Hackensack schools take steps to protect undocumented students from immigration enforcement

HACKENSACK — To protect undocumented students and their families, city school officials will protect information regarding students' immigration status and deny immigration agents entry to schools unless the federal officers have a warrant.

The Access to Education, Student Privacy and Immigration Enforcement policy was unanimously approved Monday by the school board. The regulations prevent employees from requesting information that identifies students' immigration status or makes it easier to detain undocumented immigrants, such as birth certificates and driver's licenses.

Public schools are already prohibited from requiring students to divulge their immigration status and are listed as "sensitive locations," or places where Immigration and Customs Enforcement does not usually conduct operations.

"ICE does not follow such procedures regarding schools — calling for information on somebody’s address, etc," Emilio Dabul, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said in an email.

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But national anti-immigrant sentiment and Hackensack's own growing immigrant population have led to fear among parents, Board of Education member Johanna Calle said.

"Although technically the federal government has said that they have some areas that they consider to be sensitive, like schools, we also have seen them do immigration enforcement operations near schools," said Calle, who is also the director of the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice.

The rules serve to reinforce existing laws to strictly enforce what information is collected on students and how it is distributed. Any requests from ICE for information must be submitted in writing and recorded, according to the policy. The schools superintendent and district attorney would review any requests and have the final say on any information released.

Superintendent Rosemary Marks did not immediately return calls for comment.

"The idea would be that we control what kind of data we collect to make sure that we're not inadvertently putting families in danger," Calle said.

Additionally, if ICE agents visited a city school, they would not be allowed inside without a signed judicial warrant. Parents or other relatives of the student being sought would be notified that ICE agents were looking for them, under the policy.

Through a collaboration with Rutgers Law School, the alliance helped craft the policy to strengthen student protections while "staying on the right side of the law," Calle said.

Calle, a Hackensack High School graduate, was herself an undocumented immigrant and became a citizen more than five years ago, while attending city schools. Since then, she has worked through the alliance to craft state and local policy to protect undocumented immigrants who might not be aware of their rights under the law.

As a school trustee for two years, Calle often works with students who are Dreamers, undocumented immigrants who were brought to the country as children. For her, the policy is about protecting students above all else.

"It is not required of us to collaborate with ICE," Calle said. "But it is required of us to protect the safety and information of our families and our students. And that's what we're going to be doing."

Email: torrejon@northjersey.com