Updated: This story has been updated with new reports that the Minneapolis district will offer a virtual learning option for a month.
The Minneapolis school district closed all schools a day after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a woman in the city this week, and federal law enforcement agents later arrived at a high school, where clashes between agents and civilians ensued, according to local reports.
This appears to be the first districtwide closure of schools tied to incidents with federal officers since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, which has been marked by aggressive immigration enforcement efforts across the country.
Over the past year, school districts in California, Indiana, Alaska, and other states have canceled field trips, cultural events, and after-school activities, and individual schools have locked down or closed due to nearby ICE activity, according to an EdWeek analysis of local news.
“Out of an abundance of caution, there will be no school on Thursday, Jan. 8, and Friday, Jan. 9 due to safety concerns related to today’s incidents around the city,” a Minneapolis district statement said.
“All MPS-sponsored programs, activities, athletics, and Community Education classes, including adult education, will be canceled. The district will not move to e-learning because that is only allowable for severe weather.”
The district declined to provide additional comment.
On Jan. 9, the district said in a statement that it would offer families the option for virtual learning through Feb. 12 as federal immigration enforcement activity continues in the city. Teachers would be teaching simultaneously to students in the classroom and those at home, according to the Associated Press.
“This is an option and exactly what families need right now,” said Marcia Howard, president of the Minneapolis Federation of Educators, Local 59 union, in a Facebook post Thursday night regarding the virtual learning plan.
The move to close all schools and cancel all events is significant for a major urban school district that serves more than 29,000 students and proactively supports its immigrant students, said Alejandra Vazquez Baur, a fellow at the Century Foundation and co-founder of the National Newcomer Network, a coalition of educators and immigrant advocates.
“Unlike other times, when school leaders will say ‘The school is the safest place for you,’ they said that is not the case today, this week,” said Vasquez Baur. “This week, we want to ensure the safety of our entire community by ensuring that they stay home.”
“This is the canary in the coal mine of how [schools’] immigration enforcement protocols will continue to evolve to respond to changing strategies from immigration enforcement in and around schools,” she added.
Incidents in Minneapolis remain under investigation, officials say
The Department of Homeland Security has deployed more than 2,000 officers into the Minneapolis area as part of an immigration enforcement operation mirroring those in other cities, including Chicago in the fall, where teachers spoke of the fear such actions stirred among students and families.
Since last January, when the Trump administration rescinded a longstanding DHS policy designating schools as “protected areas” from immigration enforcement, school leaders have been grappling with how to address anxieties among students and families of ICE presence near schools.
On Jan. 7, an ICE officer fatally shot Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen and mother, inside her car.
Videos posted to social media showed Good’s car partly blocking one lane of a residential street. Federal agents approach the car with one trying to open the driver’s side door, and another stepping in front of the vehicle, as analyzed by The New York Times. The car appears to shift from reverse to drive and begins to move forward when an agent near the front and left of the vehicle pulls out a gun and fires at the driver, continuing to shoot as the car moves past.
Good’s death led to vigils and protests in the city, with local and state officials at odds with federal leaders, the latter alleging the agent acted in self-defense, while the former said the evidence doesn’t support that assertion.
In response to Education Week questions about reports of federal immigration officers appearing later that same afternoon at Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis, a federal spokesperson said that Border Patrol agents pursued a U.S. citizen who allegedly attempted to impede operations underway in the Minneapolis area. The five-mile car chase ended in a school zone.
“At no point was a school, students, or staff targeted,” the DHS spokesperson said.
The school district said in a statement it was aware of an incident that happened after school on Jan. 7 outside of Roosevelt High School.
“This incident involved federal law enforcement agents and is currently under investigation. We are working with our partners, including the city of Minneapolis and others, to support the individuals directly impacted.”
The Minneapolis Federation of Educators union, MFE 59, said in a statement this week that it strongly condemned ICE and other agencies it viewed as responsible for Good’s death. The organization said it opposes “the ongoing occupation of our communities.”
“We will not tolerate ICE inhibiting our city’s youth from their constitutional right to attend school safely or inhibiting educators from doing their job” the union said.
In a Facebook post, Christian Ledesma, the principal of Roosevelt High said “We can debate policy, but we cannot debate whether children deserve to feel safe at school. We cannot debate whether families deserve to stay together.”
“The trauma that our kids are experiencing is real. The fear is real. The death and pain [are] real,” he added.
Immigration enforcement linked to increased student anxiety, absences
The abrupt closure of Minneapolis public schools, and the associated loss of instructional time, is just one of the effects that schools and districts are experiencing as immigration enforcement activity expands in communities across the country.
“When we close schools for any reason, it means students are not learning the materials,” Vazquez Baur said. “They could fall behind on learning important information in the timeline in order to learn materials for state tests.”
The closures in Minneapolis show “district leaders think the threat is big enough around schools that the schoolhouse is no longer safe until they can make appropriate changes to [their] protocol,” she added.
In a national EdWeek Research Center survey conducted last fall, 50% of educators working with immigrant students and families said immigrant students have expressed fear and anxiety due to federal immigration enforcement efforts. Seventy-five percent said that fear or anxiety is interfering with student learning “some” or “a lot.”
Twenty-four percent of educators working with immigrant students and families reported seeing reduced student attendance, and an equal share said their students seemed distracted or unengaged in class due to federal immigration enforcement efforts.
Though there haven’t been reports of ICE officers entering public school buildings to conduct enforcement activities, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, urged such officers to stay out of schools at a press conference.
“I can’t say this strong enough as governor, as a parent, as a teacher. To our elected representatives, Democrats and Republicans: I beg you, I implore you to tell them to stay out of our schools,” Walz said. “This tragedy will be magnified a hundredfold if this fight moves into the hallways of our public schools amongst our youth.”
