By Piper Cherry
Concerns about Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) being allowed on campus were raised during the public comment period of the Oceanside Board of Education meeting Oct. 16.
Jennifer Hennessy, a mother with children who attend Oceanside School No. 5 (North Oceanside Road Elementary School), is a first-generation American. “My parents came here from a different country, and I have a particular affinity for immigrant students,” Hennessy said. “And I am just very concerned.”
Hennessy raised the question of what policies the district has in place regarding the protection of immigrant students.
Her concerns follow incidents of ICE agents being spotted around two Long Island Schools: Brentwood High School and Alverta B. Gray Schultz Middle School in Hempstead at the beginning of the school year. The presence of ICE at the Brentwood campus led to the arrest of a father after dropping off his children.
“We have a family whose father was picked up while the children were at school, and so they refused to go to school the next day,” Melanie Creps, executive director of Central American Refugee Center (CARECEN) in Hempstead, said in an interview. “They were refusing to go for the next week because what if mom gets picked up next? What if [they] leave in the morning and come home with no parents?”
According to Oceanside Schools Superintendent Dr. Phyllis Harrington, there are clear directives published by the State Education Department that all school districts are required to follow when it comes to ICE.
“First of all, they are not allowed on campus,” Harrington said. “We would have to ask them to leave. We would take immediate action. The state has a commitment to protecting all of our children across our state.”
Harrington added that the school district is well equipped and prepared through the policy provided by the SED to protect the students from ICE.
Hennessy’s next concern regarded the possibility of ICE agents being brought on campus if the Nassau County Police Department were called for an emergency because of a collaboration agreement between county and the federal agency.
While Harrington was unfamiliar with the collaboration that Hennessy discussed, her concern did not come out of nowhere. In February, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman announced that 10 county police detectives would be trained with ICE officers and given the same authority to detain immigrants.
This agreement type is a task-force model, which allows officers to question citizenship status and arrest residents without judicial warrants. The model was discontinued in 2012 by former President Barack Obama, but was recently brought back by President Donald Trump.
Even so, Harrington assured Hennessy that should ICE agents come on to campus during an emergency call, the state mandate would take precedence and the officers would not be allowed to stay.
Creps advises immigrant parents, however, to have a legally binding family plan in case anything were to happen so they can protect themselves and their children.
Hennessy said she wanted to speak out at the meeting to help the board understand that this isn’t just a worry of hers, but a general worry in the community.
“I wanted to let them know that people are thinking about [this], and not just going around their lives as if nothing is happening,” Hennessy said. “I’m very grateful that the board was able to give me an answer.”
