Chicago Principals Told to Keep ICE Agents Out

As educators around the US wonder whether a crackdown on immigrants will reach their schoolhouse doors, principals in Chicago have been given a simple order: Do not let federal immigration agents in without a criminal warrant. The stand taken by Chicago Public Schools, the country's third-largest school system, is among the boldest of the districts that have announced measures to protect those who may be living in the country illegally, the AP reports. In a note to principals, Public Schools Chief Education Officer Janice Jackson urged them to keep immigration agents outside and to avoid sharing any student records with the agents.

"To be very clear, CPS does not provide assistance to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the enforcement of federal civil immigration law," Jackson wrote. She also urged principals to put plans in place for the possibility of parents being detained while their children are in school. It remains unknown how much interest ICE will show in schools under President Trump, but they are acting at least in part to ease concerns of immigrant communities who worry that immigration authorities could grab parents outside the schools and their children inside. (Earlier this month, ICE agents arrested a woman in domestic violence court.)