More than sixty child and immigrant advocacy groups sent a letter Wednesday to Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz calling on his department to issue guidance to schools clarifying their role in immigration enforcement.
The letter follows President Donald Trump’s executive order in January that allowed immigration arrests to be conducted at schools, houses of worship, and medical facilities.
Latha Krishnaiyer is chair of the Florida PTA, and a co-signer of the letter. She wants the commissioner to make it clear that Florida schools are safe spaces, where immigration officers should refrain from carrying out arrests of children.
If a child is to be questioned by law enforcement, she said, their parent or guardian should be present, and they should know their rights.
“No child should be approached by law enforcement without parental notification, and the presence of parents and other family members. We are putting parents in a position that they are afraid to send their children to school. That should not be the case,” said Krishnaiyer.
Krishnaiyer also said she’d like the commissioner to clarify that information about a child’s immigration status should be protected information, and not openly accessible.
“Unrestrained access to school records to determine such status can pose a threat of unintended consequences due to any materials in a student's file that may be inaccurate. Also, we do not believe children should be put in a position of self-incrimination,” said Krishnaiyer.
Watch: Immigrant groups call on Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz to clarify schools’ involvement in immigration enforcement:
Renata Bozzetto, Deputy Director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition agrees.
She said without clear direction about what schools can and can’t do during an immigration raid, schools, teachers and parents are left in the crosshairs. She said students and teachers need to know their rights under the law when it comes to ICE.
“We do have the right to not be searched without a probable cause, and we have an obligation to reserve that right, particularly for minors. No school personnel should be compelled to present a kid to law enforcement in the absence of a judicial warrant. That is incredibly wrong. No kid should ever be interrogated by law enforcement without adequate legal counsel, without the support of their parents,” said Bozzetto.
The threat alone of immigration raids in schools, she said, is causing some parents and families to rethink sending their kids to school. She’s already heard of kids being bullied over their perceived immigration status.
“Can you imagine what a parent feels when their American children are asking if they should carry a passport to school so they can show to their bullies that they have the right to be here? That is incredibly harmful to our children,” said Bozzetto.
Last month, Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida legislature passed immigration reform that could open up schools to immigration enforcement.
Under the law which, in part, expanded 287(g) agreements throughout the state, most law enforcement officers, including all of Florida's 67 sheriff’s departments, will now be deputized ICE agents, required by law to carry out immigration enforcement.
DeSantis said this deputization was crucial as internal enforcement is the only way to curb illegal immigration into the state and country.
“We need to re-establish interior enforcement in this country,” DeSantis said, at a press conference last month. “We have to fulfill the President’s mission to effectuate the largest deportation program in American history. So we’re stepping up.”
The Florida legislature already voted to strip in-state tuition waivers from undocumented students, and will take up a bill this session that would ban undocumented students from attending most of the state’s public universities and colleges.
Read the full letter here:
