The Trump administration's Immigration and Customs Enforcement policy allowing ICE raids on school grounds and other sensitive locations was challenged in a lawsuit filed this week on behalf of an Oregon-based Latinx organization and faith groups from other states.
The lawsuit cites ICE activity at two Los Angeles elementary schools last month, as well as parents’ fears of sending their children to school in other locations across the country.
"Teachers cited attendance rates have dropped in half and school administrators saw an influx of parents picking their children up from school in the middle of the day after hearing reports that immigration officials were in the area," said the lawsuit filed April 28 by the Justice Action Center and the Innovation Law Lab. It was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District Court of Oregon's Eugene Division.
The two organizations filed on behalf of Oregon's farmworker union Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste, whose members say they are "afraid to send their children to school," per the draft complaint. The farmworker union's members, especially those who are mothers, say their livelihood depends on sending their children to school during the day while they work.
"They now must choose between facing the risk of immigration detention or staying at home with their children and forfeiting their income," the lawsuit said. One of the members of the union said her children were "afraid of ICE showing up and separating their family."
The lawsuit challenges a Department of Homeland Security directive, issued one day after President Donald Trump's inauguration, that undid three decades of DHS policy that prevented ICE from raiding sensitive locations like schools, hospitals and churches.
“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest," a DHS spokesperson said in a January statement on the order. "The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense.”
When asked for comment on the lawsuit, an ICE spokesperson said the agency does not comment on pending or ongoing litigation.
Monday's lawsuit and others filed against the directive say the change in policy is impacting students’ learning and districts' ability to carry out their jobs.
A lawsuit filed in February by Denver Public Schools said the DHS order “gives federal agents virtually unchecked authority to enforce immigration laws in formerly protected areas, including schools." It sought a temporary restraining order prohibiting ICE and Customs and Border Protection from enforcing the policy.
According to the American Immigration Council, over 4 million U.S. citizen children under 18 years of age lived with at least one undocumented parent as of 2018. A 2010 study cited by the council found that immigration-related parental arrests led to children experiencing at least four adverse behavioral changes in the six months following the incidents.
Another study cited by the organization, conducted in 2020, found that school districts in communities with a large number of deportations saw worsened educational outcomes for Latino students.
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