NILC Releases New FAQs on Immigration Enforcement and Schools

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The National Immigration Law Center (NILC) has released a new set of FAQs to help education providers navigate immigration enforcement policies in schools. With federal guidelines on enforcement in sensitive locations shifting, the FAQs outline best practices to ensure that schools remain safe learning environments for all students. Designed for K-12 educators, administrators, and staff, the FAQs provide guidance on their roles and responsibilities when handling immigration-related situations in school settings.

“The Trump administration has increased the threat of immigration enforcement in our communities,” the NILC said. “The government also has canceled the long-standing policy of limiting immigration enforcement in schools and other protected areas and replaced it with a directive that gives ICE agents unbridled power to take enforcement actions in any of these areas using ‘common sense.’ As a result, many immigrant students and families are living in fear of arrest, detention, separation, and deportation.”

The set of FAQs is not considered legal advice but rather “a compilation of best practices developed over the years,” the NILC noted.

“Schools should work with their superintendent and counsel, ideally with knowledge of applicable federal, state, county, and city laws and policies, to develop their own policies and procedures,” it added.

Among the key questions addressed in the FAQs are:

• How might immigration enforcement happen at a school?

• Which laws or policies limit law enforcement officers’ ability to physically enter the school or demand information from a school?

• What can our school do to prepare for possible immigration enforcement presence?

• Do I need to allow law enforcement officers to enter my school if they show up and demand to search an area of the school or see a school record?

There is also a set of FAQs for higher education institutions.

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