AUSTIN, Texas — Days into his new term, President Donald Trump is cracking down on illegal immigration and laying the groundwork for rapid deportations.
There have not been any ICE raids in Central Texas so far, but when they do happen, churches, hospitals and schools won’t be off limits after Trump, in one of his first official actions, revoked a directive barring arrests in those areas.
This changed a rule that had been in place since 2011, which deemed schools and houses of worship off-limits, as well as hospitals, weddings, funerals and public demonstrations.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement policy referred to these locations as “sensitive locations,” where immigration enforcement shouldn’t happen. Under the previous policy, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials asserted that law enforcement operations should not occur there unless exigent circumstances exist.
Dylan Corbett with the Hope Border Institute called it the first chess piece in a campaign of deportations.
“It strikes at the trust essential to a safe and functioning community. You can’t have a community without trust,” Corbett said. “It’s not an attack on schools. It’s not an attack on hospitals. It’s not an attack on churches. It’s an attack on parents and children. It’s an attack on families who are sick. It’s an attack on people who go to church, temple and mosque and it introduces an unnecessary level of fear, anxiety and trauma for all our families.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said this change will keep criminals from hiding in American churches and schools to avoid arrest and will empower Border Patrol and ICE to enforce immigration laws.
“It does not mean we should not send our children to school. It does not mean that tomorrow we will see ICE officers in our schools making arrests,” Anne Chandler, Founder and Executive Director of the Texas Immigration Law Council, said. “It does not mean any of that. It just means that that is no longer a no-go zone.”
During the first Trump administration, a group of Austin churches opened their doors and offered sanctuary to undocumented immigrants facing deportation, allowing them to stay and wait for their deportation orders to be deferred.
Some immigrant families are now wondering if it is safe to go to school or church, and churches and school districts are preparing for what to do if federal agents come knocking.
School districts, like the Austin Independent School District, are closely monitoring what comes out of the new directive.
“Providing a safe, supportive and inclusive learning environment is one of our most important responsibilities,” Austin ISD Superintendent Matias Segura wrote in a message to families on Thursday afternoon. “All students and their families are a valued part of our Austin ISD community and our diversity strengthens and enriches our school district.”
Segura acknowledges the uncertainty and fear the topic creates for members of the AISD community. The district developed a toolkit for teachers and staff.
“In response to these national conversations, we’ve provided our campus staff with guidance for navigating difficult topics with students and adults, as well as resources for responding to various situations that may arise,” Segura said.
The district has developed an FAQ webpage where families can find more information about how the district is responding to the ongoing conversations about immigration.
“We will be monitoring any legal changes that may affect our student experience and are committed to fostering trust and open communication,” Segura wrote. “Our focus remains on our students’ academic success, mental health and well-being.”
Public school districts must educate students regardless of immigration status. In 1982, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled states can’t deny a child a free public education based on their immigration status in the case of Plyler v. Doe.
Tim Savoy, a spokesperson for the Hays Community Independent School District, says the district is working with its attorneys to develop a guidance.
If federal agents need to conduct an investigation or access a facility, Savoy said they need to coordinate that through the district’s chief of safety and security.
“We hope that would continue to be the case to allow us to verify credentials and also minimize or avoid any disruption of the school day,” Savoy said.
The Trump administration said it’s targeting criminals in its crackdown.
“If immigration enforcement does indeed focus initially on undocumented dangerous individuals who have been convicted of crimes, I don’t think we, as a school district, would be directly affected,” Savoy said.
Savoy said that based on the background check process, they are confident that no staff members are undocumented. While they can’t and don’t ask students their immigration status, he said the number “who might be undocumented would likely be minuscule or nonexistent.”
“Families who have someone in the family that may not have documentation get scared, and then they won’t come to school, and sometimes they won’t send their kids to school,” Louis Malfaro, the associate executive director of Austin Voices for Education and Youth, said. “That’s incredibly problematic for students learning.”
Austin Voices for Education and Youth is a nonprofit that runs family resource centers in Austin schools.
Malfaro said if previously safe places do not feel safe anymore, and families become scared to come to school, absenteeism would spike and students would not get the academic and social services they need.
“We’re working like heck to make sure those kids are ready for college and career, and to disrupt their education right now is going to put our economic success as a community at risk if we start to have large numbers of students not coming to school and not getting that education,” Malfaro said.
Malfaro said he remembers ICE raids many years ago in Austin, which led to people keeping their kids home.
“We don’t want that,” Malfaro said. “We want students in school and learning.”
The inauguration of Donald Trump has ushered in stricter immigration policies on a wide scale, which has sparked fear in migrant communities.
“There’s a lot of threatening saber rattling going on the part of the new administration and a lot of mixed messages,” Malfaro said. “First, we hear we’re only going after criminals and people who’ve been arrested, but then we hear anybody who doesn’t have documentation. We’re working with families of people who have been in the United States for 10 or 15 years, so it’s a very, it’s a very confusing landscape right now for parents and students.”
On Thursday afternoon, the Mexican American Legislative Caucus (MALC) sent a letter to Texas Education Agency (TEA) Commissioner Mike Morath, which urged he and the TEA to issue guidance for school districts on responding to federal immigration enforcement actions in Texas schools.
“It is imperative that the TEA act swiftly to protect the integrity of our educational institutions and the well being of our students by ensuring that Texas schools are fully informed of their rights and responsibilities when faced with federal immigration enforcement actions,” the letter reads. “This issue is of critical importance to ensure that schools remain safe and supportive environments for all students and maintain the integrity of students’ legal and educational rights.”
The state of Texas is home to roughly 1.6 million undocumented people, and an estimated 111,000 of them attend Texas public schools.
“ICE raids have no place in our Texas schools,” State Rep. and MALC Chairman Ramon Romero, Jr. (D-Fort Worth) said. “The TEA has a responsibility to protect students and ensure educators have the tools to respond to these enforcement actions appropriately and prevent these hostile actions from turning our classrooms into sites of fear and trauma.”
In the letter, state lawmakers list several steps they want TEA to encourage districts to take, including limiting the disclosure of student records and personally identifiable information, setting standardized protocols for ICE interactions on school campuses and providing trauma-informed support for students, such as mental health and counseling resources on school campuses “to help students cope with the fear and anxiety that ICE presence may cause.”
“The rescission of the protected areas policy puts all Texas children at risk of harm and trauma,” State Rep. and MALC Vice Chair Erin Gamez (D-Brownsville) said. “TEA’s guidance is critical to uphold students’ rights and maintain the integrity of our public schools.”
The full letter can be read here.