Los Angeles school police will set up a safety perimeter around campuses and school events — including graduations — to keep federal immigration agents away from students, employees and families, school officials said Monday.
The announcement by Supt. Alberto Carvalho comes amid widespread immigration raids in Los Angeles — including one on Monday at a Home Depot adjacent to Huntington Park High School — after a weekend of isolated but intense downtown clashes between police and protesters, some of whom set self-driving Waymo cars on fire and threw rocks and fireworks.
The move is among the most notable actions taken by the nation’s second-largest school district, whose leaders said at a news conference Monday that they will deploy their own police force to protect students and their families so they can enjoy in peace the many graduation ceremonies that will unfold this week as the school year concludes Tuesday.
“We stand strongly on the right side of law,” Carvalho said. “Every student in our community, every student across the country, has a constitutional right to a free public education of high quality, without threat. Every one of our students, independently of their immigration status, has a right to a free meal in our schools. Every one of our children, no questions asked, has a right to counseling, social emotional support, mental support.”
President Trump reversed a Biden administration policy that largely exempted schools and other potentially sensitive areas such as churches from immigration enforcement. In recent days, federal agents also have not targeted local schools. But in April federal agents were turned away by staff at two elementary schools.
Carvalho did not rule out the potential for a standoff involving school police if federal officers attempted to enter a school or an off-campus school event — such as a graduation ceremony — without a judicial warrant.
“I think that would be a preposterous condition,” Carvalho said. “But then again, we have seen preposterous actions taken recently by this administration. We are prepared for everything,” Carvalho said, adding that he’s in consultation on contingency plans with L.A. Mayor Karen Bass.
“I have a professional, moral responsibility to protect our kids, protect our workforce, ensure the sanctity, the protection of our buildings and their extension,” Carvalho said. “That means the school buses, the transportation of kids to school and graduation ceremonies. Nothing should interfere with that, and I will put my job on the line to protect a 5-year-old, an 11-year-old, an 11th grader or a soon-to-be graduate.”
But there are limits. Officials acknowledged that they are not legally allowed to interfere if officers arrive with a judicial warrant, which are relatively rare. All school staff — not just the school police — have received training in how to interact with immigration agents, especially to limit their access to campus and children.
Defenders of Trump’s goals counter that public employees should assist in supporting immigration laws against those who are not legally authorized to live in the United States.
For the school system, the immigration furor put a chill on a normally celebratory time — graduation season. The federal actions prompted a detailed, concerned and sometimes furious response from school district leadership.
“As I looked out at the horizon from my office this morning, I saw gray clouds over Los Angeles,” Carvalho said as he opened his remarks. “Those gray clouds could mean a lot of things to a lot of people. I interpreted them as clouds of injustice, clouds of fear, intimidation — clouds that seek to scare the best of us into dark corners.”
About 100 high school graduations and end-of-year culminations were scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, with graduation events continuing through June 16.
L.A. school police lack the manpower to encircle every campus and school-event venue, but when officials learn of potential immigration enforcement activity, the plan is to put one patrol car in front of a campus and another in motion around the site.
At graduation ceremonies outdoor lines to enter venues are to be minimized. And families can remain inside for as long as necessary should agents initiate a raid outside or in the neighborhood.
Where possible, a virtual option would be provided for families to watch a graduation ceremony online.
Said Carvalho: “I’ve spoken with parents who’ve told me that their daughter would be the first in their family to graduate high school, and they’re not going to be there to witness it, because they have a fear of the place of graduation being targeted. What nation are we becoming?”
Carvalho said there is confirmation so far of six or seven school district families that have been affected by raids and arrests. In one case, a student was detained with his father and transported from L.A. to Texas. The district has not identified the student or school out of privacy concerns.
A fourth-grader who attends Torrance Elementary — in a neighboring school district — and his 50-year-old father were taken into custody on May 29 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — and will soon be deported, a federal official said.
The father and son entered the U.S. illegally in 2021, according to the federal government.
The superintendent also noted talk of student walkouts. He said that students’ right to protest would be respected but he asked families to urge their children to remain on campus for safety reasons.
Carvalho also advised families to update their contact and emergency information with their school. And families also should prepare backup plans should caregivers be taken into custody.
Summer school starts on June 17 and runs through July 16. Carvalho said more campuses would be opened for classes to minimize travel from home to school and more school-funded transportation would be provided.
District leaders have frequently been circumspect in their words about the Trump administration — critical, to be sure, but somewhat careful. But there was little caution Monday.
School board member Nick Melvoin demanded the removal of the National Guard and compared Trump’s heavy-handed response in Los Angeles to his delay in halting rioters who sought to prevent the peaceful transfer of power from Trump to President-elect Joe Biden on Jan. 6, 2021.
Board member Rocio Rivas said there had been raids in the last few days in Boyle Heights, MacArthur Park, Lincoln Heights, Pico Union, Cypress Park, “just to name a few.”
“Our families are now forced to live in fear, looking over their shoulders on the way to school or their child’s graduation. This is just simply wrong. It is also very, very cruel,” Rivas said.
Said board member Tanya Ortiz Franklin: “This isn’t about keeping our community safe. This is about a backwards belief about who belongs and who should be pushed out, locked up and shut up.”
School board President Scott Schmerelson reached for a wider perspective.
“This is supposed to be the happiest time for our kids and their parents, and it’s a very sad time, but we have to remember too our kids have accomplished a lot,” Schmerelson said. “They are graduating and are trying to keep a positive attitude.”
