Chiloquin Elementary School, which is part of the Klamath County School District in southern Oregon, is pictured. The Oregon House on Tuesday approved legislation to require public schools and universities to notify their communities when federal immigration authorities operate on their campus. (Photo by Alex Baumhardt/Oregon Capital Chronicle)
Oregon public universities and schools would have to promptly notify their communities when federal immigration agents step onto campus under a bill the Oregon House passed Tuesday.
Federal policy has long blocked immigration enforcement at “sensitive areas” including schools, churches and hospitals, but the Trump administration rescinded that policy last year. The American Federation of Teachers and National Education Association last week filed an emergency motion in a federal lawsuit based in Oregon seeking to stop Immigration and Customs Enforcement from operating in and around such locations.
House Bill 4079 passed the Oregon House by a 35-22 vote on Tuesday, with all Republicans and Democratic Rep. Tawna Sanchez of Portland voting against. The bill, which would go into effect in September, now heads to the Senate for consideration.
Rep. Sarah Finger McDonald, D-Corvallis, described the detention of an international student at Oregon State University in December, as well as rumors on social media leaving many students fearful to attend school. At an elementary school four blocks away from her house, she said some families decided not to allow their children to attend after news of an immigration enforcement action in the area.
“We cannot improve our attendance rates, literacy rates or graduation rates, if students are afraid to come to school,” she said. “If the assurance that their school will be paying attention and will let them know if immigration agents are present…will allow students to attend school without fear, we should assure that they get that information.”
Oregon law already requires school districts to provide electronic communications to parents and guardians in the case of a safety threat such as a lockdown or evacuation. But in the past year in Oregon, federal agents have detained an Iranian father outside his child’s preschool in Beaverton, arrested a 17-year-old U.S. citizen off-campus during lunch hours and reportedly conducted surveillance outside a Wilsonville middle school.
The Homeland Security Department asserts that such instances are rare and that agents would need a high-ranking supervisor’s approval to go into a school, arguing in one press release that “criminals are no longer able to hide in America’s schools to avoid arrest.”
The bill would require school boards and the governing bodies of public colleges and universities to confirm and provide notice “as expediently as possible” to families, employees and students when federal immigration agents enter a school’s property. Alerts would include information on where that enforcement activity took place and whether it disrupted classroom operations. But they would not be required if a court order blocked the disclosure of information or if immigration agents entered a university to accompany a patient seeking medical care.
Sanchez told the Capital Chronicle that she based her decision to vote against the bill on her experience as a social worker. Many people who receive notifications from their schools “will not know how to respond,” she said.
“They may respond in a much more traumatic way of isolation and holding themselves back. Some people may respond in a way of wanting to be the savior and go step in front of ICE at that point in time,” she said. “I think we just didn’t make provisions for that in that bill, which is a concern for me. We have to use the system that exists right now.”
Rep. Darin Harbick, R-Rainbow, said the bill prioritizes politics over safety and security, adding that he spoke with an ICE agent who told him they are not tasked with targeting schools. Many of his Republican colleagues framed the bill as unnecessarily duplicative and further entrenching schools in federal and state politics.
“While Portland school districts and any other district may choose to adopt such policies that they find appropriate, it is unnecessary and unfair to require rural school districts like those of my district to implement policies they neither need nor want,” Harbick said. “We’ve already seen policies like this disrupt school boards and divide parents.”
Amendments strip some verification processes
Faced with implementation concerns from some education advocates, lawmakers removed some provisions in the original bill that would have required school staff to assess federal immigration authorities’ credentials and ask whether they had a judicial warrant.
“Any provisions that place school personnel — particularly administrators and communicators of color — into heightened conflict, scrutiny or public pressure warrant careful consideration,” wrote Megan Mahoney, a former president of the Beaverton-based Oregon School Public Relations Association, in a Feb. 5 letter. “Protecting staff safety and well-being is essential to sustaining effective school operations and ensuring staff can respond appropriately, strategically and in coordination with safety and legal guidance.”
The bill’s disclosure requirements would not apply to personal information of a student or if sending out information threatens “the health or safety of the students or employees of the school district.” Schools and universities would have to share their disclosure policies in their student handbooks and on their website in languages tailored to their communities’ needs.
The alert system legislation is not the only bill dealing with immigration enforcement and educational institutions that Oregon lawmakers are considering. Senate Bill 1538, which would prevent school boards from declining to admit immigrants without permanent legal status because of their citizenship status, also cleared the Oregon Senate on Tuesday with the support of Democrats and five Republicans. The bill would align Oregon with a 1982 U.S. Supreme Court precedent declaring that students can enroll in public school regardless of their immigration status.
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