San Diego Unified leaders are demanding change from the government after they said an 8-year-old student “fell victim” to the Trump administration’s termination of Temporary Protected Status designations and was placed in a federal facility earlier November.
San Diego Unified School District leaders — including its superintendent and board president — a city councilmember and several leaders of unions representing workers in education said they are concerned about how children and families are being impacted by the elimination of TPS protections.
A country can receive a TPS designation due to war or an environmental disaster, for example, and people with the status can’t be removed from the U.S., according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services. However, the Trump administration has pulled back on the program.
They addressed their concerns to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in a letter posted online by San Diego Unified on Nov. 6.
“When families are suddenly separated, displaced, detained, or removed from their communities, schools are often left to respond to the resulting trauma and educational disruption,” San Diego Unified leaders and others said. “These circumstances place children at significant risk of academic regression, mental health challenges, and long-term instability.”
They said they’ve witnessed instances where children who should be in school are instead at government facilities far from their “schools, teachers, classmates, and support systems.” That includes one instance they said occurred earlier November, in which an 8-year-old Haitian student who attends San Diego Unified’s Fay Elementary “fell victim to your administration's decision to end TPS earlier this year.”
What we know about the San Diego Unified student
According to the letter, the student “received a letter to meet” with an U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agent. His uncle took him to meet the agent — the child lives with his uncle following the deportation of his father.
“Once in the presence of the ICE agent, the agent used the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 as leverage to take the child into custody, leaving the uncle distraught, and this eight-year-old without the support of their family, community and their school,” San Diego Unified officials and others said.
The child, they claimed, was placed into a federal facility operated by the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
James Canning, a spokesperson for San Diego Unified, told the USA TODAY Network that officials believe this incident occurred on Nov. 4. Officials became aware of this incident because “the uncle informed contacts at the school.”
Canning said he was unable to provide the name of the child, and said officials do not know what facility this child was placed at.
However, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told the USA TODAY Network that “allegations that ICE took a third grader into custody to be placed in detention are FALSE, and any suggestion otherwise is a depraved attempt to smear our ICE law enforcement officers and undermine the work of President Trump and Secretary Mullin to protect children.”
A DHS spokesperson disputed a claim that the man responsible for the child was the uncle. They said that a man claiming to be the child’s uncle took him to an ICE check in, and ICE confirmed he wasn’t “part of either family unit he had been living with.”
The incident, they said, occurred on Nov. 5.
The DHS spokesperson said that “because the alleged uncle could not establish legal guardianship of the minor in accordance with” federal legislation, the child was determined to be an unaccompanied minor.
“Out of an abundance of caution and to ensure the child’s safety, ICE determined it was best to remove the child from the household and place him in the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement,” according to the DHS spokesperson.
The Office of Refugee Resettlement did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the incident, including a question about the current status of the child’s case.
A DHS spokesperson said the child was brought illegally into the U.S. “with a man who alleged to be his father.” His father “has never been in ICE custody and was previously removed to Mexico” by Customs and Border Protection.
Per the letter, San Diego Unified leaders said are sending crisis counselors to the elementary school “to support students because the child’s fellow third grade students have expressed concern and fear for their friend.”
What demands are San Diego Unified leaders making?
Officials said they’re demanding Health and Human Services, which is responsible for unaccompanied migrant children, and the Office of Refugee Resettlement to:
- “Prioritize placement decisions that keep children as close as possible to their home schools and communities” and when possible, place them with approved relatives, foster families or temporary care providers within the area of their schools.
- Work with local school districts before relocation decisions are finalized to assess educational impacts and develop formal protocols to ensure “uninterrupted access to education.”
- “Establish transportation and enrollment supports” so children can stay connected to their school community during temporary placements.
- Track and report educational outcomes for children impacted by federal placement and immigration-related custody decisions.
HHS and ORR did not immediately respond to a request for comment on these demands.
“We demand DHHS and ORR review these concerns and engage with school districts, child welfare experts, educators, and community leaders to create child-centered solutions that place educational continuity at the forefront of placement decisions,” officials said in their address to Mullin and Kennedy.
Paris Barraza is a reporter covering Los Angeles and Southern California for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at pbarraza@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: San Diego leaders demand change after child placed into federal custody
