As public school districts across Colorado take steps to protect students from ICE raids, Mesa Valley School District 51 says it is “obligated to comply”

First page of the letter sent to “District 51 families and colleagues” saying the District “will remain politically neutral,” and telling parents to update their student’s emergency contacts

On January 20, convicted felon, sexual abuser and now President Trump rescinded the decades-old federal policy (pdf) of not pursuing immigrants in “sensitive places” (pdf), including schools, hospitals, churches, synagogues, mosques, funerals, weddings, parades and public demonstrations like marches and rallies.

U.S. Department of Education policy says that in the U.S., all children are entitled to a public education (pdf) regardless of their immigration status.

News from today indicates Trump is going after immigrant kids. White House “border czar” Tom Homan, who is carrying out Trump’s mass deportation, says the data they seek on children won’t be used for enforcement, but rather to “ensure that children were placed in the best possible homes,” according to the Washington Post.

But Trump recently enacted a change in federal policy that will now allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents enter and arrest immigrants in these places.

As he started his term, Trump promised to prioritize removing “violent criminal” immigrants, but has since changed his stance and now considers every undocumented person in the U.S. to be a “criminal,” even though being in the U.S. without legal status is a civil and not a criminal violation.

Trump says he seeks to pursue criminals, but as the first U.S. president who is a convicted felon, Trump himself is a criminal.

In May of 2024, a jury found Trump guilty of 34 criminal felony counts of business fraud. Trump managed to escape a potential prison sentence for his felonies by becoming U.S. President a second time. One year earlier, in May of 2023, a jury also found Trump liable for sexual abuse, and a court fined him $5 million. In December 2024, an appeals court upheld that verdict and the fine.

The Trump administration hasn’t said how many violent immigrants they estimate attend U.S. public schools, and immigration officials haven’t given any specifics about the circumstances in which they will be entering schools to arrest students.

The aggressiveness and ambiguity of Trump’s sudden policy change is generating a climate fear among students, parents and school staff, and the general public.

In the wake of these sudden changes, school districts in Colorado are taking steps to protect their students from such raids:

Denver Public Schools Superintendent Alex Marrero

Denver Public Schools (DPS) Superintendent Alex Marrero said their school district’s administrative policy is that “federal immigration law enforcement activities would not be permitted at our schools, on transportation routes, on DPS property or during school activities.”

Weld RE-8 School District has taken steps to protect its students from ICE, saying it will not cooperate with ICE agents seeking students or information about students or their families.

Joe Salazar, legal counsel for Adams 14 School District in Commerce City, said their district won’t be intimidated by a “bloviating” President Donald Trump and his comments toward immigrants, and will defend immigrant children’s right to be in Adams 14 schools, saying

“We … are not just going to rollover and let someone disrupt our schools…Parents of immigrant students came here to escape autocratic regimes and now they are facing the same fears in the United States.”

On January 16, the Adams 12 Five Star Schools Board of Education, which serves Adams and Broomfield counties, adopted a resolution saying the District “shall utilize its lawful powers to protect our students and families, regardless of immigration status.”

Adams 14 School District Attorney Joe Salazar

Cheyenne Mountain School District 12 in Colorado Springs says “Immigration status is confidential and protected by federal privacy laws, including the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA),” and “ICE agents are not permitted to enter District facilities without a valid judicial warrant signed by a federal judge.”

Mesa Valley School District 51, though, seems to be taking a stance that is less protective of its students and indicating it will cooperate with ICE. A D-51 representative told a local TV station that that “Because D51 is a public school system, the district is obligated to comply with the new immigration policy.”

Unlike these other Colorado school districts, Mesa Valley School District 51 sounds like it plans to allow such raids to take place in its schools. The District sent a broadly placating letter to parents saying “we do not control broader immigration issues,” and urging them to update their students’ emergency contacts and the list of people who are allowed to pick up their children at school.

D-51 employees on what’s going on in the schools in response

A D-51 teacher reports that in response to the Trump administration’s targeting of immigrants, “I heard today that many kids at GJHS aren’t going to school anymore. We have a few at our school that have stopped coming,” adding, “I’ve asked our English language teachers if their kids are worried and they say the kids don’t know a lot but parents are freaking out, even those here legally. I just had a second grader ask me why we didn’t want Mexican people in America. I’m heartbroken hearing this.” Another employee said, “I do know that some principals who have higher population of immigrants have said that kids aren’t coming to school, which is so sad.”

Mesa Valley School District 51 Board President Andrea Haitz

 

  6 comments for “As public school districts across Colorado take steps to protect students from ICE raids, Mesa Valley School District 51 says it is “obligated to comply”

  1. I don’t know what pisses me off more…this most recent ICE outrage or the idea of RFK Jr tossing baby birds into a blender.

    I’ve read this post five times and still can’t figure out what the problem is. I see other school districts virtue signaling by standing up to ICE and D51 taking a sensible stance…probably best for the kids and not divulging anything.

    This wasn’t a complete waste of my time, however, because I did learn that Trump is a convicted felon and adjudicated sex offender.
    🙂

  2. Thank you for writing about this. These are children, not criminals, and they should not be treated as such. We need to do better.

  3. I do not read anything from above about the D51 obligation to comply. I also have not heard of any ICE raid on any school district in America. I do think that this rhetoric promotes fear and divisiveness which could result in truancy.

    That is fair, in my view, as this is Anne’s blog.

    It will be interesting to see how this plays out. On the one hand, school districts should be responsive to their communities. Public policy, social welfare, and paralegal representation of minors overreach the goals of K-12 education. For higher education, I would expect a huge increase in admissions if colleges become sanctuaries.

    • First the Musk/Trump thrust declared that trans people could not be issued passports. No prob. Then immigrants ( but not Pres. Musk) become fair game to be rounded up, searched and “detained.” No prob. Then children of color are to be swept down upon by law enforcement types in the interest of protecting good people** from small criminals.

      ** compliant, white christian people

      When the children of compliant, white christians begin being herded, detained, and isolated from their parents, it is just possible that persons such as you, Juan, will protest, having believed that Musk and Trump would never harm you. They promised. And we know we can never believe a word that Musk and Trump say.

      • First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
        Because I was not a socialist.

        Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
        Because I was not a trade unionist.

        Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
        Because I was not a Jew.

        Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

        — Pastor Martin Niemöller , 1946

      • I liked it when my friends called me Juan. Now, some friends call me Juanis. You, sir, are a bit too familiar in assuming my gender identity, race, or religion. Today, just call me Juanita.

        Simply I don’t want interference of a law enforcement officer in the line of duty responding to a school incident… shooting or otherwise.

        https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68020254

        Equally, and If I lived in Aurora, I would not want a school to interfere with an ICE agent pursuing a 17 year old Venezuelan gang member who retreated to his school.

        My link is real, and my hypothetical is quite plausible. I will respond later to the M/F choice on the passport sliding the slippery slope to someone herding my kids.

        I used to work in Government Public Safety in GJ. I take this D51 policy seriously.

        As a side note, I don’t like when ‘they’ start forest fires during fire bans at ‘their’ gender affirmation-celebration fires.

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