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Two Minnesota school districts backed by the state teachers union filed a lawsuit Wednesday to restore the Department of Homeland Security’s policy of recognizing schools as protected areas where immigration enforcement can’t be conducted. 

“The time for strongly-worded letters is over,” said John Magas, superintendent of the Duluth Public Schools. “This is not a partisan issue. It is wanting just to make sure that our students are safe and able to focus on learning when they are in school, rather than worrying about immigration enforcement.”

Duluth and Fridley Public Schools filed the lawsuit Wednesday morning together with the state teachers union, Education Minnesota. They say the Department of Homeland Security violated the Administrative Procedures Act when it rescinded a DHS policy that designated schools as a safe zone to be avoided when conducting immigration enforcement. 

The long-standing DHS Protected Areas Policy, first issued in 1993 and backed by several administrations in memos over the following decades, forbids DHS from conducting immigration enforcement in protected zones such as schools, hospitals and churches. The Trump administration 

"The Department of Homeland Security scrapped that policy without explanation, without using the proper procedures. And that's not how federal agencies get to act,” said June Hoidal, a partner at Zimmerman Reed, the law firm handling the case.

Minnesota school leaders say the end of the policy has led to masked federal agents circling their school grounds, staging operations in district parking lots, harassing board members and administrative staff and detaining dozens of parents and students during the two-month federal immigration crackdown in Minnesota.

“It has been escalating every single day,” said Brenda Lewis, the Fridley superintendent. The presence of federal agents near her schools is having a “devastating impact” on schools and children, she added.

Lewis said her staff has lost track of the number of student and staff family members detained by ICE. They say they have been personally followed on many occasions by ICE agents. 

“Right now, students are afraid to come to school. Parents are afraid to drop them off. Staff are coming to work wondering if today will be the day that something happens in one of our buildings,”Lewis told reporters Tuesday. 

“We are seeing attendance impacts. Families are choosing virtual learning, not because it's best for their child, but because fear has taken over, and this fear is not perceived,” she added. “This is justified fear.”

Lewis, who has joined staff members in personally patrolling school grounds, said she and some members of her school board have been followed by ICE agents on more than one occasion. She now uses a district vehicle, clearly labeled with school information to drive to work. 

The complaint also names three Twin Cities day cares where staff members were detained by federal agents or where parents reported agents “circling the block.”

 where federal agents have detained parents at bus stops, pulled over school vehicles, 

pepper sprayed students and staff on school grounds

 and frightened children into staying home from class. 

At one Richfield school, the lawsuit claims, more than 60 percent of the student body stayed home from classes on Jan. 20. 

Lewis said she’s hopeful the lawsuit will lead to making her schools, bus stops and school events safe again.

“We have normalized masked men in unmarked vehicles with huge guns and tactical gear. Our children have now normalized that. None of that is normal. Our children are worried. They're anxiety-filled. They also come to school and half the class is not there,” Lewis told MPR News. 

“This is not about Democrat or Republican. It's just about human decency,” Lewis added. “I am not asking for immigration reform. I'm just asking for ICE to not be on school property and to not be on our buses and not to be on our vehicles, which they are not supposed to be anyway.”

Immigration enforcement in Minnesota

Elizabeth Shockman

Author

Two Minnesota school districts backed by the state teachers union filed a lawsuit Wednesday to restore the Department of Homeland Security’s policy of recognizing schools as protected areas where immigration enforcement can’t be conducted. 


Minnesota districts sue feds to keep ICE away from schools

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