This article was originally published in CalMatters.
California lawmakers are proposing steps to protect K-12 students and families from mass deportations — though the real value of these proposals may be symbolic.
A pair of bills in the Legislature — AB 49 and SB 48 — aim to prevent federal agents from detaining undocumented students or their families on or near school grounds without a warrant. The bills are a response to President-elect Donald Trump’s threat to deport undocumented immigrants, a move that could have major consequences for schools in California, which funds its schools based on attendance and where 12% of students are at least has one parent without papers.
Both bills would make it more difficult and time-consuming for officers to enter schools or daycares. But they can only delay arrests, not stop them.
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“There is no way these bills can override federal law,” said Kevin Johnson, a law professor at UC Davis. “But the bills respond to significant concerns in the community that it is not safe to take your children to school. … I cannot emphasize enough how important this is, how vulnerable undocumented immigrants feel right now.”
“There is no way these bills can override federal law,” said Kevin Johnson, a law professor at UC Davis. “But the bills respond to significant concerns in the community that it is not safe to take your children to school. … I cannot emphasize enough how important this is, how vulnerable undocumented immigrants feel right now.”
AB 49, proposed by Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, a Democrat from Torrance, would require immigration agents to obtain written permission from the superintendent before entering school grounds. It also prohibits officers from being in rooms where children are present. SB 48, introduced by Sen. Lena Gonzalez, a Democrat from Long Beach, would ban local police from cooperating with federal agents — such as assisting with arrests or providing information about families’ immigration status — within one mile of a school. It also prohibits schools from sharing information about students and families with federal authorities.
School districts have also redoubled their efforts to protect students and families. Los Angeles Unified is working with legal aid groups to help families and has instructed schools not to ask students about their immigration status. San Francisco Unified has a similar policy.
“(San Francisco Unified) is a safe haven for all students, regardless of citizenship,” Superintendent Maria Su wrote to the community after the November election. “SFUSD reiterates our position that all students have the right to attend school, regardless of their immigration status or that of their family members.”
Schools as safe havens
Schools have long been safe havens for immigrant students. Under a 1982 Supreme Court ruling, public schools must enroll all students regardless of immigration status and cannot charge tuition to students who are not legal residents. And since 2011, federal guidelines have discouraged agents from making immigration arrests at schools, hospitals, churches, courthouses and other “sensitive locations.”
But Trump said he plans to scrap guidelines for “sensitive locations,” and the Heritage Foundation, which published the right-wing Project 2025 manifesto, is encouraging states to charge tuition to undocumented elementary and middle school students. That could potentially overturn the Supreme Court’s decision guaranteeing school access for undocumented students. The foundation’s rationale is that government agencies such as schools are already overburdened and need to prioritize services for American citizens.
“The (Biden) administration’s new version of America is nothing more than a welfare state with open borders,” wrote Lora Ries, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center. “No country can sustain or survive such a vision.”
Muratsuchi, chairman of the Assembly Education Committee, said he was inspired to write AB 49 just after the election when he listened to the concerns of immigrant students in the political science class he teaches at El Camino Community College in Torrance.
“It became clear that there was increasing fear among my students, not only for themselves but also for their families. The fear of families being torn apart is very real,” Muratuschi said. “We want to send a strong message to our immigrant students that we will do everything we can to protect them.”
‘Too scared to say anything’
For most undocumented families, deportation would mean ending up in poverty and, in many cases, violence. Nahomi, a high school student in Fresno County who CalMatters identifies by her middle name because of her immigration status, described the threat of deportation as “a great concern for my family and me. Our lives can completely change in an instant. .”
Nahomi and her parents arrived in California in 2011 from the town of Culiacan in Sinaloa, Mexico, an area plagued by widespread violence. They initially planned to stay until Sinaloa became safer, but once they settled in the Central Valley, they decided the risks of returning outweighed the risk of deportation, so they stayed. Nahomi’s father works in construction and her mother is a housewife and raises Nahomi and her younger sister.
While she and her family fear deportation, Nahomi is not afraid to go to school. She said schools can help families know their rights and make children feel safe.
“I feel very welcome and safe there,” she says. “It is a very diverse high school and I feel just like any other student. … (But) many of these families are probably too afraid to speak out about their doubts.”
Politically unpopular?
Patricia Gándara, an education professor and co-director of the Civil Rights Project at UCLA, said the risk of federal agents arresting students in schools is likely low. It is unclear how many children in elementary schools are undocumented, but it is likely a relatively small number, she said. In any case, immigration enforcement that affects children almost always leads to public outcry from both parties, she said.
“Some people may say they’re anti-immigrant, but it’s a completely different thing when the family down the street that they’ve known for 20 years suddenly gets deported, or your child’s best friend gets deported,” says Gandara . the subject studied extensively. “It is very unpopular politically.”
Still, the proposed bills could send a strong message that schools are safe places, she said. The crackdown on immigration could have a significant impact on student attendance, a Stanford study found, which could lead to less funding for schools, especially low-income schools that enroll large numbers of immigrant children.
The crackdown on immigration could also lead to an increase in bullying, fear and general insecurity on campus, not just for immigrant children but for everyone, Gándara said. Teachers in particular experience a lot of stress when the safety of their students is at risk, she says.
“Schools are one of the last places where immigrant families feel safe,” she said. “But once (federal agents) enter schools, they’re not as safe anymore. These bills say, ‘We’re not going to sit back and let this happen. The entire government is not against you.”
California ‘one of the best places to be’
Both bills are awaiting hearing in the House of Representatives. Tammy Lin, supervising attorney at the University of San Diego Immigration Clinic, expects California will continue to take steps to protect undocumented families, but political conflict will be inevitable.
The new Trump administration is likely to battle California and other left-leaning states on immigration issues. Even within California, conflict is likely to erupt between state leaders and leaders in more conservative regions, or even between agencies in the same area. In San Diego County, for example, the Board of Supervisors ordered the sheriff’s office not to notify federal immigration officials when it releases suspected undocumented detainees from jail, but the sheriff refused to comply.
Lin also said she would not be surprised if there was an attempt to overturn the Supreme Court ruling guaranteeing education for undocumented children, potentially paving the way for the rights of other immigrants.
“It’s a slippery slope,” Lin said. “Immigrants know this and that is why there is enormous fear and uncertainty right now. But bills like this show that California is still one of the best places you can be.”
Suriyah Jones, a member of the CalMatters Youth Journalism Initiative, contributed to this story.
This story was originally published on CalMatters.
