John,

Yesterday, the House voted 220-207 to increase funding for ICE to terrorize our communities, including houses of worship, hospitals, and schools.¹ Schools should be safe places for learning for millions of students. Yet, across the country, ICE agents continue to make stops and arrests near schools, making students fearful, causing attendance to drop, and forcing some schools to cancel classes or switch to remote learning.

In Minneapolis, the same day ICE agents killed Renee Good, ICE agents went to the grounds of a nearby high school, used chemical irritants and detained a member of the school staff, all while staff and students were inside the locked school.²

This is a traumatic experience that no student should ever experience. With Congress not stepping up to rein in ICE, State Attorneys General have powers to protect our communities. They can take legal action, issue binding guidance, and make it abundantly clear that schools are off limits to ICE.

Send a message to your State Attorney General today, telling them to protect students and kick ICE out of our schools.

Earlier this week, two schools in the Seattle area were forced to shelter-in-place after reported ICE activity near the schools. Students were unable to go outside while school officials locked the doors, and many parents chose to pick up their children early as a precaution.³ A parent at another Minneapolis-area school was detained by ICE while waiting at a bus stop with their child.⁴

Schools are reporting absenteeism as high as 40%, and neighbors are organizing car rides for parents who cannot take their children to school for fear of racial profiling by ICE agents.⁵ Children cannot learn under these circumstances.

ICE has operated near day care centers too. In major cities, immigrant families are pulling children out of school altogether because they are afraid. Parents no longer trust that school grounds are safe from federal agents.

Send a message directly to your State Attorney General and tell them to protect kids, staff, and teachers, and keep ICE out of our schools.

Thank you for all you do,

Deborah Weinstein
Executive Director, CHN Action

¹ ICE Funding Bill Passes House Absent Changes Democrats Sought | TIME
² ‘My hands were really shaky’: high-school journalist documents ICE raids
³ Two Seattle schools shelter in place due to reported ICE activity
⁴ Update: Federal ICE activity within the district
⁵ Meet the Minneapolis parents patrolling their schools amid ICE operations