Minnesota schools back families as Trump’s anti-immigrant comments stoke new fears

Minnesota school leaders jumped into action last week after President Donald Trump denigrated the state’s Somali community and referred to Somali people as “garbage.”

In the St. Louis Park district, Superintendent Carlondrea Hines told families of “increased supervision at school sites to ensure each of our students made it home safely.” Her message went out after rumors spread that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were seen outside school buildings. 

Hines’ district also shared legal resources for families, shared steps families could take to ensure they were ready for any unforeseen detentions and detailed the district’s policies on interacting with immigration enforcement officers. 

“Regardless of immigration status, all children in the U.S. have the right to attend public schools, and we are committed to serving each of our students,” Hines wrote. 

Districts across the state have mobilized following the president’s latest verbal attack on Somalis. From St. Cloud to the Twin Cities, school leaders say they’re connecting families to legal resources and enforcing policies to keep students safe at school.

Stacie Stanley, superintendent of St. Paul Public Schools, recorded a robocall with the assistance of a Somali-speaking staff member, assuring district families that school employees do not ask families about their immigration status and saying that the district has safety measures in place to protect students. 

“No matter what school your children attend, I want you to know that our teachers and school leaders are here to help keep your students safe and cared for,” Stanley said in the message that was translated into Somali and sent to the hundreds of families in the district whose home language is Somali.

‘People underestimate the impact on students’

In St. Cloud, superintendent Laurie Putnam said some of her students stayed home from classes last week out of fear for their safety. 

“We had families not send their children to school. We had our students saying, ‘Are we safe?’” Putnam said. “One of our employees, who is Somali, told me that her little 5-year-old daughter said, ‘Why does the president hate us so much?’ I sometimes think that people underestimate the impact that national events or discourse like this has on our students.”

For St. Cloud and other Minnesota districts, this is not the first time the threat of immigration enforcement has frightened families enough to keep them away from school activities.

Earlier this year, the district noticed that threats of immigration enforcement were keeping some Latino families from attending school events. The district board made sure their policies on interactions with ICE were updated. 

They let families know their staff would not give ICE officials access to schools, students or students’ private information without a valid court order.

Putnam said those policies are still in place and last week she made sure families knew it. 

“We are very clear in this district about who we are,” Putnam said. “We are a public education system, and that means that, by law, we serve all students, and because we serve all students, we are going to make sure that every student feels and knows that they belong here and that they’re safe here.”

St. Cloud is partnering with local law enforcement and local officials to make sure families have the resources they need. 

Worries over bullying

Other districts have been doing similar work as officials try to reassure kids that they are loved and protected inside school buildings.

In Fridley, district leaders made sure students and families had extra help with transportation to be able to safely attend parent teacher conferences. They also ran a legal clinic to help families get assistance with immigration issues. 

“Our Somali students, families, and employees are a cherished part of our school community,” Fridley Superintendent Brenda Lewis wrote in her letter to parents.

In St. Paul, district leaders made sure staff had resources to help students with anxiety or other mental health issues. They also sent around contact information on how to prepare paperwork to delegate parental authority in the event that students’ adult family members should face deportation or detention.

In North St. Paul, families are less concerned about getting deported and more concerned with how hateful rhetoric would impact students, said Superintendent Christine Osorio.

“They’re mostly U.S. citizens and so that isn’t a predominant concern for the families,” she said. “A bigger concern for our families is really the rhetoric and making sure that when students come to school, they're not going to face discriminatory comments or bullying.”

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