Aaron M. Sprecher/AP
On Monday, a 15-year-old boy with disabilities was detained by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement outside a Los Angeles Unified School District high school at 9:30 am when he was registering for classes.
KTLA 5 reported that the boy was placed in handcuffs; he was only released after both school staff and the Los Angeles Police Department intervened. Latino students, who are more likely to be profiled by ICE, make up close to 75 percent of the student body at LAUSD.
“The release will not release him from what he experienced,” LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said during a press conference. “The trauma will linger. It will not cease. It is unacceptable, not only in our community, but anywhere in America.”
California State Superintendent Tony Thurmond also said in a press release, referring to the actions of ICE agents, “these military-style actions against innocent children and their families on and near school campuses must stop now. Our children deserve to be protected and cared for at school, not terrified and traumatized.”
The school year officially starts on Thursday, and the LAUSD school district has taken steps to try and protect students against ICE, according to reporting from the Los Angeles Times. This includes the following:
School police and officers from several municipal forces will patrol near some 100 schools, setting up “safe zones” in heavily Latino neighborhoods, with a special concentration at high schools where older Latino students are walking to campus. Bus routes are being changed to better serve areas with immigrant families so children can get to school with less exposure to immigration agents.
Community volunteers will join district staff and contractors to serve as scouts — alerting campuses of nearby enforcement actions so schools can be locked down as warranted and parents and others in the school community can be quickly notified via email and text.
California Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, ahead of Donald Trump assuming office last December, also introduced a bill that would prevent public school officials from allowing ICE agents on campus. The bill has been referred to committee. ICE agents, however, can still enter schools when they have a judicial warrant.