Trenton Schools strengthen protections for immigrant students amid rising ICE fears

As Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) intensifies its crackdown on undocumented immigrants across New Jersey, Trenton educators and school officials are taking proactive steps to reassure and protect students by educating them and their families about their legal rights. 

Amid widespread fears of ICE raids on school grounds in the wake of the Trump administration’s executive order lifting a 2011 ban on arrests in schools, churches, and hospitals, the Trenton Board of Education reaffirmed a resolution committing the district to the “emotional and physical safety” of all of its students.

Unanimously adopted by the Board on January 27th, the resolution and its “Safe Zone” Policy (5111A) mandate that Trenton schools be a “Safe Zone for its students…to learn, to thrive, to seek assistance, information and support” and uphold the constitutional right of every child regardless of nationality or immigration status to “safely access” a free K-12 education. 

Specifically, the “Safe Zone” policy prohibits school personnel from allowing ICE or any third party from entering school grounds or gaining access to any student’s data or information without a judicial warrant, and requires staff to immediately refer any requests to the Superintendent’s Office and legal counsel for the district. 

“We will not allow anyone to jeopardize the learning environment or the safety of our students,” said Board President Gerald Truehart. “People having the right information at the school administrative level, with teachers and staff knowing what steps to take is the first step to changing the culture and the climate of fear.” 

Originally adopted response to the 2017 wave of ICE raids under the first Trump administration, the Safe Zone policy also mandates that Trenton schools protect student privacy by prohibiting them from collecting data on immigration status or national origin in compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). 

“We in the Trenton district will not have our children used as pawns in our politics,” said School Board Member Austin Edwards, who is also President of Trenton’s NAACP and Counsel for the non-profit Salvation and Social Justice. “As a district we have the constitutional right to educate our children, to promote public health and having ICE coming through our schools would be a clear violation of that. It would be a trauma and a disruption of the learning environment for all children,” he added.

Edwards emphasized that the Safe Zone School Policy is backed by New Jersey state and federal laws supporting protections for immigrant children. The Supreme Court decision Plyler v. Doe (1982) ruled that a State may not deny a child access to education due to immigration status, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the grounds of race, color or national origin by entities like public schools that receive federal funding. 

Although there is no credible evidence of ICE activity at schools in New Jersey at this time, Trenton School Superintendent James Earle said the impact of rumors had been devastating. “We saw a drastic decrease in attendance the first few days after the executive order was signed, when images started to show on television news reports. Parents were writing emails to the school, to me, to the principals, saying they were fearful that they might be picked up on the way to school, even when we gave them comfort about their childrens’ safety at school.” 

Is it safe to come to school?

In a rare interview about the implementation of the “Safe Zone Policy,” Earle said that while security protocols are always in place, the level of fear and anxiety in the district had called for reinforced training. “Starting in early January, we worked with our security team, conducted in-person training for all our administrators, every supervisor, and every director. We spent multiple days working through scenarios, how to address the ‘what ifs,’ how to activate our safety drills if a visit [by ICE] created a disturbance.” 

Earle clarified that the “Safe Zone” protocol is “apolitical”. “Let me be clear. We have no intent to break the law. Whatever the law says we will do. If there’s a legal document we have to execute that. However, we are going to prepare and protect all our students from trauma.” 

What measures, besides the Safe Zone protocol, are being taken to reduce the psychological toll of the crackdown? Earle sees the partnership with parents based on clear factual communication as a priority. “Our families trust us to educate their children so they can go out and work, so it’s our job to communicate well and often. We want to present the facts and what’s legal. We tell people that it’s safe to come to school, the protocol we follow, and not to believe rumors they hear on social media. We are desperate to let our families know what they can do and what to be prepared for.”  

Missing school for immigrant students, many of whom come from low-income families, has “ramification upon ramification” for them beyond missed learning Earle warned, since schools also give access to subsidized food, after-school programs, medical and mental health services and other support.

Earle said the Safe Zone policy 5111A, along with other practical resources like a “A Step by Step Family Preparedness Plan” on how to respond to immigration enforcement, had already been widely circulated to staff and parents, translated into the languages of the district and posted at all physical and virtual school sites. 

In the coming months, Earle says he will also prioritize professional development for Trenton teachers and staff, who play an important role in mitigating the trauma. “This affects all of us, not just immigrant families. We are concerned about not just the family impacted by a raid, but about the two children next door who witnessed it. Are they okay? So we’re thinking now about ways we need to counsel, support students and be on the lookout every day.” 

While it’s too soon to determine if the trainings, resources and professional development mandated by the Safe Zone School policy will stem absenteeism and reduce trauma, Earle said he is hopeful that educating the school community about legal rights and protections when dealing with immigration can make a difference. “I think the protocol and the trainings have already helped ease the anxiety that the Trenton schools are not part of any raid.”

Also optimistic about the protective impact of the policy is School Board member Sasa Olessi-Montano, who is Board President of the Latin American Education and Defense Fund (LALDEF). “Schools should be viewed as safe spaces for all children, not just undocumented immigrants,” added Olessi-Montano, who highlighted the importance of the move for the district’s significant Latino population—65% of students, many of whom are recent immigrants who fear racial profiling. 

As one of New Jersey’s sanctuary cities that limits cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, Trenton has seen a groundswell of protest and resistance to the immigration crackdown in recent weeks, notably in the national social-media-driven “Day Without Immigrants” on February 3d, when immigrants stayed home from work, stopped shopping and kept their children home from school.

Trenton’s SAFE ZONE School Policy reflects policy priorities laid out in in New Jersey’s proposed Immigrant Trust Act (S3672/A4987), a bill introduced in 2024 requires public schools, health care facilities, libraries and shelters to adopt policies that help people feel safer accessing public services without fear of deportation or detention. 

To access Trenton’s resources to support immigrant students and families affected by deportation and related trauma go to the New Jersey Department of Education’s student rights and resources and “A Step by Step Family Preparedness Plan” in both English and Spanish.