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Are Immigrations Officials Patrolling Schools?
April 25, 2006 08:25 PM PDT

There are rumors of immigration officials stalking schools and day labor sites. It is prompting many illegal aliens to go underground.

Some parents are going as far as pulling their kids out of school out of fear immigration officials will pick them up.

AISD has confirmed through an insider e-mail that some parents have withdrawn their kids from school out of fear that immigration officials are sweeping the campuses.

You might call it the fear factor.

"We know some of the children have talked in school saying their parents were picked up," Susana Almanza with PODER said.

Community activists with PODER say families are being ripped apart with parents deported and kids left behind.

"We've heard from students already that their family members were deported. It's very frightening," Almanza said.

REcent immigration sweeps have fueled rumors that INS is targeting schools.

"Things are bad enough that AISD sent out an e-mail," Jim Harrington with the Texas Civil Rights Project said.

A memo to AISD principals advises them to tell students they are safe, that they have the right to speak to an attorney and to call the consulate if a family member is picked up. All the while, AISD's policy is to never ask if a student is in the country legally or not.

"We've been getting calls from people saying there might be raids of such. There was one that was widely publicized a week ago other than that we have no knowledge of any other raids," Consul General Jorge Guajardo said.

The Mexican consulate is in the "know" when it comes to deportation cases. While illegal immigrants don't seek out help, those being deported do. The consul general says he does not know of any current cases in which families are separated.

"The rumor mill has it that there have been a lot of raids. We have no evidence to the fact that there have been raids; however in this case, the rumors take over, and facts stop being relevant," Guajardo said.

Late Tuesday, AISD issued a statement saying that they have received no reports of immigration officials visiting any campus or that it will happen in the future.