NYC School Officials To Immigrant Families: Here's How We'll Protect Your Kids

NEW YORK CITY, NY — New York City schools officials wrote a letter this week to immigrant families sending their children to city public schools to reassure them that school staff will keep their children safe and ensure their right to education during the reign of President Donald Trump.

Amid Trump's executive orders cracking down on sanctuary cities, beefing up border "protection" and barring refugees from seven majority-muslim countries from entering the United States, the city Department of Education (DOE) is "committed to protecting the right of every student in New York City to attend public school, regardless of immigration status," Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña and Nisha Agarwal, Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, wrote in the letter.

"We take pride in our diversity. Immigrant parents, students, principals, teachers and other staff are a part of what makes our schools, and New York City, the amazing, strong, vibrant places they are. Whether you or your family arrived 100 years or 100 days ago —you are New Yorkers— and we stand with you," the letter reads.

DOE staff will follow three directives in order to protect immigrant students:

• Staff will not keep records on students' immigration status or the immigration status of their family members;
• Staff will not grant Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers unlimited access to school grounds and instead refer them to a principal;
• Staff will not release any information about a student unless required to by law.

As always, the DOE will also direct immigrant families to proper city services such as ActionNYC — which provides free, safe legal assistance for immigrants — and the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs.

"Your child is our top priority, and we will do everything in our power to protect that right and ensure all students get a quality education," Fariña and Agarwal said in the letter.

Photo courtesy of Department of Education