The Tucson Unified School District has begun mandatory training sessions for teachers and staff on immigration enforcement preparedness should federal agents come to campuses.
Presentation slides obtained by AZPM suggest that the training includes instruction on how to identify judicial warrants, how to approach officers who come to campus and how to protect students’ identities.
Jim Byrne is president of the Tucson Education Association union. He’s also part of a district task force designed to gather resources for ICE preparedness. That group involves other union representatives, governing board members, staff from Mexican American Student Services and the director of the Family Resource Center among others.
Byrne said there are about 200 union members who have expressed their interest in building immigrant support teams at 48 different TUSD schools.
“I think the places that are moving the furthest the fastest — in terms of trying to build out plans for their site and coordinate with their administrators — are likely the campuses that know that there’s a significant student and family population that come to their schools that will need this type of support and preparation,” he said.
ICE data shows that Mexico is the country of origin of the immigrants who are most often arrested, detained and deported. Other South American countries like Guatemala and Honduras follow.
According to state enrollment data, there are 25,426 Hispanic/Latino students in TUSD schools. The three district high schools enroll the highest numbers: Tucson with 1,870; Pueblo with 1,552; and Cholla with 1,213. McCorkle PreK-8 follows with more than 950 and there are currently 755 Hispanic/Latino students enrolled in the district’s virtual program.
Tucson High Magnet School Principal Jon Lansa notified teachers and staff on Wednesday that training sessions for the school would take place on Monday, Feb. 9.
Administrators and principals sent district-wide and school-specific emails this week assuring TUSD’s commitment to school safety and informing employees of upcoming training sessions.
“We understand that the ongoing federal immigration enforcement actions being carried out locally and across the nation have increased the level of anxiety and fear that many families feel sending their children to school or visiting our campuses,” wrote TUSD Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo in an email to community members.
Ahead of a Thursday afternoon task force meeting, Byrne seemed optimistic. He said that while he doesn’t feel panicked, the union and district are acting with urgency.
“We're happy this thing exists. We're happy we're meeting kind of as soon as possible hot on the heels of the governing board giving direction to it. So good things are moving in the right direction and hopefully we're fast enough to prevent the worst of the worst,” he said.
Byrne said Superintendent Trujillo is working on contingency plans in case there is mass ICE presence that would require hybrid or remote schooling. He also suggested that some schools are printing Know Your Rights cards that state one’s rights when approached by agents to be held at front offices.
TUSD’s immigration enforcement guidelines are posted online here.
The district was not available for comment.
Steve Jess contributed to this article.
