The Los Angeles Unified School Board, responsible for running the second-biggest school system in the US, has increased its commitment to protecting students and families who are undocumented immigrants from federal officials within Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
With towns and cities all around the US taking steps to protect immigrants from immigration authorities, the members of the Los Angeles School Board passed a new resolution on Tuesday, which reaffirmed their refusal to allow ICE agents onto school campuses unless an agreement has been received in advance by district attorneys and the superintendent. District employees have also been banned from cooperating with the agency in immigration cases, under the terms of the new resolution.
The Department of Homeland Security issued guidelines in February, saying that any of the millions of undocumented immigrants living in the US could be targeted for deportation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. President Donald Trump also signed an executive order that tried to prevent towns and cities that failed to fully cooperate with immigration officials from receiving federal funding, though a Californian federal judge blocked that.
Michelle King, the superintendent of the district, has also been called on by the resolution to create a plan to train administrators, staff, and teachers what to do, should ICE agents arrive at their schools within 90 days. Other counties and school districts have taken similar stances, including Chicago, San Francisco, and Denver.