School districts nationwide have been rocked by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) new power to conduct raids in schools. This impact extends to CPS as District leadership communicates to create consistent practices for potential ICE encounters.
“There’s only three comprehensive high schools, one not-comprehensive high school…the four of us work together really closely…I think that our collaborative community [will] be talking about it,” Hickman Principal Mary Grupe said.
This new ruling has the potential to impact many students.
There are about 850,000 unlawful immigrants under the age of 18 living in the United States according to Pew Research Center as of 2022. Most of these children attend public school as is their right established by governmental precedent and Supreme Court backing. Trump’s order is poised to majorly change this.
Since 2011, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been prohibited from making immigration raids or conducting enforcement actions in safe spaces such as churches, schools or hospitals. When Trump took office on January 20, he reversed this status quo, allowing ICE to perform raids in school buildings.
This policy change caused state education departments and school districts to scramble for clarity as they decided what their policies would be and attempted to figure out what an ICE raid would look like.
Different states have put out vastly different guidelines for if ICE comes to their schools. Alabama State Superintendent Eric Mackey issued a statement saying that law enforcement “should always be welcomed onto our campuses,” which would include ICE agents. In contrast, New York Governor Kathy Hochul, the state attorney general and education commissioner stated they “reaffirm that schools should remain a safe haven where all students are welcomed and provided a free public education.”
Missouri’s Department of Education has not issued a statement regarding how schools should handle an ICE raid, however, Kansas City School Board voted to require ICE agents to have a warrant to enter schools in their district.
Currently, there have been no confirmed ICE raids in a school. Grupe believed it was important to note that she has never had interaction with ICE officials in her career.
“Never…have I [had] interaction with ICE or had any discussion around a student’s citizenship status. That’s never been a part of our work,” Grupe said.
Grupe felt that it was important to note that CPS does not record students’ immigration status.
“We don’t, in any way, use your citizenship status or your immigration status to decide about the structures or items you get,” Grupe said. “So when you apply for school and you enroll in school, there’s not anything that asks a parent or a student to prove citizenship. You need to prove that you live in the school district area,” Grupe said.
Grupe also discussed how much diversity Hickman has.
“Our school is incredibly diverse. Like half of our kids are not white, which is pretty incredible to have that experience in the state of Missouri…But again, all of that happens and can happen and school happens without any recording or marking of a student’s citizenship status,” Grupe said.
Grupe also explained what would happen if ICE officials were to come to Hickman. Officials would be required to come in through through the North Entrance and have their purpose approved by the Director of Safety and Secruity. Unless the official is on the approved list of people to enter the building, which is unlikely, the official will be denied entry. If the ICE officials request to speak to a higher up in the building, Hickman staff will call everyone up through leadership in the North Office and all the way to the District level.
“[It] can take a very long time to do those things,” Grupe said.
However, Grupe made it clear that these practices are how Hickman would handle any visitor and is not specifically targeted at ICE officials.
“We’re following our policy and practice exactly as we already have,” Grupe said. “It’s just us following what we do every day…to keep everybody safe all the time whether that changes or something else does.”
Grupe said that keeping everyone safe is her primary goal.
“Our business is to take care of our kids and help them have all the academic and life opportunities they want,” Grupe said.
