Immigration enforcement at schools largely unchanged under Trump, feds argue in response to DPS lawsuit

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security argues in a new court filing that federal policy regarding immigration arrests at schools hasn’t significantly changed under the Trump administration, despite the agency having rescinded previous guidance that largely prohibited such activity on campuses.

The filing is the agency’s response to the lawsuit brought by Denver Public Schools on Feb. 12 that seeks to prevent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from making arrests at the district’s schools. 

Superintendent Alex Marrero and other DPS leaders say they became concerned about ICE officers showing up at schools after the Trump administration rescinded a previous policy that prevented agents from detaining people at so-called sensitive locations, including churches and schools.

The Denver district is not the only entity to sue the Trump administration over changes to the sensitive locations policy. Several religious groups have filed their own lawsuits, and on Monday a federal judge narrowly blocked ICE agents from detaining people in houses of worship for Quakers and a handful of other religious groups while their case proceeds.

But the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado, arguing on behalf of Homeland Security in the agency’s response filed Friday, said DPS leaders are incorrect in believing previous policy “categorically prohibited immigration enforcement at schools.” The rescinded Biden-era guidance, the attorneys said, still allowed for arrests at schools and other sensitive locations with “prior higher-level approval and under exigent circumstances.”

The attorneys noted that the new Homeland Security policy issued on Jan. 20 had “fewer specific guidelines” when it came to immigration arrests, but said it also allowed for other divisions — such as ICE — to enact their own policies.

“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued its own guidance that again defined protected areas to include schools and required supervisory approval before enforcement actions could be taken in those protected areas,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office wrote.

The Denver Post could not independently verify that ICE has reinstated schools as protected or sensitive locations, and an ICE representative in Denver declined to comment. It does not appear any such policy change has been announced publicly.

The Jan. 31 memo from Acting Director Caleb Vitello referred to in the government’s filing does not explicitly say schools are once again protected locations, but does give certain ICE personnel the “responsibility for making case-by-case determinations regarding whether, where and when to conduct an immigration enforcement action in or near a protected area.”

President Donald Trump’s immigration policies already are affecting schools across the country, as officials find themselves responding to rising anxiety among parents and their children, including those who are here legally. Trump’s executive actions vastly expanded who is eligible for deportation.

No schools in metro Denver have reported ICE having made arrests on their campuses. But when federal agents carried out high-profile raids in Aurora and Denver earlier this month, ICE activity prevented DPS school buses from picking up children and at least four students who attend Place Bridge Academy were detained by agents.

At least two districts — DPS and Aurora Public Schools — have seen student attendance drop because families fear officers will show up on campus.

Angelib Hernandez, of Aurora, began keeping her children home from their schools a few days a week after Trump’s inauguration. Now she doesn’t send them at all.

She’s worried immigration agents will visit her children’s schools, detain them and separate her family.

“They’ve told me, ‘Hopefully we won’t ever be detained by ourselves,’ ” she said. “That would terrify them.”

Hernandez and her children arrived about a year ago and applied for asylum. She was working through the proper legal channels to remain in the U.S., but changes in immigration policies have made her status tenuous.

School districts, including DPS, have been training staff on what to do if ICE officers show up at their building since Trump’s reelection.

DPS lawyers argued in the district’s lawsuit that the drop in student attendance “constitutes a clear threat to DPS’ stability” because school funding is calculated based on how many students are in the classroom.