ICE Outside Schools in California: Children Watch Their Parents Being Arrested as Families Prepare for the Worst Day of Their Lives

A child watches as officers take her mother away. Other children watch their fathers being arrested. In Corona, California, the American immigration enforcement agency ICE has unleashed fear through its operations around schools, and that fear now reaches all the way into children's bedrooms. Around 40 people were arrested in the area surrounding Home Gardens Academy. Minors witnessed their parents being arrested. Some operations began as early as 2 a.m., while most people were still asleep. The organization TODEC is also reporting additional operations in Home Gardens and the neighboring cities of Perris and Moreno Valley. What those children saw cannot be undone. ICE agents are carrying out indiscriminate raids, arresting people and dragging them off to immigration detention. Family members are left behind, not knowing when they will see their loved ones again. For their children, something begins at that moment that will last far beyond the next few hours. They have to understand that an adult who was still part of their lives that morning can suddenly disappear. And that even the ordinary trip to school is no longer somewhere they can feel safe.

Since October 23, the U.S. immigration enforcement agency ICE has been carrying out ongoing, indiscriminate large-scale operations in Corona, California, including right outside schools.

School is supposed to give children a dependable daily routine. In Corona, parents are now wondering whether they can even pick up their children themselves without risking arrest. These are families whose days used to consist of ordinary things: getting up in the morning, getting the kids ready, taking them to school and bringing them home in the afternoon. That sense of normalcy has been destroyed. Luz Gallegos, director of the aid organization TODEC, reported several operations throughout the Inland Empire region. Five ICE operations near schools, daycare centers and colleges have already come to light in October.

A mother in the area has already explained to her daughter where the important documents are kept. If something happens, the girl is supposed to call her aunt. That one sentence captures the full cruelty of the current situation. A child is being given advance instructions on how to manage without her mother. She has to know whom she can reach and where documents are kept that adults would normally handle themselves. These conversations are happening while other families are making plans for the afternoon or deciding what their children should take to school the next day. In Corona, the possibility of an arrest has now become part of those preparations. And this no longer concerns only the people ICE actually targets. The operations are changing the lives of those who are still at home, too. Parents have to explain a danger to their children that they cannot reliably protect them from. A father can promise to be careful. Whether federal agents arrest him anyway is beyond his control. How do you explain to a child that even having her parents there can no longer be taken for granted? The authorities have regulations and operational plans. A child has the memory of her mother telling her to call her aunt in an emergency.

Tear gas was used against everyone, whether witnesses or journalists.

Meanwhile, all of us are working to establish binding procedures with the responsible school district for situations like these. Parents need answers to very specific questions. What happens when federal agents show up outside a school? How do staff respond if those agents demand entry to the building? Who gets notified when parents can no longer pick up their children? According to activists, procedures for handling such situations already exist. However, the published reports did not explain what those procedures actually require. For families who entrust their children to a school every morning, that is a serious uncertainty. Schools are supposed to provide an education. Now they also have to prepare for children suddenly being left without parents they can reach. A teacher can explain math to a girl. But that does not answer the question of why her father was taken away or when he will come back. Even a well-prepared school office can only manage a parent's absence. The child has to live with it.

The Los Angeles school district held a Spanish-language information session about caring for children during prolonged absences of their parents. Attorney Michelle Sausedo of the organization Public Counsel recommended choosing a trustworthy caregiver ahead of time, someone who is actually available. That person must also be capable of taking responsibility for the child. Families should have birth certificates and passports ready, along with Social Security cards and medical records. School records are also needed when a child suddenly has to be cared for by another adult. The recommendations are practical. That is precisely what makes them so heartbreaking. Parents are putting their documents in order for the day they may no longer be able to care for their own children. The daughter needs to know where everything is. The aunt needs to be reachable. Nobody can tell her in advance whether she will actually be needed. The fact that families are making these preparations shows how deeply fear of the operations has entered their daily lives. It does not begin with an arrest. It is already sitting at the kitchen table when parents explain to their children what to do in an emergency.

Under certain conditions, California allows a written caregiver authorization for adults with whom a minor child lives. This allows caregivers, for example, to enroll a child in school. Certain medical decisions are also permitted. The extent of these powers depends on whether the caregiver is related to the child and which legal requirements are met. Notarization or filing with a court is generally not required. The caregiver signs the document herself or himself. However, it does not grant legal custody. The authorization makes daily life easier for a child whose parents are unavailable without completely replacing their legal status. Good preparation can prevent a child from losing access to school on top of being separated from her parents. But it cannot take away a girl's fear of waking up the next morning without her mother. There is no government form for that. California's aid organizations are trying to spare families at least some of the decisions that can still be made before a possible arrest. Even they cannot promise anything more.

Crucial information is still missing about the people arrested in the Corona area. ICE has published neither a complete list nor an account of the circumstances surrounding the individual arrests. We are currently investigating around the clock to find out where the people who were arrested are even being held. Residents, whose daily lives are now dominated by fear, are terrified of losing family members in a police operation. Children who have already watched their parents being taken away right in front of them are suffering especially badly. The consequences of such an experience do not end when the officers leave. They carry over into the next school day and into conversations within families. Classes continue in Corona while parents designate emergency caregivers. Phone numbers are written down and important documents are gathered. Private food stockpiles are also being organized to make sure children who have lost their parents to arrest still have food. The American government is sending ICE agents to tear people away from their families and haul them off. Children are left behind after watching their parents being arrested, not knowing when they will see them again. One girl now knows where to find the documents in an emergency. Her mother has also told her to call her aunt if that happens. The fact that a mother has to prepare her daughter for the possibility of being taken away by ICE agents one day is a devastating reality of American immigration policy under Donald Trump.

To be continued ...