ICE and Police Conspire to Scare Children & Interfere with Their Constitutional Right to Access Public Education
June 12, 2025
Washington, DC – As we commemorate the 43rd anniversary of Plyler v. Doe, the landmark Supreme Court decision made on June 15, 1982 that affirmed the constitutional right of undocumented children to access public education, Advancement Project also condemns the surge in law enforcement’s cooperation with ICE to detain children.
Adaku Onyeka-Crawford, director of the Opportunity to Learn program at Advancement Project, shared the following statement:
“Students and their families should be celebrating graduation and end-of-school-year accomplishments. But instead, many have had these rites of passage ruined by immigration raids or skipped these celebrations altogether out of fear of encountering ICE. And state and federal officials are poised to continue to terrorize immigrant children and communities through the summer. Right now, certain federal and state officials are attempting to compel state and local law enforcement agencies to sign 287(g) agreements, which deputize local and state police to detain community members and work with ICE to enforce federal immigration laws. Using a model that infamously led to abuse and racial profiling, federal agents and local police officers across the country are conspiring to strip immigrant children of their right to go to school and learn.
Denying children access to education based on where they were born is an attack on our values of fairness, opportunity, and racial equity. From St. Petersburg, Florida to Los Angeles, California, law enforcement has gone to great lengths to make schools unsafe and unwelcoming to the very students and families who enrich those spaces. Surveillance, profiling, and police in schools fuel the school-to-deportation pipeline and disproportionately harm Black, Brown, Indigenous and undocumented youth, all of whom already face deep structural barriers in education.
Education is a right, not a privilege. We call on lawmakers to terminate their 287(g) agreements and prohibit law enforcement from entering into such agreements; demand school leaders to commit to upholding Plyler v. Doe in our local communities; encourage communities to stand with immigrant students and families in the fight for safe, inclusive, and equitable public schools for everyone.”
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Advancement Project is a next-generation, multi-racial civil rights organization. Rooted in the great human rights struggles for equality and justice, we exist to fulfill America’s promise of a caring, inclusive and just democracy. We use innovative tools and strategies to strengthen social movements and achieve high impact policy change. We are a co-convener of the National Campaign for Police Free schools, a formation of 20+ youth-led grassroots organizations fighting to end the criminalization of youth in the classroom, create liberatory educational spaces, and implement an affirmative vision of safety and transformative justice. Visit www.advancementproject.org to learn more.
