Los Angeles Declares City’s Schools ‘Safe Zone’ for Immigrant Students

The Los Angeles United School District, the second largest school district in the nation, voted this week to make their facilities “safe zones,” and will not allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to enter district property.

To protect the city’s students while in a learning environment, the district has stipulated that all requests from ICE must be sent to the superintendent and the district’s general counsel. LAUSD will also be setting up a “response network” to provide resources to assist students who may be in danger of being deported.

The vote comes following President Obama’s initiative to crackdown on undocumented immigrants. The school district fears that the increased threats of deportation may cause some families to keep their children home from school, which they hope to prevent.

ICE officials do not seem upset by the decision, as they consider churches and schools to be “sensitive sites,” where they would be unlikely to enter to enforce immigration laws anyway.

Approximately 10% of the population of Los Angeles is undocumented, and almost half of the student body in the school district identifies as Latino, Think Progress reported.