There's growing concerns over potential ICE raids locally after federal agents were spotted by NBC Boston cameras entering homes in East Boston Wednesday and taking at least one person into custody.
These operations come amid heightened alert for mass roundups and deportations promised by President Donald Trump, but federal authorities would not confirm they are related to that effort.
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The Trump administration announced Tuesday it would allow federal immigration agencies to make arrests at so-called "sensitive areas", such as schools, churches and hospitals, ending a policy that had been in effect since 2011.
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In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said: "Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest.”
In the memo rescinding the policy, Acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman said it was unnecessary to have “bright line rules” dictating where immigration laws can be enforced. But he said officers should continue using discretion and “a healthy dose of common sense” around entering sensitive locations, such as schools.
An estimated 733,000 school-aged children are in the U.S. illegally, according to the Migration Policy Institute. Many more have U.S. citizenship but have parents who are in the country illegally.
Reaction has been mixed locally.
“It needs to be done. We have had so many people come into this country illegally, and President Trump has always said he is not against immigration at all, he’s just against illegal immigration,” Janet Fogarty, with the RNC Massachusetts Delegate, said.
“The problem is we’re getting very confusing messages. So you hear from some quarters, they’re only going to go after people with criminal records, which is within the law and their right to do, and then you hear that they’re going to go after anybody who’s undocumented and that’s millions of people across the country,” said Jeff Thielman, CEO of the International Institute of New England.
As Trump cracks down on immigrants in the U.S. illegally, some families are wondering if it is safe to send their children to school.
Worcester Public Schools has promised not to cooperate with ICE, despite the DOJ threat to prosecute local officials who don’t comply.
The district has reassured families of this, saying in a letter, “Principals and school-based staff have received guidance on protecting students’ rights, responding to ICE interactions, and supporting student whose parents or guardians may be detained during the school day…”
The district also sent a memo to its transportation teams, saying in part, “A recent notification has gone out regarding ICE agents potentially being at bus stops. If you are aware of any agents being at a stop, do not let any student off the bus and contact the transportation office immediately.”
Worcester's superintendent did clarify there have not been ICE officials spotted at bus stops or schools, this is just how the district plans to handle future interactions.
The new policy on immigration enforcement at schools likely will prompt some immigrant parents who fear deportation to keep their children home, even if they face little risk, said Michael Lukens, executive director for the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights. He said he believes it's part of the administration’s goal to make life so untenable that immigrants eventually leave the United States on their own.
While many U.S. adults are on board with the idea of undertaking some targeted deportations, a shift toward arresting people in the country illegally at places like schools would be highly unpopular, according to a survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. It found only about 2 in 10 U.S. adults somewhat or strongly favor arresting children who are in the country illegally while they are at school.
Some parents see school as one of the last safe places.
For Iris Gonzalez in Boston, schools seem like just about the only safe place for her to go as someone in the country illegally. She’s had children in Boston schools for nearly a decade and she doesn’t expect anyone there to bother her or her daughters for proof they’re here legally. So her children will keep going to school.
“Education is important,” she said in Spanish.
Gonzalez, who came to the U.S. from Guatemala illegally 14 years ago, does worry about entering a courthouse or driving, even though she has a license. “What if they stop me?” she wonders.
“I don’t sleep,” she said. “There’s a lot of uncertainty about how to look for work, whether to keep driving and what’s going to change."
The Associated Press (Olga R. Rodriguez, Moriah Balingit, Bianca Vazquez Toness and Jocelyn Gecker) contributed to this report