Ellison tells Minnesota schools to follow law if immigration authorities show up

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison sent out new guidance on Friday detailing how K-12 schools should interact with immigration enforcement on school property.

It calls on school district leaders to ensure any immigration and customs enforcement officials who come to campus follow proper legal protocol. It also reminds school staff to “not attempt to physically prevent an ICE agent or other law enforcement officer from entering the building, even if the agent does not appear to be authorized to enter.” 

Ellison’s four-page letter comes in response to the Trump administration’s recent decision to rescind long-standing practice that barred federal officers from conducting immigration enforcement in sensitive places such as schools. 

State and Federal law require Minnesota schools to provide equal access to education regardless of immigration status. They also require schools to protect students’ private data such as their names and attendance records. 

State law also protects student addresses and telephone numbers. The attorney general’s new guidance suggests schools give students and families the opportunity to opt out of sharing their addresses and telephone numbers.  

It also provides schools a list of action steps aimed at supporting students, such as offering alternate options for student transportation, providing mental health assistance and ensuring that “all reports of bullying or harassment are thoroughly investigated.”  

The guidance directs schools to train staff and school resource officers on proper protocol and advises district leaders to communicate their actions and procedures with students and families. 

‘We just don't feel safe coming (to school) anymore’

Some districts have already begun communicating their policies and plans in response to the federal policy change with families. 

In St. Cloud, Superintendent Laurie Putnam last month sent a letter to district families communicating her staff would not give ICE officials access to students or their private information without a valid court order. 

“We protect our schools and our students to the fullest extent possible under the law from any disruption of their educational programs and from any threat to the safety of our students,” Putnam wrote in a letter on Jan. 22. 

The superintendent said the federal policy change had frightened both students and parents in her district. 

“We had a group of moms, Latina moms meeting, you know, just to support their kids' education and learning about how schools work here. They said, ‘We just don’t feel safe coming anymore,’” Putnam said.

After speaking with her school board, reviewing policy and working to understand state and federal law, Putnam sent the letter, something she felt was “business as usual.” 

“We always love and care for and support all kids. We always follow board policy,” Putnam told MPR News. “We will follow the law. Of course, we’re going to comply.”

The letter, she said, seemed to reassure concerned students and parents, although she knows of at least one family that has withdrawn their students from the district since the federal policy change. 

“It is every child’s federal right to receive an education in our public schools, and that's not a political statement,” Putnam said. “Every child who’s in our public schools deserves to be safe and have all of the opportunities they’re afforded to any person sitting to their right or left. I think that’s one of the strengths of our country, is that we provide that to any child who walks through our doors.”

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