Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras recently addressed the “uncertainty and anxiety” immigrant families are experiencing under the administration of President Donald Trump.
“I will stand at the schoolhouse door to protect any student of ours,” Kamras told VPM News. “My message to [students] is — you are safe with us. We love you. We will protect you, and so please come to school.”
The superintendent said immigration status is not a precondition to education or any service offered by RPS. Kamras’ reassurance to families comes nearly a week after the Trump administration stripped schools and churches of immigration enforcement protections.
“We don't want anyone to fear coming to school [out of] fear of potentially being taken away,” he said. “We're going to do everything we possibly can to prevent that.”
Upon taking office, Trump signed a slew of executive actions related to immigration, including the declaration of a national emergency at the southern border, ending automatic citizenship to children born in the U.S. to parents who don't have legal status and finishing the border wall.
He also promised to deliver on his pledge of deporting at least 11 million people who entered the country illegally. How quickly Trump can deliver on his promise will depend on several factors, according to immigration experts, including buy-in from state and local law enforcement agencies.
A Department of Justice memo issued last week threatens state and local officials with prosecution, if cooperation with immigration enforcement isn’t offered.
Last year, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares issued an opinion criticizing local and state enforcement agencies for refusing to cooperate with ICE to enforce federal immigration laws. Gov. Glenn Youngkin has also proposed a ban on "sanctuary cities” and defunding such localities.
“If someone is in this country illegally and they commit a violent crime, they should get a one-way ticket back to where they came from,” Youngkin said in his State of the Commonwealth address earlier this month. “This should not be controversial.”
'Our Richmond police officers will not be doing the work of deportation.'
Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards told VPM News last month that while the city has several task forces working with federal agencies, he isn’t interested in working with U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“We haven’t, and I'm not interested in pursuing the 287(g) delegation of that kind of authority,” Edwards said in December. “I don't see a role for that with law enforcement — local law enforcement — particularly with RPD.”
Prior to the Jan. 20 inauguration, Edwards said the police department was focused on community outreach through their neighborhood walks and police academy.
“We've worked really hard to reach out to all members of our community, regardless of what their passport says or what language they speak,” Edwards said. “Our officers won't be asking anyone's immigration status. If you're a victim or witness or you're calling us for help. We are there to help you in that encounter.”
ICE does have an office located in Chesterfield County, which covers a large part of Virginia, but does not post its activities.
Over the weekend, several unverified ICE sightings in the Richmond area were detailed on social media. On Monday, Richmond Mayor Danny Avula said his team is monitoring the accounts but at this time, he’s unaware of a confirmed or enhanced ICE presence in the city.
“When police are showing up, doing their day-to-day job, that’s being misconstrued as ICE,” Avula said. “We will continue to look into it and make sure that people know when we actually do have confirmation of ICE presence on the ground.”
To combat the spread of unverified ICE sightings, RPD took to Facebook to alert the community in Spanish of an increased police presence Friday at Southwood — a predominantly Latino neighborhood — as detectives executed a search warrant.
Avula praised RPD’s trust-building efforts with Richmond’s immigrant community during the past few years and said his message remains the same: making Richmond as safe and inclusive as possible.
“Our Richmond police officers will not be doing the work of deportation,” Avula said.
Kamras said Richmond schools’ relationship with law enforcement is contingent on police enhancing and protecting students. If that relationship were to shift, he said the district is open to exploring policy amendments.
When it comes to ICE agents on school grounds, Kamras said they are going to take it on a case-by-case basis — if it were to occur.
“We certainly are not going to be allowing any government officials to take children without very clear evidence, without very clear warrants, without very clear guidance about why doing so would be legal, why doing so would be appropriate and why doing so would not in any way harm the student,” Kamras said.
Kamras said that he, Avula and Edwards are aligned on the tenets of human dignity.
“We are united in our messaging, because we share the same belief, the same approach, to protect our students, to protect our families, to protect Richmond,” he said.
RPS has launched a dedicated immigration resource page for families interested in learning more about their rights, legal aid and community groups that might offer assistance or guidance.