ICE at school - what you can do

The following post is based on a January 25th 2026 nationwide training, led by the Association of Raza Educators, Union del Barrio, and Educator Power. Over 1,000 K-12 educators from around the nation joined THIS training alone. We are not outnumbered! None of the following advice is illegal, nor is any action we aim to promote.

Know What It Looks Like

DHS (Department of Homeland Security) is the federal department that ICE lives in. ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) works side by side with CBP (Customs and Border Patrol), which is also under the DHS umbrella. ICE itself is divided into two branches: ERO (Enforcement and Removal), as well as HSI (Homeland Security Investigations). All of these organizations also work closely with the more well known DOJ (Department of Justice), which includes US Marshals, FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, and Explosives), as well as DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration). All of these acronyms work closely with ICE, and in a school setting should be treated as such. Additionally, as many of us have seen on numerous videos, most of these agents are moving undercover and relying on the element of surprise. They may be in plain clothes or unclear uniforms, and often drive entirely unmarked vehicles. Do not assume there is not a danger of ICE just because you do not see a vehicle or officer that is easily identifiable as an ICE agent.

ICE starts their operations around 5am, but operations and raids are now often occurring throughout the day and into the evening, 7 days a week. Stay vigilant always. They usually use US made cars, (Fords, Dodges, Chevys). They usually have regular license plates, (not CA exempt), and may even have no plates at all. They usually have very dark tinted windows throughout the whole vehicle, and police lights in the visor, front grill, and bumpers. These lights are often not visible as police lights unless they are on and activated!! Agents usually do not work alone and normally move in teams of two or more agents per vehicle.

All Agents Need A Valid Warrant!

ICE has been documented around the nation to try to enter homes and businesses without warrants, and even using warrants that are fake or not yet completed. They have also created "Immigration Warrants", which are warrants for removal or deportation of a specific individual. This kind of warrant is NOT a warrant to enter a building!! They normally have Department of Homeland Security as a header, do not have a judge's signature, and look like a fairly simple document. NO ONE needs to let agents into their home, school, business, school bus, personal car, or any other building if agents only have a deportation warrant. They will try to trick and pressure people into letting them in voluntarily. Treat them like vampires - once you invite them in you have given them what they want.

A real warrant will be issued by a court and have a "United States District Court" header. Even if an agent presents a court warrant, the warrant needs to have the exact address of where they are trying to enter. It needs to be signed by a judge, and will have a specific date/dates that they are allowed to enter. It will also have specific information about the person(s), property, and area(s) that may be searched. If the warrant is missing ANY of this information, or it is not correct (i.e. not a current date, not the correct address, not signed by a judge), it is NOT a valid warrant and the agents legally can NOT enter. Make sure as many people at your site know the difference, especially any and all allies your school has in your admin team and front office.

Make A Plan Within Your School

No matter how many allies you have at your site, try to get as many together as possible and make a plan! What will you as a team do if there is confirmed ICE activity near your school? If they attempt to enter campus? If they do enter campus? If one of your students or staff is kidnapped, whether on or off campus? Create a phone tree or group chat to be able to alert as many staff as possible. If possible, meet with your admin team and see if they are open to creating a site-wide plan. Share info about constitutional rights (such as the warrant info above, the right to remain silent, etc.) with parents and families in advance. This could look like sending home red cards, creating a specific flyer, or having one on one in-person conversations.

• If ICE is confirmed to be nearby, how will you notify parents and community members? Make sure someone at your site is in contact with our local Valley Watch Network, who run the ICE hotline in the central valley. (559) 206-0151 Make sure you notify lots of people, quickly! ICE hates a crowd.

• Treat ICE presence as an emergency! You can use similar strategies to active shooter training if ICE is confirmed nearby or on campus. Lock all doors and gates, turn off lights, hide and do not comply. If you cannot stop them, slow them down! Distract, redirect, be as unhelpful and uncooperative as possible. The longer agents take on a raid, the more time the community has to show up and disrupt. Getting the word out should happen quickly and in coordination with this noncompliance.

• If your students or staff are kidnapped, connect as quick as possible with family members and make sure they have legal support. Again, call the hotline if you don't have existing resources for this! ICE will often move kidnapped community members from detention center to detention center rapidly. Their tactics are to move quickly and be as stressful and disorienting as possible, so that detainees are hard to find, and all involved are confused and scared. They do this so that people will try to give up and self-deport, which is easier for agents than actually going through the legal system. Stay calm, stay strong, and do not give in! If a raid happens at your school, make sure your team provides trauma-informed care after the fact. How can you support the basic needs of your families? How can you work as a team to help your students through the trauma of a crisis after the fact?

Teach Students About Their Rights, AND Respect Them

From elementary school to high school, all students deserve to know what they can do, just as in any emergency. If your students have cell phones, make sure they know they have the right to record. Remind them never to post rumor or unverified information, but let them know how powerful bearing witness can be. We only know what happened to George Floyd because a teenage girl was brave enough to film. Share contacts with community partners and ways they can stay active in the community outside of campus. Sponsor a club if you work with middle or high school, such as MEChA, BSU, GSA, etc. Encourage them to share this knowledge with their parents and make sure their families also know how to document.

Remember that it is ILLEGAL statewide in California for educators to ask OR answer questions about students' legal status! In the event that a student or parent shares with you, encourage them to keep that information private for their own safety, and obviously keep it to yourself as you would with any other private student information. If any agent asks you or other staff to share information on students' legal status, do not comply! Make sure your office staff knows they do not have to share this information, including daily attendance records!

What NOT to do!

We are not advocating for you to disrupt or interfere with agents or their activity. You cannot protect your students from jail or from a coffin. Do not chase ICE agents, and do not get arrested. If you as an INDIVIDUAL feel ready and willing to break the law, explore that choice personally and make sure you have a plan. You have rights, your school has rights, and your students and their families have rights. They want us to forget, and they want us to give up. We do not have to!