Summary
- Democratic
senators demand Education Dept. halt enforcement near schools. - Concern
raised after violent immigration crackdowns near Chicago schools. - Senators
seek 1,000-foot buffer zone for enforcement actions.
The senators are appealing directly to Linda McMahon, the
education secretary, even though the raids are carried out by Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE), a division of the Department of Homeland Security
(DHS).
They said that aggressive behavior is having an impact on
pupils’ safety.
“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.”
Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, Kirsten Gillibrand of
New York, Cory Booker and Andy Kim of New Jersey, Ed Markey of Massachusetts,
Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen of Nevada, and Angela Alsobrooks of
Maryland all inked the letter.
Donald Trump reversed
a rule that proscribed ICE from conducting enforcement in places of
deification, hospitals, and seminaries at the beginning of the
time.
“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.”
Parents had concerns earlier in the month about ICE using
tear gas near a school as part of an enforcement operation. At one school, tear
gas was set up nearby during recess, and students were hurried inside.
The senators wrote to McMahon, urging ICE to conduct
enforcement in accordance with “common sense” police principles.
Requests for comment were not immediately answered by the
Department of Education or Homeland Security. DHS clarified in a statement last
month that “ICE does not raid or target schools.”
What legal authority could Education use to restrict
Homeland Security actions?
The U.S. Department of Education’s legal authority to
circumscribe Department of Homeland Security( DHS) immigration
enforcement conduct near seminaries is limited, but it can exert
influence through policy requests and advocacy. DHS preliminarily had a
“defended areas ” policy that generally banned immigration enforcement
conduct in or near seminaries and other sensitive places.
Still, this policy was rescinded in January 2025 under the
Trump administration, removing unequivocal protections for
seminaries as “defended areas,” although ICE’s legal authority to
enternon-public areas without a judicial leave remains constrained.
Work with the Department of Homeland Security leadership(
e.g., through the Education Secretary prompting DHS leadership) to
request re-establishing limits on enforcement near educational
institutions.
