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New York Congressional Democrats have demanded that the departments of Education and Homeland Security provide information on the welfare of recently detained students 鈥� including whether they are receiving educational services.

Led by U.S. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Dan Goldman and Adriano Espaillat, they expressed 鈥減rofound concern鈥� to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Education Secretary Linda McMahon 鈥渁bout the pattern of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) targeting K-12 public school students throughout the country.鈥�

They cited the cases of five young New Yorkers 鈥� including a 6-year-old Ecuadorian girl who was in August while her brother, , remained in adult Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention. Two other siblings, one a K-12 student, were left in New York without their mother.

鈥淚CE鈥檚 targeting of not only adults without criminal convictions, but also children and families, negates the administration鈥檚 stated policy of going after the 鈥榳orst of the worst鈥� for deportation proceedings,鈥� they note in signed by eight other New York Democratic U.S. representatives, including Ritchie Torres and Jerrold Nadler.

They demanded to know the total number of students 鈥� from kindergarten to college-age 鈥� arrested by the Department of Homeland Security since President Donald Trump took office in January. They want to learn how many remain in ICE custody, their average length of stay and what percentage were or are being held alongside their families. 

They further asked how the U.S. government is meeting its legal obligation to educate these children and, more specifically, about the quality and language proficiency of the teaching staff. 

鈥淭he Department of Education has the responsibility under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution to ensure that all students have equal access to education,鈥� they wrote. 鈥淧lease provide copies of curricula, sample lesson plans, and rubrics currently in use at ICE detention facilities, processing sites, and Office of Refugee Resettlement shelters.鈥�

An Education Department spokeswoman said Monday that it will respond to the letter when the government reopens. In a statement to 社区黑料, DHS did not answer any questions about the school-age children detained by its agents, but blamed the media for 鈥渁ttempting to create a climate of fear and smear law enforcement.鈥�

Ocasio-Cortez and Espaillat did not respond to 社区黑料鈥檚 requests for comment. A spokesperson for Goldman, whose district encompasses Lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn, said he 鈥渞emains extremely committed to holding ICE accountable for terrorizing our schools and communities.鈥�  

The U.S. representatives鈥� worry about the fate of immigrant children echoes concerns being voiced nationally. Advocates say their communities are living in are targeted near school grounds, particularly in and where ICE tactics have been aggressive. 

Alarm over agents鈥� actions and their apparent lack of accountability was a central theme of the more than 2,700 attended by millions across the country this past weekend. 

Ranking Democratic members of two congressional subcommittees said Monday against ICE agents, citing that more than 170 U.S. citizens have been held 鈥� including nearly 20 children. 

鈥淭here’s no boundaries in this dragnet,鈥� Rebecca Brown, a supervising attorney with Public Counsel鈥檚 Immigrants鈥� Rights Project, told 社区黑料 . 鈥淣ow there’s no 鈥榦ff limits.鈥� Everything is fair game.鈥�

Not only are children and their parents being swept up near school grounds, Brown said the current federal government shutdown is making it increasingly difficult for families 鈥� and attorneys 鈥� to locate anyone who鈥檚 been detained.

鈥淲ith this administration and with this budget shutdown, it is really hard to get folks on the phone,鈥� she said.

Immigrant advocacy organizations are urging parents to make guardianship plans, including those specific to their child鈥檚 schooling. One such group, in response to the massive uptick in enforcement efforts, said for the first time it鈥檚 helped some 100 families this year make binding educational plans for their kids in case their parents or guardians are arrested or deported.

鈥淲e have not used this in prior years,鈥� said Julie Babayeva, supervising attorney at the New York Legal Assistance Group’s LegalHealth Unit. 鈥淲e are doing this much more now. This is becoming super urgent.鈥�

More than were in government detention in late September, according to a clearinghouse that tracks federal data. More than 71% had no criminal convictions. More than unaccompanied minors were in government custody as of Oct. 20, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. The Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is under HHS, oversees their care at some and programs in 24 states and is charged with detainees鈥� schooling. ORR did not respond to requests for comment.

Undocumented immigrants over 18 are sent to adult holding sites. Dylan Lopez Contreras, 20 and a student at a New York City high school dedicated to older newcomers, is among them. The Bronx resident was arrested in May in a high-profile case and remains in detention as his lawyers denying him asylum and deporting him back to Venezuela.

Contreras鈥檚 case was also cited in the letter to Noem and McMahon, with the representatives noting he is being held hundreds of miles away from his family in Pennsylvania at the 鈥淢oshannon Valley Processing Center, from which there have been reports of insufficient medical care and use of solitary confinement.鈥�

Conditions at both and have been widely criticized. In addition to concerns about young people鈥檚 overall health and safety, at these sites: substandard curriculum and untrained or underqualified staff are among many complaints. 

Just last week, immigrant from Everett, Massachusetts, was arrested after authorities fielded a 鈥渃redible tip鈥� in which the student was said to have made 鈥渁 violent threat against another boy within our public school.鈥� 

His mother, who arrived at the local police station to pick him up, was instead told ICE had already taken him away. The family, from Brazil, has a pending asylum claim. The mother from two different immigration facilities, one in Massachusetts and the other in Virginia. 

鈥淗e cried a lot because he had never been away from home or his family,鈥� she said. 鈥淗e was desperate, saying ICE had taken him.鈥�

Erika Richmond-Walton, a litigation fellow at Boston-based Lawyers for Civil Rights, said the detention and deportation of young kids 鈥渋s definitely not protecting or advancing their educational rights. Deporting children contradicts decades of settled law.鈥� 

And even if the children themselves are not targeted, the removal of their parents is devastating. One California mother is bereft after her husband was detained in late September after dropping off their 8-year-old daughter at school. 

The woman, who asked not to be identified for fear of immigration enforcement, told 社区黑料 she talks with her husband every day through video chat and that she expects him to be deported to their country of origin. She said government officials told her husband they are 鈥渨aiting for the plane to fill up so they can send it to Colombia.鈥� 

, said the well-documented damage to school-age children of aggressive deportation extends far beyond increased absenteeism, anxiety and plummeting grades. In a just society, he said, young people learn political norms through what they see.

鈥淲hen a child watches a federal agent drag a parent from a car line or hauls someone off in front of classmates, they absorb a lived lesson: Power may be exercised arbitrarily, and some lives can be violated in public without accountability,鈥� he said. 

Adaku Onyeka-Crawford, director of the Opportunity To Learn Program and a senior attorney at The Advancement Project, located in Washington, D.C., said immigrants at schools is dubious.  

鈥淚 think this administration is tricky when it鈥檚 saying we are not sending ICE to schools but are sending ICE after students who are on their way to school 鈥� and targeting communities and children no matter where they are or what their age.鈥�

Prior administrations took such circumstances into account, at least to an extent, said Brown of the Public Counsel鈥檚 Immigrants鈥� Rights Project. But early on in his second term, Trump rescinded a longstanding restriction against immigration agents carrying out enforcement actions in so-called sensitive locations, including schools.

鈥淭here was some consideration for age and vulnerability,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e’ve seen an uptick in enforcement around schools. 鈥� This is by design: You punish the kids in order to get the parents to comply.鈥�

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