CPS Official To Principals: Do Not Cooperate With Immigration Authorities
(CBS) -- Chicago Public Schools principals and staff have been instructed by the system's chief education officer not to cooperate with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel.
In a letter to principals released Tuesday evening, Chief Education Officer Janice Jackson wrote, "To be very clear, CPS does not provide assistance in the enforcement of civil immigration law."
The letter states that agents are not to be allowed "access to CPS facilities or personnel except in the rare instance" in which they present a criminal warrant -- and even then, only after a call to the board's lawyers.
Under no circumstances are the federal representatives to be given student records, unless a parent has obtained a court order or filled out a consent form, Jackson says.
If it appears a student's parents are detained, school staff members are to stay with them at school.
Letters are being sent home to parents in six languages -- English, Spanish, Arabic, Polish, Hindi and Chinese -- explaining the board's policy and urging them to update emergency contact forms to include someone who can take the children if parents are detained.
Jackson wrote in the letter to parents: "We are here to support your children and provide them with a safe and welcoming educational environment."
"We know that some families are concerned about sending their children to school at this time, but we firmly believe that the safest and most beneficial place for your children is a classroom."
The action comes as the Trump administration announced a sweeping rewrite of immigration enforcement policies that targets for deportation millions of people living in the United States illegally.
The new federal enforcement policies make undocumented immigrants who are charged or convicted of any offense targets for deportation.
