School district bans Border Patrol over concerns officers may cause trauma, stress for immigrant children

A Washington school district unanimously voted to ban United States Customs and Border Patrol personnel from its school campuses over concerns that officers could create a “stressful situation” for immigrant children and families, the Spokesman-Review reported, citing a nonprofit advocacy group.

Spokane Public Schools officials adopted a new policy on Wednesday that prevents staff from allowing Border Patrol and immigration agents, in an official capacity, from entering school grounds unless they have received prior approval from the district’s superintendent. This policy does not prevent parents who are Border Patrol or immigration agents from being involved in their children’s education while off-duty, Superintendent Adam Swinyard noted. However, it does ban Border Patrol agents as classroom guest speakers.

“The policy prohibits their involvement in our school if they’re operating on official capacity,” Swinyard said. “If they’re operating as a parent, then parents have the right to engage in their kids’ school experiences as a parent, but not operating in their official capacity.”

Board President Nikki Otero Lockwood stated during a February 21 school board meeting that the added language would “make it just very clear that Border Patrol should not be in our schools.”

SPS policy states that the district's operations shouldn't intersect with Border Patrol operations because schools' “obligation to educate the children residing within its borders is not diminished by the children or parents’ immigration status.”

The district’s Wednesday vote also added language to its existing policy declaring that its staff cannot “collaborate with immigration enforcement agencies or share information that could put a student’s security at risk.”

Nonprofit advocacy group Latinos En Spokane has pushed the district’s administration to adopt the policy since 2018. According to the organization’s executive director, Jennyfer Mesa, a Border Patrol agent’s presence on campus could be traumatizing — even sparking fear and anxiety — for immigrant students and families, the Spokesman-Review reported.

Mesa claimed that “schools are safe spaces ... where we come to learn.” She argued that Border Patrol agents and immigration officials could target students “as immigrants” for “having an accent."

“If they’re asked for something about their parents, you know, that could be a stressful situation,” Mesa stated. “These fears, these stressors, create PTSD for students and families who have experienced ... family separation ... worries about another family member.”

According to Mesa, SPS opted to impose the ban following conversations with the nonprofit and in light of a 780-signature petition supporting the new measures.

“Just today, we got a report of two people who were picked up by ICE,” Mesa continued. “They were on their way to work. They were in Spokane Valley. They get picked up. That’s community members that disappear, and we need to track them down and try to get them back with families. This is happening every day in Spokane. We don’t need it to happen in our schools.”

Lloyd Easterling, chief Border Patrol agent of the Spokane Sector, released a statement in response to SPS’ new policy, calling the decision “unfortunate.”

“When agents and officers attend events at schools, they are merely there for educational purposes, at the invitation of the school, and not to conduct immigration enforcement activities,” he wrote. “Agents and officers from CBP attend countless events at schools throughout the nation — without controversy.”

“Our officers and agents are active members of their communities and have children who attend the local schools,” Easterling continued. “The fact [that] the school board has taken this position of intolerance against a law enforcement agency is disheartening and makes the community less safe.”

SPS did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

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