A group of Democratic senators have demanded that the Department of Education stop immigration enforcement activities from taking place close to schools, following several violent crackdowns near school grounds in Chicago.
Although the raids are conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which is under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the senators are making an appeal directly to the education secretary, Linda McMahon.
They said aggressive actions were affecting the safety of students.
“Federal agents continue to use unwarranted, excessive levels of force around Chicago, demonstrating an alarming lack of care or regard for the health and wellbeing of children, particularly by conducting unfocused, inflammatory operations within close proximity of school grounds,” the senators wrote, according to NBC News.
“We demand you pressure your colleague, secretary of homeland security Kristi Noem, to reinstate restrictions on federal immigration enforcement operations in and around places of education.”
The letter was signed by Tammy Duckworth, a senator from Illinois; Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen of Nevada; Kirsten Gillibrand of New York; Cory Booker and Andy Kim of New Jersey; Ed Markey of Massachusetts; and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland.
At the start of the year, Donald Trump rescinded a policy that prevented ICE from carrying out enforcement in sensitive areas, including schools, hospitals and churches.
“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,” the DHS said in a statement at the time, adding that removing the policy “returns [enforcement] to a case-by-case basis”.
While violent ICE arrests have taken place across the country in recent months, Chicago has become a focal point in Trump’s targeted immigration crackdown. School officials on Thursday said that officers arrested and briefly detained a 16-year-old student from a nearby school who was a US citizen, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
“We have received reports of federal law enforcement activity in a nearby neighborhood, and I am very sorry to share that a member of our school was impacted,” said Juan Carlos Ocon, the principal of Benito Juarez community academy, in an email to families, noting that enforcement did not take place on school ground. “I know this situation has created many fears and concerns in our community, and I want to emphasize that we are taking this situation extremely seriously.”
Earlier in the month, parents expressed concern about ICE deploying teargas as part of enforcement activity close to a school. Students at one school were rushed inside during recess after teargas was deployed nearby.
In their letter to McMahon, the senators said ICE should follow “common sense” policing guidelines when carrying out enforcement.
“If society can agree that alcohol, tobacco and drugs should be kept at least 1,000 feet away from our school, surely we can agree that tear gas – a chemical weapon which causes burning, pain, skin inflammation and respiratory distress – and other violent DHS tools and tactics also belong on that list,” the letter said.
The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Education did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Last month, the DHS released a statement clarifying that “ICE does not raid or target schools”.
“The media is sadly attempting to create a climate of fear and smear law enforcement,” Tricia McLaughlin, the DHS assistant secretary, said in a statement at the time. “ICE is not conducting enforcement operations at, or ‘raiding’ schools. ICE is not going to schools to make arrests of children. Criminals are no longer able to hide in America’s schools to avoid arrest.”
