Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents took four children into custody near schools in Minnesota on Thursday. There haven't been reports of ICE agents at Ohio schools, but the president of the state's largest teachers' union said he wants educators to be ready for that.
“As of right now, we don’t know of any situations where ICE agents have been in any of our schools, but we have seen in Columbus that ICE agents have been around," said Ohio Education Association President Jeff Wensing in an interview. "We’ve seen in Akron and in other areas that they have been around schools but not in our schools, and we would like to keep it that way.”
Wensing said he wrote a note to members of his union earlier this month to remind them to follow their school's policy.
“We are interested in keeping our students safe and following the policies set forth by the school district and the law. We don’t need strangers in our schools," Wensing said.
"The Ohio Education Association is committed to ensuring that our schools remain safe, welcoming places for every student and educator," the letter begins.
It includes a section titled "If ICE Is Present at or Near Your School". It advises teachers to ask for identification from ICE agents and not to consent to them accessing buildings or student records without a signed judicial warrant, or to share information about students, families or coworkers. It reminds members that student information is protected under federal and state law, and they should follow their district's guidance and local union leadership. The letter also includes resources such as the National Immigration Law Center and the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio.
But conservatives on social media have criticized Wensing's letter. They include Ohio's former treasurer and secretary of state and one-time gubernatorial candidate Ken Blackwell, who holds advisory positions with several conservative groups.
"Federal authorities should examine whether this guidance constitutes coordinated obstruction of federal immigration operations," Blackwell wrote in a post on Facebook.
In the lengthy post, Blackwell goes through the letter point by point, saying "its substance lays out a deliberate protocol to obstruct, delay, and deny lawful federal immigration activity inside taxpayer funded institutions."
Blackwell said the letter does not speak to an education policy and he invited his followers on social media to call Wensing to tell him politely what they think of the latter.
But Wensing defended the letter, and that it is a reminder of educational policy.
“In no way did it contain anything regarding being combative with anybody, including ICE agents. We are not advising anybody to get into physical altercations with ICE agents," Wensing said. "We are just giving the guidance to our members what our rights are – here are your rights – and to follow the law, district policy, when it comes to district policy when it comes to dealing with any type of ICE agent in our school.”
Some districts, including Columbus City Schools, have publicly stated their schools are a safe haven and reminding families that a 1982 U.S. Supreme Court decision affirmed that a state cannot prevent children of undocumented immigrants from attending a public school.
