Teachers volunteer to patrol around schools watching for immigration officers

Shortly before classes began Tuesday morning at Lincoln High School, Dawn Miller hopped into the passenger seat of a pickup truck, two-way radio in hand. She was on patrol, part of a volunteer group of educators on the lookout for Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations around the school and its surrounding neighborhoods.

Miller, a teacher at the San Diego County Office of Education, has engaged in community patrols since learning about the deportations of three high school students 16 years ago. The students were arrested by federal agents at a trolley station while on their way to school.  At that time, she recalled, the community rallied around the students, who were eventually returned to the U.S. with humanitarian parole.

Miller believes that it is time to organize to protect students and their communities again — especially when faced with immigration arrests of parents near local schools in recent weeks, including one in Encinitas on Wednesday.

Community groups have been patrolling neighborhoods for immigration enforcement activity throughout San Diego County for years. This time, however, teachers and education workers are getting involved on their time off. And now that students are returning to class, the groups hope to get more official support — both philosophically and logistically — from the school districts.

“I never thought we would have to be patrolling the schools in the morning just to ensure that our children arrive safely for an education,” said Miller. “It’s unbelievable.”

Both Unión del Barrio, which began with community patrols in 1992, and the Association of Raza Educators held training sessions for teachers and others amid concerns about potential ICE activity during the upcoming school year.

“For the last six months we anticipated that there would be higher levels of repression in our neighborhoods,” said Miller. “So we’ve … intensified the training over the summer to make sure that teachers and educational workers were prepared.”

So far this month, at least three parents have been arrested by ICE near schools during drop-off or pickup time, sparking condemnation from school officials and community organizations.

“It didn’t happen on school grounds, but it happened close enough to our community to feel its impact,” San Diego Unified School District Superintendent Fabiola Bagula said last week after a parent waiting to pick up his child near Linda Vista Elementary was arrested by ICE.

ICE said the man was arrested for allegedly using a U.S. citizen’s Social Security number. The previous week, a mother with a deportation order in absentia was arrested near Enrique Camarena Elementary School in Chula Vista during morning drop-off.

On Wednesday, the Encinitas Union School District confirmed in a letter that a parent of one of its students had been detained in an immigration-related arrest near an intersection by Park Dale Lane Elementary. The father had been driving to work that morning, as families nearby were dropping children off at school.

The man, originally from Guatemala, was in the country illegally and was issued a final order of removal from the United States in 2017, Patrick Divver, the field office director of ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations in San Diego, said Wednesday.

During the targeted vehicle stop, the man’s wife “responded to the area in a separate vehicle with a young child in the backseat from the opposite direction of the school and then proceeded to interject herself and the young child into the scene,” Divver said. “These actions are shameful and not to mention dangerous.”

Divver added that the vehicle was stopped two blocks away from the school and not in view of the campus.

“As a District community, we are alarmed and disturbed by this event and its impact on children and families,” Superintendent Andrée Grey said in a letter to the school community. The incident also sparked outrage from state Sen. Catherine Blakespear and U.S. Rep. Mike Levin, who both represent the area.

“I have personally urged ICE to stay away from schools and churches unless there is an overwhelming public safety or national security concern,” Levin said on the social media platform X Wednesday. “Conducting enforcement operations at these community institutions is wrong and unacceptable.”

ICE reiterated that its agents are not conducting enforcement operations on any school grounds.

“This ‘teacher patrol’ is unnecessary and could unintentionally disrupt law enforcement operations. Our mission remains clear-cut: to protect children, families, and communities in accordance with the law,” Divver added.

Divver said that “anyone who obstructs, interferes with, or assaults a federal law enforcement officer during the course of their duties will face arrest and presentation for criminal prosecution as appropriate.”

Community patrol volunteers said they do not intervene in arrests. Their goal is to confirm and document ICE activity as well as keep their neighbors informed, said volunteer Adriana Jasso, who works with the American Friends Service Committee. She added that they want to send the message that “there are more eyes and ears watching over the community.”

Volunteers hope their presence can make a difference.

“If at least one family is not destroyed that day, that’s a win,” said high school counselor Juan Orozco, who joined Miller in patrolling the area. He’s been part of the community patrols for 30 years.

“We are not a reaction to what’s currently happening,” Orozco said. “We have been organizing a counteroffensive to defend our communities.”

On Tuesday morning, Miller and Orozco were in one of four marked vehicles covering the area. They drove around the neighborhoods and, if they received a report of a possible sighting of immigration agents, they went to verify it.

Some people in the area know them well. While driving around, Miller asked to pull over briefly to say hello to one of her former students.

At the end of their shift, a woman rolled down her window and approached the volunteers as they were getting out of their marked community patrol vehicle. She asked if there had been any ICE activity in the area. They did not see any immigration enforcement operations that morning.

The San Diego Unified School District said in a statement regarding the community patrols that it supports educators’ First Amendment rights.

“Our educators can volunteer during their free time on issues involving immigrant rights. We support their right to use their voice and free time for causes that are important to them,” said spokesperson James Canning.

“Specifically, as it relates to interacting with immigration enforcement officers during the school day, educators have been advised for their personal and legal safety not to intervene,” he said.

“Our school district has policies and protocols in place to keep everyone on our school campuses safe should a federal official step foot on a campus,” he said. “We have worked since last year to make sure our educators know these critical guidelines.”

Miller and Orozco said they would like to see more action taken by school districts throughout the county, including help with patrolling within a 1-mile radius of schools. “We want to work and collaborate with them,” Orozco said.

Staff writer Jemma Stephenson contributed to this report.