New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Tuesday he intends to block ICE from entering public schools. The staff were directed to deny ICE agents entrance to schools unless executing a warrant signed by a judge and further detailed the procedure to be followed in the unlikely event ICE agents do show up with one.
He also said that he knows these things don’t take place — ICE agents entering schools—but at this point anything is possible. Immigration Customs and Enforcement have said they don’t intend to visit schools seeking out students who are in the United States illegally. Despite that fact, Mayor de Blasio blasted ICE for their recent crackdowns on illegal immigration by suggesting the agency has the potential to single out children.
As he outlined the above operating procedures, de Blasio did so in a tone of distrust and hysteria. The way he described ICE makes them sound like a death squad roaming the streets of New York searching for random people to tag and bag. He also stated that he wants immigrants to know their rights and assured them that New York is their city too.
Coincidentally, de Blasio is up for re-election in November. I’m sure with the large immigrant population in New York, that has absolutely nothing to do with his actions. In any case, what he has described is not ICE’s method of operation. ICE has already stated that they do not patrol areas indiscriminately seeking illegal immigrants. They operate on information and leads that are given to them. They follow orders just like any other federal agency.
Read the rest of the piece at OpsLens.
Angelina Newsom is an OpsLens Contributor and U.S. Army Veteran.
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