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.