A lawsuit has been filed against Boston Public Schools (BPS) after immigration agents were given access to student information, NBC Boston reports. Attorneys are calling on the district to cease communication with the federal law enforcement agency.
BPS claims that the allegations waged against them are not true, but that hasn’t stopped Lawyers for Civil Rights from taking the school system to task. They say that the sharing of information has put students at risk, and have cited specific cases where a student has been deported because of a school discipline record.
Janelle Dempsey, who works with the lawyer organization at the helm of the lawsuit, told NBC Boston that incident reports, which act like a police report within the school district, for more than 100 students were sent to the Boston Regional Intelligence Center which is funded by Homeland Security.
“Families feel scared and rightfully so because it is now known that BPS shares information with ICE,” Dempsey said.
Superintendent Brenda Cassellius spoke to WBUR and noted that the documents in question were shared from 2014-2017. She also told the outlet, that the school district does not share information with federal authorities. Adding, “In my tenure, we’ve already taken steps to provide a safe environment for our children and make sure that these things are not shared.”
Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley spoke on the situation via Twitter, saying, “Our classrooms should be safe havens for students, not an onramp to deportation. We must pass the Ending #PUSHOUTAct to end the school-to-deportation pathway & ensure that our schools center the humanity and dignity of ALL students.”
