Foolish Symbolism and Hyped Hysteria in the Public Schools

By Dan Cadman on February 26, 2017

The media has been filled with stories in recent days about various school districts declaring themselves "sanctuaries" by issuing orders to the effect that ICE agents will not be allowed to enter schools or property without criminal warrants (see, e.g., here and here). This, I think, is a foolish overreaction

It is almost certainly primed by open-borders advocates who hope to stir the populace at large into frowning on revitalization of federal immigration controls through hysterical imaginings of jack-booted minions of the law tromping through the halls of local elementary schools.

It is a long-settled principle, based on a Supreme Court ruling, that even illegal alien children have the right to public education in the United States. One can imagine very few instances, indeed, in which an immigration agent would have any interest whatever in going to elementary, middle, junior, or high school. Why would they? The answer, of course, is that they would not. (And ICE's "sensitive locations" policy strictly limits enforcement actions at schools, among other places.)