“Get a warrant.”
That’s still official policy if agents from Immigration, Customs and Enforcement (ICE) show up at the school house door, District 2 Schools Superintendent Kelly McGuire assured the Community Board 2 (CB 2) Schools and Education Committee at its February 24th meeting.
Alarmed by Mayor Adams’ January 13, 2025 memo to city workers—which undermines New York City’s sanctuary law—the CB2 Committee consulted with McGuire. The committee is in the process of drafting a resolution condemning the mayor’s memo, which directs city workers to grant ICE agents information and entry if the workers “reasonably feel threatened.”
In contrast to the mayor’s memo, McGuire instead echoed the protections emphasized by Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos in her letter to parents posted on the New York City Public Schools website February 12th.
Chancellor Ramos wrote:
As you may know, New York City Public Schools does not request or track families’ immigration or asylum status. Access to students, school facilities, or records will only be provided to non-local law enforcement when required by law, and only after consultation with New York City Public Schools’ lawyers. If an officer from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or other non-local law enforcement agency attempts to enter the school building or asks for information, our school staff know to contact our attorneys.
McGuire elaborated on that protocol, noting the school safety agent would greet the ICE agent and summon the principal. The principal would ask for a warrant or subpoena, and have the ICE agent wait outside while the required legal document is reviewed by a school system attorney.
He stressed an additional mandate protecting children, namely that “no law enforcement would be able to pick up a child unless there is permission granted by a family member.”
Since President Trump’s January 20th inauguration, ICE agents have not sought entry to New York City schools. But McGuire noted that the first two weeks of Trump’s second term coincided with the worst attendance rates in the district since the school year began, which he attributed both to the bitter cold and to immigrant kids staying away from school, out of fear.
In public discussion, committee members expressed frustration and deep concern. Committee Vice Chair Mar Fitzgerald worried that ICE agents could circumvent all restrictions—and traumatize students, including her own child—by confronting them while they were “at Chipotle” off school grounds for lunch. Noting that previous federal protections for immigrant students have now been eliminated, she asked rhetorically, with distress, “Is every rule we’ve lived by out the window?”
Also as part of the public discussion, the committee heard from Michele Ammon, a parent at PS 3 Charrette. She told the committee about the parents group she helped found about three years ago, originally named the Asylum Families Committee (AFC): “These families were coming with no clothing, no food, no nothing, children in pushcarts. It was very difficult.”
Ammon spoke to the dire needs of immigrant families, noting that at one point, families had not been given Metrocards and had been compelled every school day to walk from the shelter in Midtown to the West Village school at Hudson and Grove.
Currently, AFC is attempting to support an immigrant family whose kindergartener is in the ICU on life support with a feeding tube and the mother is so stressed she also needs medical care.
AFC has sought to help families with monthly food, clothing, and health care and has expanded to support non-immigrant PS 3 families in need. Ammon estimated that AFC needs $6000 to continue to offer support.
The committee then went into business session and proceeded to review and revise its draft resolution. The draft characterizes the mayor’s memo as “directly undermin[ing] the mission of public education, instill[ing] fear among students and families, and creat[ing] a chilling effect that discourages school attendance, particularly among immigrant and undocumented students.”
It calls for the mayor’s memo to be rescinded.
Following further revision and review, the final resolution is expected to come before the full community board for a vote March 20th.
