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A coalition of Minnesota school districts and the state鈥檚 teachers union, Education Minnesota, on Wednesday filed suit in U.S. District Court of a decades-old federal policy barring immigration enforcement activities near schools and other 鈥渟ensitive locations.鈥� 

The longstanding rule prohibiting federal agents from targeting schools was repealed Jan. 20, 2025, the day of President Donald Trump鈥檚 second inauguration. 鈥淐riminals will no longer be able to hide in America鈥檚 schools and churches to avoid arrest,鈥� the Department of Homeland Security said in a press release. 鈥淭he Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense.鈥� 

The suit names Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, her department, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection and numerous federal officials as defendants. As of press time, DHS had not responded to 社区黑料鈥檚 request for comment. 

At a press conference in Nogales, Arizona, on Wednesday, ICE Director Todd Lyons 鈥� a defendant in the suit 鈥� praised the Trump administration鈥檚 policies. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 need any new laws,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e just need the ability to enforce the ones we have.鈥�  

White House border czar Tom Homan has insisted immigration agents have 鈥渄e-escalated鈥� actions and that 700 will soon leave Minnesota. But education leaders say schools are being targeted as intensively as at any point in the last two months. 

Even with the promised reduction, the number of agents still in the state would be larger than the 2,000 present when Minneapolis mother Renee Good was killed by ICE a month ago.    

Five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos 鈥� depicted in a photo that went viral worldwide as he was abducted wearing a knit bunny hat 鈥� from a Texas detention center and escorted home to the Minneapolis suburb of Columbia Heights on Feb. 1 by Texas Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro. 

The next morning, however, ICE agents stationed themselves in at least one school parking lot in the district, and a bomb threat was received, Superintendent Zena Stenvik . Multiple Columbia Heights students detained in recent days have yet to be released.       

The lawsuit lists numerous examples of federal agents occupying and detaining staff in school parking lots, following superintendents and school board members, tackling and tear-gassing students and staff, pulling day care workers from their cars, arresting parents and students at bus stops and pulling over school vans transporting children to school, among other actions. 

As a result, the complaint states, districts have been forced to cancel classes and create online learning alternatives for students 鈥� including non-immigrants 鈥� whose families can鈥檛 safely leave their homes. In several school systems, more than a third of children are absent or learning online on any given day. Absentee rates are much higher in programs specifically geared for immigrants. Many students have simply disappeared. 

Because Minnesota uses daily student attendance numbers to calculate per-pupil funding, impacted districts anticipate a loss of revenue, the lawsuit states. One of the districts that brought the suit, Duluth Public Schools, has spent more than $500,000 worth of staff time planning new security measures in response to the enforcement surge. 

Over the last two months, half of the district鈥檚 administrative team鈥檚 time has been spent planning responses, Duluth Superintendent John Magas told 社区黑料. 鈥淲e know students can鈥檛 learn unless they feel safe,鈥� he said. 鈥淩ight now there is a great sense of lack of safety, especially among our historically underserved students, based on what we are seeing.鈥�   

The complaint filed by the Duluth school system, Fridley Public Schools 鈥� which has twice been forced to cancel all classes because of ICE activities at or near schools 鈥� and Education Minnesota says federal agents’ actions 鈥渧iolate the Administrative Procedure Act and constitutional protections, and that DHS failed to adequately consider the educational and community impacts when it rescinded prior guidance limiting enforcement in sensitive locations.鈥�

No district or taxpayer funds are being used for the lawsuit, Magas said. Much of the cost is being borne by the teachers union.  

From 1993 to 2025, immigration agents were required to have advance, written approval if they believed exceptional circumstances merited an exception. School bus stops were explicitly named in the policies as being off-limits. Immigration officials were required to report agents鈥� activities near protected areas. 

鈥淭he presence [of ICE] agents conducting investigative activity at schools, or in venues where children鈥檚 activities occur, has always been a point of particular sensitivity,鈥� a 2007 version of the rule explained. 鈥淎ccordingly, it is important to emphasize that great care and forethought be applied before undertaking any investigative or enforcement type action at or near schools, other institutions of education, and venues generally where children and their families are present.鈥�

In 2021, then-DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas issued a memorandum reaffirming the 鈥渇undamental 鈥� bedrock鈥� principle behind curtailing enforcement. The agency, it said, 鈥渃an accomplish [its] enforcement mission without denying or limiting individuals鈥� access to needed medical care, children access to their schools, the displaced access to food and shelter, people of faith access to their places of worship and more.鈥�

鈥淭he budget negotiations going on in Congress right now, we鈥檝e heard a lot of things about body cams and things like that,鈥� said Magas. 鈥淚 haven鈥檛 heard a lot about a .鈥�

In Rochester, Minnesota, January absenteeism overall was 42% higher than in December but up 116% among students receiving English learner services and 108% among Latinos, according to Superintendent Kent Pekel. Of the district鈥檚 15,500 students, more than 200 recently enrolled in the district鈥檚 existing online school, while an average of about 550 were absent on any given January day. 

In the last few days, however, enrollment has rebounded. It鈥檚 hard to know exactly what鈥檚 prompting the return, Pekel told 社区黑料, but families he has spoken to say they are nervous but also want their kids in school. Informal networks of educators and parents have been out in the community dropping off food, providing rides and making sure families know children are missed.   

Unlike other districts, Pekel said, Rochester’s schools don’t seem to be a target of immigration agents. 鈥淭hey have been near our schools, but we haven鈥檛 had instances of them being on our property or circling schools,鈥� he said. But if that were to change, enrollment would likely fall. 

鈥淥ne incident could wipe that out.鈥�

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