Protections for immigrants and undocumented students in Cambridge were strengthened Sept. 1 by the School Committee, underlining protections the city has put in place over the past couple of years.
The Protect Act signed into law Aug. 5 by governor Maura Healey defines statewide protections against deportations by Immigration and Custom Enforcement that have ramped under president Donald Trump. The Act Promoting Rule of law, Oversight, Trust and Equal Constitutional Treatment includes a prohibition on warrantless federal immigration enforcement arrests on K-12 school grounds and calls for school committees to write an “emergency response plan” for encounters with ICE and other civil law enforcement.
The deadline set by the state in late August to institute trainings was for the day the committee met – an impossible deadline, though chair David Weinstein joked “we have a few hours left.”
The committee policy order by members Arjun Jaikumar and Luisa de Paula Santos and vice chair Caitlin Dube follows much of what was laid out in a January executive order by city manager Yi-An Huang and affirms the city’s Welcoming Community Ordinance, which says it is not the duty of Cambridge Public Schools to enforce federal immigration law.
It also says ICE is not allowed to make warrantless arrests on school grounds during school hours, drop-off and pickup periods, during before- and after-school programming or at school-sponsored events.
Anti-immigrant arrests climbed to nearly 50,000 nationwide as of July, including 572 in Massachusetts. The arrests “have immigrants in Massachusetts living in fear as they go to work or bring their children to school, and they jeopardize the trust that local law enforcement has worked hard to build,” House speaker Ron Mariano said in a press release. “That’s why this legislation is so important, as it takes steps to ensure that all residents in Massachusetts are treated equally under state law, and to protect our communities through practical, thoughtful measures.”
The order included emergency procedures for the superintendent to implement, including to appoint administrators at schools and district offices to be points of contact for law enforcement and alert legal counsel, senior staff and parents if there’s an encounter with ICE agents. These administrators are also to update emergency contacts and plans for families and make the procedures available publicly in multiple languages.
Staff will be trained how to respond “when law enforcement agents arrive on site, whom they should notify and how such notifications should be made,” the policy says.
A bit “belt and suspenders”
Member Elizabeth Hudson wondered if the Welcoming Community policy made the order redundant. “Our job is to make policy, not to say we think existing policy is important,” Hudson said.
Member Richard Harding expressed similar frustration: “We waited six months for this? I’m just trying to understand how we got here, because this looks very much like the policy that we already have in place.”
The state law requires districts to act, Jaikumar noted, though in this case “it’s a bit belt and suspenders.” Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui, whose role gives her membership on the committee, said this wasn’t wholly true: The Welcoming City Ordinance speaks to school records and enrollment, while the state law and policy order sets physical boundaries.
Don’t break the law if ICE does
Hudson also brought up concern that the order copied over state language that an “arrest shall not be permitted on school grounds” but missed the language directing workers not to break federal law by interfering with an arrest.
The local order might be interpreted as encouraging employees to intervene if they see an arrest taking place, and that could lead an employee to blame the district for their resulting federal legal problems. “I do have a real problem with us having policy that’s unclear and policy that creates potential liability,” Hudson said.
Murphy clarified that personnel are not authorized to break the law. “I’m never going to interpret your policy language as directing employees to break the law,” he said.
The language was changed to eliminate confusion. “From an abundance of caution,” Jaikumar said.
Guidelines for K-12 schools on “interacting with civil law enforcement” – detailing protections laid out in the law and advising school officials how to deal with ICE presence – were released Aug. 21 by The state’s Executive Office of Education and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. “The Protect Act makes clear that schools and child care programs are places for children to learn and grow, not places for ICE to target families. These resources give educators and providers the clear guidance they need to put those protections into practice.” Healey said Aug. 25.
