Schools
Framingham Officials Offer Clarity On What ICE Can, Can't Do In School
ICE agents won't be let into any Framingham school buildings without a judicial warrant. Here's what else school officials said.
FRAMINGHAM, MA — President Donald Trump's immediate ramping up of Immigration and Customs Enforcement action since taking office has surfaced concerns in the Framingham Public School District.
Framingham Superintendent Bob Tremblay recently offered an explainer to the district about what its priorities are, and who they'll allow in school buildings and when.
The Trump administration announced it would allow federal immigration agencies to make arrests at schools, churches and hospitals, ending a policy that had been in effect since 2011.
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It's part of a campaign platform made by Trump, who vowed — and has now begun — to launch a nationwide deportation campaign.
In Framingham, however, Tremblay explained that these raids can't happen without certain steps being taken.
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"If an ICE agent comes to any school building or office with a warrant or court order, an administrator will immediately contact the Superintendent's Office," Tremblay said. "The Superintendent's Office will review the warrant or court order provided by the agent and will contact the caregiver(s) and legal counsel before any action is taken."
That warrant must be signed by a judge, Tremblay notes, and limits the presenting agent to searching only for the specific item listed on the warrant. It doesn't give them the authority to walk through school buildings without reason.
Framingham schools are locked as a policy, and only visitors with permission are allowed entry.
ICE arrests have been ongoing in Massachusetts, but not all have been warranted.
A Lynn teenager, Zeneyda Barrera, 18, was arrested and held for days in a Maine jail after a recent court appearance for what reports have called a "domestic dispute," but what Barrera's lawyer said was "two siblings getting into an argument over a telephone and pushing each other."
The case is being dismissed.
The Barrera family came to the U.S. from Nicaragua two years ago and has an asylum application in review, giving Zeneyda legal status.
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