In reaction to President Donald Trump’s executive order requiring federal authorities to enforce immigration laws, local school districts in the Houston area have restated their policies on how the districts would react to law enforcement requesting to meet with, arrest, or gain information about students.

Upon taking office, Trump issued a directive to federal law enforcement agencies to use “common sense” when considering enforcement actions in sensitive locations like schools, reversing a Biden administration restriction on where illegal aliens could be arrested. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is the key agency for enforcing Trump’s immigration orders.

Cleveland ISD, which includes students living in the Colony Ridge development known for its large population of illegal aliens, published a policy statement saying that CISD does not remove students from class except by their parents unless there is an emergency as determined by the principal, superintendent, or CISD Police.

The policy directs CISD employees to get contact information for the law enforcement officer and notify them that the administrator will verify what information CISD is legally able to provide and respond within 24 hours.

“If the officer becomes combative, the CISD police can assist as needed” reads the CISD policy.

The school will not allow a student to be removed from school without the consent of a parent or legal guardian.

Houston ISD Superintendent Mike Miles wrote to parents, “School administrators and front office staff are trained in engagement with law enforcement to ensure that student rights and information are protected, and any law enforcement action is managed by HISD Legal Services.”

Miles continued to explain that “Law enforcement is only granted access to students or student information when HISD Legal Services has verified that all required steps have been taken, and the law enforcement action does not violate any of the federal privacy protection afforded students and their records.”

When Texas Scorecard contacted HISD asking if they knew how many illegal alien students were enrolled in the district, the district responded it had no responsive data to report.

Schools in Texas do not collect information about students’ immigration status, meaning they are unable to provide a list of illegal alien students in their classrooms to any law enforcement agency. This makes a partnership with federal immigration authorities to deport students unlikely.

In Plyler v. Doe, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a Texas law in 1982 that prohibited the use of state funds for the education of illegal alien children. It also prohibited schools from charging tuition to illegal alien students.

With this action, the court created a novel legal “right” to free education for illegal aliens in government schools and effectively prohibited schools from collecting information that could reveal a student’s immigration status.

In 2022, Gov. Greg Abbott spoke about potentially challenging that ruling.

There are no reports of federal immigration authorities contacting school authorities for potential enforcement actions in the Houston area as of publication.

Joseph Trimmer

Joseph is a journalist for Texas Scorecard reporting from Houston. With a background in business, Joseph is passionate about covering issues impacting citizens.

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