President Donald Trump was inaugurated into office on Jan. 20, 2025 and enacted a multitude of laws, pardons and policies. President Trump ended a policy restricting Immigration and Customs Enforcement from making arrests in safe spaces including schools, houses of worship and hospitals.
“We are going to love and educate all of our students equally,” Academic Associate Principal Stephanie Monajami said. “It doesn’t matter where you come from, and we don’t ask for immigration status when students enroll.”
MISD School Enrollment and Registration doesn’t require immigration status from parents or students, restricting the school from acquiring the information needed for arrests of illegal immigrants.
“We are subject to the Family Educational Rights to Privacy Act (FERPA) which means that we cannot release information to anyone who does not have an educational need to know,” Ms. Monajami said. “Everything that is about a student in school is completely private. We know this is a hard situation for a lot of families, so we are trying to be very sensitive about it.”
MISD and the campus have practices in place to ensure students feel secure on campus. This includes specific processes for non-MISD employees who may want to visit campus.
“We are going to do everything we can to make sure students are protected and taken care of,” Ms. Monajami said. “We’ll involve Students Services as well because they specialize in things that are not necessarily academic-related for students and their families.”
The policy change extends beyond protocol, changing students’ belief in school as a safe place.
“I know a lot of people that haven’t gone out in a week because of how bad everything is,” an anonymous source said. “They feel trapped in their home, and I think that people are going to live in that constant fear for a long time.”
Even students with correct, legal documentation, citizens or student visa holders, fear the new policy as it changes the social stigma and chance of being profiled.
“There isn’t a quick way to profile someone other than their appearance, and you can’t tell if they were born here or if they have a visa or if they have papers,” the anonymous source said. “So, I think, anyone in Hispanic culture is afraid of getting profiled and detained.”
Students who know people affected by the change or affected by it themselves disagree with the new policy change, believing it’s relinquishing rights as humans to safe places of education and worship.
“Sanctuary spaces shouldn’t have been taken away. Kids hold a lot of purity and innocence, and they shouldn’t be driven to issues like that,” the anonymous source said. “Those [safe spots] are people’s places to express themselves or go into their beliefs, and it takes away their right to freedom.”
The administration adapts to the new policy change, ensuring student safety while abiding by district policy and federal law.
“We’re navigating it. It’s one of those things we’re figuring out as we’re going through it,” Ms. Monajami said. “I’m worried that we’ll have families not return in the fall because they won’t have that safe feeling in their hearts anymore, but more importantly, I worry about what happens to them if they’re not coming to school and getting their education.”
