Bill would make California schools ‘safe havens’ from immigration enforcement

The Santa Clara County Office of Education and the Santa Clara County Board of Education are co-sponsoring a California bill that would establish school campuses as safe havens from immigration enforcement activity, as fears around deportations and arrests ramp up in Bay Area communities amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on noncitizens.

Introduced by Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, a Democrat who represents Torrance, AB 49 — the California Safe Haven Schools Act — would prohibit school employees from allowing immigration officers on campuses without a warrant or approval from school officials. The bill would also require immigration officers who are allowed on school campuses to be restricted to areas where students are not present.

While rumors have circulated about immigration officers’ presence on college and K-12 campuses, there have been no confirmed reports in the Bay Area or California.

“All children have a constitutional right to attend public schools, regardless of immigration status,” saidAssemblymember Muratsuchi, chair of the assembly education committee, in a statement. “Unfortunately, the threat of federal immigration officials coming onto school grounds to detain undocumented students or family members casts a shadow of fear over all California students. Students cannot learn if they are living in fear of being deported or separated from their family members. This bill is necessary because children should not be afraid to come to school and parents should not be afraid to send their children to school.”

The bill comes as President Donald Trump has promised mass deportations of immigrants in the country without permission.

The administration has also targeted people living in the country legally. Trump officials have canceled hundreds of international students’ visas for reasons ranging from traffic violations to political activities. The Department of Homeland Security and the IRS also agreed to share immigrants’ tax data with immigration officers to identify and deport people living in the U.S. illegally. Homeland Security has also ordered everyone living in the U.S. illegally to register with the federal government and carry documentation or face fines or prosecution.

The Trump administration rocked school communities in January when officials rescinded a longstanding policy that barred immigration enforcement from taking place in sensitive locations, like schools and churches.

Local and state officials scrambled to reassure families that California schools are not required to allow federal immigration agents to access campus without a court order or judicial warrant. But many schools took that a step further, designating their campuses “safe havens” or “safe zones” from immigration activity and reassuring students and families that anyone is welcome on their school sites, regardless of immigration status. Student records are also confidential under state and federal law and are not supposed to be shared without a court order or warrant.

Now, AB 49 aims to establish statewide protections for students from immigration enforcement at schools. A similar senate bill, SB 48, would make it illegal for schools to allow immigration authorities to question students, search school property or access campus without a valid warrant or court order.

The University of Southern California’s “California Immigrant Data Portal” estimates there were approximately 2.44 million immigrants living without permission in California and 2.59 million California residents living with at least one undocumented family member in 2021.

The Santa Clara County Office of Education said more than 165,000 students in the county live in a mixed-immigration status household — and that many families live in fear and are hesitant to sent their children to school.

At a California State Assembly education committee meeting earlier this month, Santa Clara County Office of Education board president Maimona Afzal Berta warned that without additional protections, Bay Area schools were likely to see dips in student attendance and parent participation similar to what she said occurred in communities in 2017 and 2018 under Trump’s first term.

“AB 49 would extend important protections for our students, communicate to families that schools are a safe place to learn and empower schools to continue to resist immigration-enforcement actions to the greatest extend allowed by law,” Berta said in a statement Tuesday.