Superintendent Discusses Approach in Case ICE Attempts Detaining Students in Schools

New Britain school Superintendent Tony Gaspar met this week with members of the Community Task Force, led by Pastor Gervais Barger of Peace Missionary Ministries, assuring them that ICE agents have not attempted to detain students in New Britain schools and describing the school district’s plans if it did attempt to do so.

“There have not been any ICE raids or attempts by their agents to grab any students in our NB school district,” the Task Force minutes of the September 2nd meeting paraphrased Gaspar as telling them.

The Task Force also paraphrased Gaspar as saying that, “agents that do not have a court order signed by a judge will not be granted entry. If they show up principals have been instructed to call the superintendent,” and Gaspar would then involve school district attorneys.

But, the Task Force paraphrased Gaspar as telling them that, “If ICE agents show up with a proper court order signed by a judge,” that, “Security will escort them to and from their designation.”

Gaspar told the Task Force, according to the minutes, that, in the event ICE agents attempted to detain student exiting school buses, the district would attempt to bring students safely into school if it could, but that the district has too few staff available at the time to likely be able to do so.

Gaspar also told the Task Force that the school district is concerned that a 100 student drop in enrollment might be related to fear that has been spread about immigration raids, and that the school district would like to convey that students are safe to attend the city’s schools.

Task Force minutes paraphrased Gaspar in saying that the city’s school district, “does not check citizenship, nor ask families to provide that documentation to enroll their children in our public schools. As long as families provide documentation required to prove they are residents, their children can attend our schools.”

Gaspar told the Task Force that it could use a school building to speak to students and their parents about their rights.

The meeting with Gaspar follows another meeting in August with city police Chief Matt Marino and other city public safety officials in which the Task Force said Marino told them that the state Trust Act limits how the city police can collaborate with federal ICE agents.

The CT Mirror reported that the Trust Act, “generally prohibits Connecticut law enforcement from arresting someone solely on the basis of a detainer — a request from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that police hold a person for up to 48 hours so federal agents can pick them up — with some exceptions.”

But, in response to a question the Task Force paraphrased as, “Do the local police stand against their (ICE) overly aggressive arrest policies?” the Task Force minutes paraphrased Marino as telling them that, “We are apolitical, which means we are neutral when it comes to politics. We do not side with any political party or their policies. We cannot stand in the way of ICE, nor are we allowed to interfere with their arrests of individuals.”