Amid rising fears of federal immigration crackdowns in schools, Alachua County Public Schools issued a memo outlining strict protocols for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, granting it “broad authority” to interview and remove students in schools without a warrant.
The news ignited alarm among teachers, parents and community members about student safety.
ACPS ICE memo
The memo, released Feb. 10, directs school administrators to take several steps if ICE seeks to interview or remove a student. Administrators must ask for identification and request to make copies of any existing warrants, subpoenas or court orders authorizing the action.
However, no documents are required for ICE agents to interview or remove a student, according to the memo.
The memo also requires administrators to retrieve the student, be present during the interview and get permission to notify the student's parents before or after the interview or removal. If the student is taken off campus, administrators must ensure ICE completes the district’s Release of Student to Outside Agency form.
Yet these directives seem at odds with existing district policies, which waive parental or administrator consent to interview or remove students only in “investigations of criminal activity.”
Under current policies, administrators may be present during questioning unless law enforcement cites “compelling reasons” for their exclusion — a term left undefined. If an officer denies parental contact or staff presence during an interview, the policy requires the principal to remove the student from school property for the process.
The memo also states ACPS doesn’t request or keep records of a student’s immigration status. ACPS prohibits the release of student records without written parental consent, a subpoena, warrant or court order, or a health or safety emergency.
According to the memo, district employees must comply with directives from law enforcement officers, and a failure to do so may result in “legal consequences, including arrest for tampering with, interfering with, or obstructing a law enforcement investigation or law enforcement official.”
District’s perspective
School principals would handle law enforcement officers if they were to show up to a school, ACPS spokesperson Jackie Johnson said.
“ICE agents have broad power to interview and detain students, and that’s with or without a warrant,” she said. “Employees should comply with any directives that they receive.”
The memo was released to help principals understand what protocols are “in this period of heightened awareness,” Johnson said. The memo was never meant for the greater ACPS community, as school principals handling law enforcement is “not a new thing,” she said.
The district doesn’t currently plan on releasing any information or announcement to parents.
However, the memo is on the ACPS website’s Safety and Security page, under “Law Enforcement Interaction.”
It also doesn’t anticipate making any adjustments based on feedback, but only based on changing laws, she said.
If parents have questions or concerns about ICE, Johnson said she encourages them to seek out legal advice, because “that’s not anything that we as a district can provide to families.”
Broader legislation
President Donald Trump signed 10 executive orders related to immigration during his first week in office, including an executive order titled “Protecting the American People Against Invasion” signed on Jan. 20.
The order directed federal agencies to focus on removing undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. and created Homeland Security Task Forces. The groups will collaborate with federal, state and local law enforcement in all states.
On the same day, the Department of Homeland Security issued a directive removing guidelines for law enforcement to avoid “sensitive” areas, including schools, hospitals and churches, an action created by the Biden administration.
Following the directive, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced several state agencies entered agreements with ICE in a press release Feb. 19.
Under these agreements, state law enforcement officers will receive training to carry out functions such as questioning individuals about their immigration status, arresting those attempting illegal entry and executing warrants for immigration violations.
Union’s perspective
In addition to ACPS’ memo, Alachua County Education Association President Carmen Ward passed on guidance to union members from the Florida Education Association.
FEA’s memo states ICE officers must have a warrant to interview or remove a student. Since this is contradictory to ACPS, which said a warrant wasn’t required, Ward said she found it misleading.
“It seems like an attempt to create misinformation so that people over-comply with ICE,” she said. “We don’t know how it will be implemented. That could lead to students not being adequately protected.”
Ward also worries about ACPS’ lack of policy on educating or raising awareness to “age-appropriate” students about ICE, she said.
Because ACEA legally protects members under general union policy, Ward said she assumes a teacher would have legal protection if he or she is on duty when an ICE situation occurs. However, she still needs to get a “clear answer in writing” due to the newness of the issue, she said.
Community perspectives
Over 20 Alachua County residents voiced their concerns to the school board about the ICE memo at a meeting Feb. 18.
Michelle Nall, a Gainesville resident and parent, told the board how her 10-year-old daughter cried for her friend, worried ICE would show up to her school, she said.
“The trauma and fear of police taking children from school affects all students, regardless of immigration status,” she said. “There is no such thing as other people’s children.”
Alejandra Contreras, a Gainesville attorney, also spoke at the meeting. She shared her concerns about the need for judicial warrants when ICE enters a school, citing there’s no law allowing “warrantless arrests of citizens,” she said.
It’s not the responsibility of school employees to determine “reasonable suspicion” or even know what it is, she said.
Danielle Engelhorn, a third grade teacher at Carolyn Beatrice Parker Elementary, said she feels “anxiety-ridden” and “uneasy” about the ICE memo.
When she took on the role of a teacher, Engelhorn knew she’d not only be educating students, but making sure they were protected and “free from trauma,” she said.
“I do not like that the same governing body that entrusted me with this very important role is now interfering with my ability to carry out the role of protector,” she said.
Despite having no power against ICE actions, Engelhorn said her greatest concern and disagreement with the memo is how there is no clear and detailed explanation for how students would be reunited with their parents if the district releases them to ICE.
Engelhorn doesn’t blame anyone locally, she said, and feels ACPS is “hopefully” doing the best it can with a difficult situation.
“The federal government is not doing enough at this moment to protect undocumented students and their families,” she said. “None of us can really do very much at the moment, except to express our dissent.”
Contact Sara-James Ranta at sranta@alligator.org. Follow her on X @sarajamesranta.
Sara-James Ranta is a third-year journalism major, minoring in sociology of social justice and policy. Previously, she served as a general assignment reporter for The Alligator's university desk.
