Letters to the Editor: L.A. principals were right to deny access to immigration agents trying to enter schools

To the editor: I was a board member for the Capistrano Unified School District during the first Trump administration (“House Democrats demand briefing after immigration agents try to enter L.A. elementary schools,” April 14). Bullying of Latino students and children from Middle Eastern regions shot up in our schools. There was also concern that the Border Patrol might come onto campuses to deport families.

I asked our district’s attorneys what protections, if any, exist to prevent border agents from entering classrooms and removing children. First, I learned that all children in the U.S. have a right to an education regardless of their family’s immigration status. Children cannot be denied an education because they or their parents are undocumented. I also learned that our district prohibits anyone from taking a child away from school who is not authorized by the child’s family or guardian. This is to prevent child abduction and abuse.

Now the Trump administration has dismissed a long-standing policy of preventing arrests in “sensitive areas,” such as schools. Yet even so, immigration agents must properly identify themselves and cannot detain children without a judicial warrant. Those L.A. Unified principals were right to deny federal agents access to vulnerable kids without a warrant. Undocumented or not, children have a right to due process in this country.

Patricia Holloway, San Clemente