A school lunchtime argument that “quickly fizzled” led to an East Boston student's three-year ordeal fighting deportation proceedings based on that incident, exposing the fluid sharing of information on students by law enforcement and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Schools, under federal policy , are considered "sensitive locations" where ICE is not authorized to conduct business. However, a Boston Globe analysis found that Boston city agencies submitted student incident reports on at least 104 occasions to the Boston Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC), a federally funded information-sharing network housed at the Boston Police Department.

Over the past two years, Unafraid Educators and the Student Immigration Movement have been working alongside lawyers, community members, and policy experts, including CfJJ, to develop the Learn Without Fear policy to ensure the Boston school system protects its students. However, on April 15, 2020, BPS introduced their own Student Privacy Policy that does little to protect students and families. Due to powerful and dedicated teacher- and student-led advocacy, the Boston School Committee did not move this proposed policy forward, opening the door to additional advocacy opportunities.

Join us in urging Boston Public Schools to adopt a strong policy protecting student privacy and setting limits on information-sharing between schools, law enforcement, and ultimately immigration authorities.

CfJJ's partnership with Unafraid Educators and Student Immigrant is the inaugural project of our newly launched Immigration Project . We are currently conducting research to better understand municipal-level school and policing practices and policies in Massachusetts' largest cities and towns and their impact on immigrant youth.

 

If you have either information or questions about school or police policies impacting immigrant students and young people in your city or town, please reach out to Josh Dankoff , CfJJ's Director of Strategic Initiatives.