Immigration attorney explains rights, district staff outline response if ICE appears at schools

At a community meeting hosted by East Whittier City Elementary, immigration attorney Gustavo Mora told families what to do if Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers try to detain a household member and district staff described how schools will respond to any ICE presence.

Mora, who said he has practiced immigration law in Los Angeles since 2006, told attendees that ICE generally needs a judicial arrest warrant to take a student or family member from school and that families should ask to speak with an immigration attorney before answering questions. “La cosa más importante es, primero, no decir nada y demandar que usted quiere hablar con un abogado de inmigración,” he said during the meeting.

The district’s director of student services, Trina González, said administrators and office staff at the district’s schools have received training on the district’s response. “Todos los administradores de estas escuelas y la personal de oficina han recibido entrenamiento,” she told attendees, and she said families would be contacted immediately if officers sought to speak with a student or family member.

Why it matters: Parents and caregivers told district leaders they are anxious about recent national enforcement activity and social-media reports. The attorney’s guidance and the district’s stated protocols address two separate concerns: how families can protect legal rights during enforcement encounters,…