Sign up for Chalkbeat Detroit’s free newsletter to keep up with the city’s public school system and Michigan education policy.
Advocates and attorneys are encouraging Michiganders to call on their local school boards to adopt specific policies around interacting with immigration enforcement officials and protecting student privacy.
In the wake of the Trump administration’s changes to federal immigration policy, the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan and the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center last week sent a letter to superintendents outlining best practices their districts should follow.
Refraining from asking students and parents about their immigration status, educating families about their rights, and requiring school security officers to commit to not arresting students for misdemeanors were among the recommendations.
“We ask that community members go to your school board meetings, talk to your school, and ask them to put these protocols in place and do internal training so everyone understands them,” said Elly Jordan, managing attorney for the Michigan Immigration Rights Center, during a virtual press conference Wednesday.
The Michigan Department of Education encouraged districts to review the letter with their attorneys, Rané Garcia, the agency’s director of the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, said during the virtual meeting.
The MDE also sent two memos to districts last month, advising them of their legal responsibility to provide public education to students regardless of their immigration status. The memos also remind school leaders of legal limitations to sharing student information under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
Many immigrant parents in Michigan and across the country fear it is not safe to send their kids to school since the Trump administration ended the decades-old practice of treating schools and child care centers as “sensitive” or “protected” locations.
On Jan. 21, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced its reversal of the 2021 version of the policy, which added places like after-school programs and playgrounds to the “sensitive” locations.
What does the ACLU and MIRC guidance say schools should do?
- Stop requesting documentation for enrollment, other than proof of residency, age, and immunization history.
- Allow families to establish residency in the district in multiple ways, such as a lease agreement, mortgage, utility bills, or pay stubs.
- Establish a protocol for collecting additional documentation after a student is enrolled.
- Don’t request students’ social security numbers.
- Review policies around enrolling children without any records to ensure compliance with the McKinney-Ventro Homeless Assistance Act, which gives children the right to start going to school immediately without proof of address.
- Remind families they may opt out of disclosing contact information for directories.
- Require a valid judicial warrant, court order, or subpoena, for law enforcement or immigration officers to access student records or school grounds.
- Define security camera footage inside of school buildings as educational records.
- Develop specific protocols for interactions with immigration and law enforcement officers and train all school staff on the procedures.
- Require school security or resource officers to commit to not asking students or families about their immigration status, not taking immigration enforcement actions, and not entering students into gang databases. The guidance also recommends that school officers confirm they will not collect any intelligence records on students, arrest students for any misdemeanor offense, and avoid arresting or citing students whenever possible.
- Provide families with “know your rights” guides.
- Send letters to families letting them know the district is a welcoming place and outlining school policies.
- Remind parents they should update emergency contact information for their children in case they cannot pick them up. (For undocumented parents, this is necessary to avoid their children being turned over to protective services in the event they are detained.)
- Have an employee at each school to whom students know they can report harassment or discrimination.
Concerns about absenteeism
Jordan said during the press conference the act of reversing the “sensitive locations” policy will have a chilling effect, regardless of whether immigration enforcement is actually carried out at or near schools.
“Even some U.S. citizen children are afraid to go to school and participate in sports after school activities and nutritional programs that promote their well-being,” she said.
Last month, state Superintendent Michael Rice told Chalkbeat he is “deeply concerned” federal immigration policy will contribute to Michigan’s ongoing chronic absenteeism problem, which also impacts student achievement.
Jordan said the decision in the 1982 U.S. Supreme Court case Plyer v. Doe, which said public schools cannot deny an education to undocumented students, addressed what happens when children are not granted equal access to public schooling.
“If you look at a world where children have an inability to access the kind of education that is available to others, the Supreme Court said this would create a permanent underclass of people, and that’s incredibly terrible to hear and chilling to think about,” she said.
One Michigan school reported only half of their students attended in the days after the policy change was enacted, Jordan added.
On Monday, attendance was down dramatically at several Southwest Detroit schools. Many students and community members participated in the national Day Without Immigrants demonstration in protest.
Some advocates have called on districts to offer virtual instruction for students who fear going to school.
Last week, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said that option was available in the Detroit Public Schools Community District.
Jordan said many other districts in the state also offer virtual learning.
“Everyone should be able to go to school in a way that best helps them learn, and schools should be able to tailor responses to people’s individual situations in such a way that it really ensures that they get a free, adequate public education, as the law requires,” she said.
Miriam Aukerman, senior staff attorney for the ACLU of Michigan, said the organization is encouraging schools to make different options available to families.
“But I think it’s really tragic that we’re in a situation where families whose kids are gonna learn better in an in school environment with their peers, be able to participate in after-school activities, that those kids are terrorized from going to school,” she added.
Hannah Dellinger covers K-12 education and state education policy for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.
