Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in Donate today. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Teachers have joined chat groups on encrypted messaging apps to alert each other to sightings of immigration authorities.
But there have been no attempted raids at city schools, and city policy still generally prohibits federal immigration officials from entering public schools. The Biden administration set a record for deportations in a single year that eclipsed Trump during his first term.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem joined authorities on an immigration raid in the Bronx last week. ICE has stated on X that it is arresting 1, people or more each day across the country. Some chat groups are organized geographically, while others focus on legal help and housing for immigrants.
She said some students have asked for school ID cards, just so they have some kind of documentation to show authorities, while others have been staying home and missing school. Parents have asked whether remote learning might be an option for their kids. Meanwhile, some parents who are attorneys have offered to serve as notaries for undocumented parents seeking to designate guardians for their children if they are detained.
Others have offered to escort children to school so their undocumented families can stay home during the school commute, according to Naveed Hasan, who co-founded a group called District 3 Open Arms on the Upper West Side to support immigrant families through clothing drives, legal clinics and advocacy.
