by Jack Engelhardt ‘25

The Department of Homeland Security under the Trump Administration is planning on putting an end to a policy that restricted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers ability to detain or arrest suspected undocumented people near or at places of sensitivity which include schools, places of worship, and hospitals. Concerns have been raised around the country about what that means for undocumented children and adolescents attending public schools. 

MCPS is among school districts nationwide that have taken efforts to provide a welcoming community regardless of immigration status. MCPS recently posted a ‘Student and Family Immigration Supports’ document on its website providing guidance into what happens if ICE or other enforcement officers come to a school, the handling of immigration information, and how families can create an emergency plan. MCPS also included a ‘Rights card’ provided by the Immigrant Legal Resource Center that goes over constitutional rights and the answers to give ICE officers. Most importantly, though, MCPS wants to reassure parents of their children’s safety while attending their schools, posting on their official website that they wish to not set off any alarms and are merely preparing the community for any scenario. 

MCPS also issued an ‘Immigration Response Protocol’ document giving step by step guidance for school staff to follow if ICE officers were to ever enter a school. The underlying principles MCPS wishes all staff to keep in mind are the wellbeing of students, compliance with the law, and clear communication. To push MCPS’s main goal of inclusion for students no matter their immigration status, they have included a DO’s and DON’Ts page instructing teachers and administrations how to interact both with students at their school and with law or immigration enforcement officers. 

As Trump begins his second term in office, he plans to increase immigration enforcement across the country, issuing 10 executive orders touching on nearly every complex aspect of immigration. He has brought in former ICE director Tom Homan, an avid opposer of sanctuary city policies, who, under Trump’s first term in office, offered a “Zero tolerance” approach on illegal immigration. This has raised concern among families as Homan is most well known for implementing the Trump administration family separation policy, a controversial deportation tactic aimed at separating migrant children from their parental guardians. With Trump’s second term in full effect, Homan will be joining the administration in the “border czar” position. Trump said that Homan “will be in charge of all deportation of illegal aliens back to their country of origin.”