The state departments of education and civil rights say principals and school administrators should have plans ready in case immigration authorities knock on their doors.
Agustin Arbulu is the director of the Michigan Department of Civil Rights. He says school officials should know their rights and responsibilities, and be ready to answer parents’ questions.
Immigration authorities say they don’t take enforcement actions in or around schools. But Arbulu says there’s a lot of anxiety right now, and some families need reassurance.
“People, individuals, families, some of them are undocumented, are they withholding their children from going to school?”
Arbulu says every child in Michigan has a right to an education regardless of their immigration status.
The letter is also signed by state schools superintendent Brian Whiston.