ICE Comes into NYC School to Pick Up 4 yr Old-Left Empty Handed

Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña said the city will do everything it can to protect families and students from federal immigration agents.

  (KATHY KMONICEK/FREELANCE NYDN)

Federal immigration agents showed up at a Queens elementary school looking for a 4-year-old — but were turned away at the door, officials said Saturday.

Officers from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services had no warrant when they arrived at Public School 58 in Maspeth, Queens, officials said.

“All students, regardless of immigration status, are welcome in NYC public schools, and parents should rest assured that we will do everything on our power to protect students, staff and families,” said Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña.

“We’re looking into this incident and are providing schools with additional information on our protocol and more trainings.” The incident took place some two months after the city ordered education staffers to bar immigration agents without warrants from entering school buildings. 

Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña said the city will do everything it can to protect families and students from federal immigration agents.

  

(KATHY KMONICEK/FREELANCE NYDN)

The policy was put in place even though there had been no cases of federal agents seeking to pluck children out of schools.

In explaining the move, Mayor de Blasio said he wanted to ease the minds of parents worried about the White House’s stance on undocumented immigrants.

“We’re seeing things that we have not seen before and there’s a tremendous amount of fear out there,” de Blasio said. “We have to be ready for anything.”