Politics
Schools Gear Up for a Threat to Immigrant Children
Donald Trump has said he will deport migrant families. New York City schools have a protocol for what to do if ICE agents show up.
Good morning. It’s Monday. Today we’ll look at how the city’s public school system is preparing for the ways President-elect Donald Trump’s promises to deport immigrants could affect students.
Credit…Julia Demaree Nikhinson/Associated Press
Stephanie Lukas, the principal of Public School 51 in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan, read the email from the chief operating officer of the New York City school system. Lukas’s reaction: Nothing new here.
The email, sent to school principals across the city last month, told them what to do if federal immigration agents showed up. First, it said, call a lawyer for the school system. It also said to “wait for further instructions.”
And to ask the agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement to wait outside the school.
“It felt like continuing what we’re doing,” Lukas said.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Education echoed that idea: “Nothing has changed in terms of how we operate,” the spokeswoman, Nicole Brownstein, said. “We do not permit non-N.Y.C. law enforcement agents, including ICE, to enter schools except when absolutely required by law.”
