California AG issues guidelines to protect undocumented students from ICE

April 1 (UPI) -- California Attorney General Xavier Becerra on Friday issued guidelines for public schools to protect undocumented immigrants on campus from Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

The guide provides recommendations for how to respond to information requests regarding immigration status; a warrant or court order regarding immigration enforcement; immigration agents requesting access to school grounds; hate crimes related to national origin; and the detention of a student's family member.

"Every student, regardless of immigration status, is entitled to feel safe and secure at school," Becerra said in a statement. "In California, nearly half of all children have at least one immigrant parent. It's our duty as public officials and school administrators to uphold the rights of these students so that their education is not disrupted."

According to Becerra's office, there are approximately 250,000 undocumented immigrant students in California's K-12 public school system and 750,000 students have an undocumented parent.

Becerra's guidelines for public schools comes one day after he sent guidelines to law enforcement agencies across the state on how to follow the state's so-called "sanctuary" laws, including SB-56, which prohibits local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration officials on some matters.

Becerra's guidelines come at a time when the state's sanctuary laws have been facing resistance from the the Trump administration and the Justice Department, leading to a federal lawsuit challenging the laws' constitutionality, as well as Orange County lawmakers and law enforcement officials have disavowed the laws.