BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — On Monday, Brevard Public Schools leadership received updated guidelines on handling potential visits from customs and border protection and ICE on their campuses.
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Updated BPS guidelines were necessary with the recent lifting of enforcement restrictions on so-called “sensitive” locations like houses of worship and schools.
Earlier today, we spoke with Dan Marquith, a former Senior Advisor to the ICE Director. We caught up with him today on Zoom.
He told us, “Every institution should be taking a look at it, making proactive steps to notify and educate their staff what to do if ice or an immigration official comes to their school and attempts to obtain information, or attempts access anything of that nature.”
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Under the BPS guidelines, the district maintains the authority to limit access during school hours or school-related events.
If ICE visits, they must have a valid signed subpoena or court order to access education records and school staff must comply with lawful requests, which may include the possible removal of a student.
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Marquith told us in general terms, “Understanding even from a tactical perspective for any law enforcement officer, not specific to ice, for any law enforcement officer to attempt an enforcement action into one of these locations, such as a school, a place of worship, any of these places is not something that’s going to be top of mind for law enforcement when a takedown or an enforcement action or an arrest or any of these type of activities takes place .”
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We also reached out to Michael Vastine, the Visiting Director of Clinical and Experiential Education at Stetson University’s College of Law. He told us he personally believes law enforcement will try to strike a balance.
He said, “The first step was, you know, the theater of saying that don’t consider yourself safe. And then, I guess the community will see what happens next. Of course, ICE still requires a warrant to make an arrest. And I suspect that schools at all levels are, you know, learning what those look like.”
BPS says it remains committed to providing all students with an education, regardless of immigration status.
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