporary means?
Ask kids if the like being forced to get up early and go to school- 90 % of kids would rather stay home than have the government force them to attend a government run facility.
Let’s clarify something. They’re not going to do anything without a judges signature. Plain and simple. The law is still the law. I don’t know why there’s all these people stirring up hatred. Some of you politically don’t like Trump and that is your right, but to spin lies that are not true is not the right thing to do.
Trump has said he is only going after people who have broken the law. That means anybody was a criminal and then came to the United States or was released from their prison into the United States and don’t tell me it wasn’t because you should go look at the numbers of the other countries like Venezuela where the numbers have gone down in crime and ours have gone up. He’s also getting rid of gang members including the new Venezuelan gangs. He’s getting rid of those who have brought across fentanyl. He’s getting rid of those who are involved in trafficking. Those are the people he’s getting rid of. Not people are minding their own business. You can’t paint a group of people with such a broad brush. That’s wrong and you need to change that
Your reassurance that Trump “says he’s only going after criminals”, is delusional.
Trump is a convicted liar.
The Washington Post kept a count of his lies in his first term which amounted to over 30,000.
Nothing he says can be trusted.
He has demonstrated nothing but the worst of human behavior. I expect nothing less in this situation.