CUSD sent a fact sheet regarding undocumented students and their rights to families in the district on March 15. This happened in the wake of increased fears of deportation for some families brought about by the change in presidential administrations.

The Supreme Court ruled in 1982 that no state can deny a public education to a child living in the state. In California, students between the age of six and eighteen are required to attend school in accordance with compulsory attendance laws, regardless of whether or not they are legal residents.

Furthermore, the district is not required to collect any information regarding a minor’s immigration or legal status, but in certain cases, school districts may be required to release information regarding citizenship requests of adult education students.

Officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement or other government agencies will be treated like any other visitor on campus, and may be denied access to campus if the school determines the official is a disruption to the learning process or poses a security threat to students or staff.

In the case of a court order, any government agent must be given immediate access to a student.

If a student’s parents are in custody as a result of immigration enforcement, the district is not required to release the student to government authorities. CUSD advises that parents with concerns should make prior arrangements for the student to be released to another adult.

Although the fact sheet was sent to the entire district, many students are still unaware of their rights. One undocumented student at SJHHS said that despite this, he was not nervous about deportation.

“I’m not really worried because I haven’t done anything illegal other than being born and involuntarily crossing the border,” he said. “Under the constitutional rights that immigrants have, you can’t take their freedom away by ripping their families apart.”

According to the student, he is more concerned about the way ordinary people treat immigrants.

“I think the only thing wrong will be the community and how they treat each other,” he said. “There’s been evidence to show that they don’t have the money to do it, so that’s not something to be feared of. Something to be feared of is the anti-immigrant views that people have.”

Many cities across the country have been declared sanctuary cities that limit enforcement of federal immigration policies or refuse to enforce the policies altogether. Various school districts have set forth policies to be a sanctuary for undocumented students, but these declarations do not provide any further legal protection.

President Trump has threatened to block federal funding to sanctuary cities, but it is unclear whether that same policy would apply to sanctuary school districts.