Public schools in Los Angeles have announced a new security plan to keep immigration officers away from any potentially undocumented students and their families who are attending this week’s school graduations.
“Every single graduation site is a protected site,” said Alberto Carvalho, the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the country’s second largest school district, at a Monday press conference, having previously said he was “dismayed by recent immigration enforcement activity occurring near our schools”.
Carvalho announced on Monday that he had directed the school district’s police force to “establish perimeters of safety around graduation sites to interfere and intervene with any agency who may want to take action during these joyous times that we call graduation”.
More than 100 graduation ceremonies were scheduled in the district for Monday and Tuesday.
Carvalho said school principals have been instructed to implement measures that would allow parents to immediately enter the graduation venues without delay, in order to reduce “the risk for them while on the street waiting to get in”, as well as to allow “parents to remain at the venue for as long as it takes should there be any immigration enforcement action around the area”.
For parents and families watching their students graduate in-person, keeping the day joyful and the students’ accomplishments at the forefront of the day was paramount.
“We don’t want our kids to have that type of memory when they graduate,” Jorge Rosana, whose daughter graduated from high school on Friday, told KCAL news, Los Angeles’ CBS affiliate. “We’ve been through worse times, keep fighting for their dreams.”
Other parents who spoke to KCAL echoed the sentiment.
“We are concerned because it does impact a lot of people, we’re just trying not to think about it right now,” Eric Flores, another parent, said. “It lingers in the back of your head, but we shouldn’t let that stop us from enjoying the celebration.”
As parents like Rosana and Flores watch their children receive their diplomas, other school areas – including buses and bus stops – will also be monitored and protected, Carvalho said, and virtual viewing options had also been made available for parents who are not able to attend.
“Every child has a right to a public education therefore every child and their parent has a right to celebrate the culmination of their educational success,” Carvalho said. “We will protect every parent, every child, every workforce member.”
The district has an independent police department – including 211 sworn officers, 25 non-sworn school safety officers and 32 civilian support staff – who patrol school grounds, respond to campus incidents and support school safety.
The United Teachers Los Angeles union reports that nearly 30,000 of LAUSD’s more than 520,000 students are immigrants, with about “one in every four being undocumented”.
“Every student in our community, every student across the country has a constitutional right to a free public education of high quality, without threat,” Carvalho said on Monday. “Every one of our students, independently of their immigration status, has a right to a free meal in our schools. Every one of our children, no questions asked, has the right to counseling, social and emotional support, mental support, in addition to great education. Our schools are safe places.
“Our schools are places of education and inspiration, not fear and intimidation,” he added.
Carvalho also reported on Monday that “federal vans” had been seen parked within a couple of blocks of two LAUSD campuses.
“No action has been taken but we interpret those actions as actions of intimidation, instilling fear that may lead to self-deportation. That is not the community we want to be, that is not the state or the nation that we ought to be” he said.
Although the school year ends on Tuesday, Carvalho said the same protections will remain in place for summer school, which starts 17 June. He also said the district will increase the number of summer school locations, provide more transportation options and open up virtual options.
He said he has spoken with Karen Bass, the mayor of Los Angeles, and Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, regarding the district’s needs.
Carvalho said last Friday that he was “dismayed by recent immigration enforcement activity occurring near our schools”, which was “causing unnecessary fear, confusion, and trauma for our students and families – many of whom are simply trying to get to and from school and work, and to live with dignity”.
Abene Clayton contributed to this report
