The Illinois State Board of Education released a briefing Jan. 22 to provide guidance in the case that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement attempts to make deportation seizures at Illinois public schools.
District 7 adopted some of its suggestions with students’ safety in mind. Interim Principal Alex Fox said District 7 has built procedures with the help of the state’s guidance in hopes of “ensuring that students are our first priority when it comes to these situations.”
“This is guidance that we’ve received from the state of Illinois as well as our legal counsel for the district. It essentially just provides us a list of steps to follow, should the situation occur,” Fox said. “We’re going to follow them to the tee.”
Fox said he feels responsible for protecting students, regardless of documentation status.
“This might be the first situation where I go to jail instead of a student,” Fox said.
Freshman Lyla Hahn said she was relieved to hear the district has new protocol. According to her, it suggests that the district “really does care about its kids.”
The Illinois board’s guidelines come one day after President Donald Trump empowered ICE by repealing a rule that forbade it from making arrests in “sensitive areas” like schools and churches, according to ABC.
Fox declined to detail the district’s specific policies, but the board’s guidance outlines multiple types of warrants or subpoenas ICE might present to schools and how those schools are obliged to respond. It frequently reminds administrators that most of those documents do not give ICE the right to enter the school immediately.
The brief cites Supreme Court case Plyler v. Doe, which ensured the right to a K-12 education for every child – regardless of citizenship status – under the equal protections clause of the 14th Amendment.
Fox said he is a “vessel” of the courts, and if the Supreme Court were to reverse the Plyler ruling, the district might have to comply with ICE demands.
“It’s very similar to law enforcement,” Fox said. “When law enforcement is told they need to do something as a result of what the courts decide, they may or may not agree with it.”
Sophomore Robert Barton wasn’t surprised by the district’s new policies. He hopes administrators would turn ICE away if it approached EHS.
“Letting armed and armored men into the building is insane, especially if they’re going to be stealing children and taking them out of the country,” Barton said.
Senior Dylan Clark said he also wasn’t surprised, citing a different reason.
“I feel EHS or District 7 itself is a very liberal school district and understand that that side believes illegals should be able to stay in the country and have taxpayers pay for their stay,” Clark said.
According to Clark, there’s nothing wrong with the protection the new protocol might offer, but it’s the responsibility of immigrant parents to find a way to become “legalized” for their children.
“Every illegal immigrant has the opportunity to become legal,” Clark said.
As a staff member, Fox tries to stay away from the polarization of immigration in the U.S.
“Is there a border crisis? I don’t know, I don’t live that life. I don’t want to make those judgments,” Fox said. “I think the focus for us, here, is this school community, making sure that we’re following guidelines we need to follow and not getting involved in the bigger argument.”
It is unlikely that ICE would attempt to enter a District 7 school anytime soon. Edwardsville is not an immigration hub like Chicago, and the town has a 98.9% citizenship rate, according to Date USA.
Still, the issue has been on Fox’s mind not only as a principal but also as the son of a green-card holder.
“[My mother] is from Germany, and she is now an American citizen, so she went through the process of naturalization to become a citizen actually just five or six years ago,” Fox said. “We are a nation of immigrants.”