Indiana’s attorney general is suing the state’s largest public school district, arguing policies at Indianapolis Public Schools are “thwarting” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s deportation efforts.
A lawsuit filed Nov. 6 by Attorney General Todd Rokita says the school district is restricting ICE’s access to school grounds, in violation of state law, through policies that don’t allow agents to enter non-public school areas unless they have a judicial warrant or in the case of an emergency.
The district’s policies also illegally prevent school employees, according to a complaint, from helping ICE with enforcement actions.
Under what the attorney general’s office describes as the state’s “anti-sanctuary law,” the lawsuit says public employees are not to be prevented from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement measures.
“Schools across the country are vulnerable to infiltration by criminal illegal aliens—it’s happened in many other states—and it is essential that ICE be able to take action when that occurs to help keep our kids safe,” Rokita said in a news release.
The school district responds
In a statement critical of Rokita’s lawsuit that was shared with McClatchy News, Indianapolis Public Schools said it is “deeply offended” by the attorney general “dehumanizing our children and their families by labeling them as ‘aliens.’”
The district said it is dedicated to providing a safe environment for all students, characterizing the lawsuit as a “silly” measure motivated by a desire for “political gain.”
“While IPS takes all legal obligations seriously, we respectfully hope that all concerned parties will recognize the heavy burden that silly litigation and political posturing places on students, families, and taxpayers,” the district said.
The lawsuit—which the America First Policy Institute, a conservative nonprofit foundation, has joined as a special counsel—mentions a specific example in which school employees were said to have gotten in the way of ICE deporting a student’s father, leading the attorney general’s office to investigate.
The father had agreed to self-deport and was scheduled to leave the United States on a flight on Jan. 8, according to the filing. ICE, however, did not want to force him to leave the country without his son.
ICE reported to the attorney general’s office that the man’s child “had gone to school on the morning of Jan. 8 in apparent disregard of his father’s wish that they depart the country together that afternoon,” the complaint says.
“ICE did not wish to separate the family and therefore sought to reunite the Honduran national with his son so that they could leave the United States together,” the complaint continues.
When ICE reached out to Indianapolis Public Schools for help, the agency “faced significant obstacles—caused by IPS policies and actions,” according to the filing.
The school district said that ICE needed a judicial warrant to assist the man in taking custody of his son for deportation unless agents could show an emergency allowed for the measure, the complaint says.
Instead of working with ICE, the school’s employees are accused of connecting the child with an immigration attorney to help him stay in the country.
“Ultimately, IPS—instead of releasing the son to the father’s custody so that the father and son could depart the country together—released the minor to the immigration attorney at the end of the school day,” the complaint says.
The filing argues the school district’s policies caused the father to remain in the United States illegally because he missed his deportation flight since he was not reunited with his son.
With the lawsuit, Rokita wants the court to compel the school district’s employees to fully cooperate with immigration enforcement.
But the school district said that it has been upholding the law and will continue to do so.
Warrant needed for private areas of schools
During the start of President Donald Trump’s second presidential term in January, Trump rolled back regulations that barred immigration authorities from schools and other “sensitive” areas.
Some states issued guidelines to schools in response, advising employees that ICE officers aren’t allowed inside school facilities unless they have a specific type of warrant.
Under federal law, for ICE to enter areas of a school that are private—such as classrooms, fenced-in school yards and administrative offices—agents need a judicial warrant, according to the Immigrant Legal Resource Center.
The center notes that the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution “protects school administration personnel, teachers, and students from unreasonable searches and seizures, regardless of their immigration status.”
Due to Trump rolling back protections for schools and sensitive locations in January, agents can, however, visit public school areas, like parking lots or lobbies, according to the Immigrant Legal Resource Center.
