Trump Says Schools, Churches, Hospitals Aren’t Off-Limits to Immigration Police

For years, undocumented immigrants have held onto the knowledge that — while no place is ever completely safe — places like schools, hospitals and houses of worship have been much less likely to face raids from either Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

That changed on January 21, when Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a statement announcing that the administration has rescinded guidelines that previously deterred immigration police from conducting raids in locations considered “sensitive” or “protected.”

There had been warning: A mid-December report from NBC News sent shock waves through immigrant communities and prompted advocates and activists to begin strategizing about ways to protect their friends, family members and neighbors. The report described the incoming Trump administration’s plan to scrap “sensitive location” protections and instead allow ICE and CBP agents to enter houses of worship, schools and health care facilities to make arrests.

For 14 years, policies had largely deterred immigration police from conducting arrests in such places. DHS first issued guidelines in 2011 aimed at deterring ICE from conducting arrests or searches in limited sensitive locations without prior approval, barring “exigent circumstances.” A decade later, in October 2021, DHS issued new guidelines.

This replacement memorandum expanded the number of sensitive locations, and told ICE and CBP to avoid sites, including pre-schools, K-12 classrooms, vocational and trade schools, before-and-after-school programs, colleges, universities, hospitals, doctors’ offices, vaccination and testing sites, urgent care facilities, prenatal clinics, community health centers, places of worship or religious study, playgrounds, recreation centers, group homes, foster care providers, school bus stops, domestic violence or crisis shelters, social service offices, drug or alcohol treatment centers, and community-based organizations. The policy also suggests that ICE and CBP should avoid arresting people at funerals, weddings, and other religious or civil ceremonies or while participating in parades, demonstrations or rallies.

“Certain areas are inherently in need of special consideration,” the DHS memo, last updated in April 2024, states. “Rather than only being ‘sensitive,’ they rise to the level of being protected because of the functions performed in such locations and the people those facilities serve, such as children, survivors of domestic violence, and worshippers.”

In its statement this week, Trump’s DHS rescinded that Biden-era policy, announcing that it trusts immigration police to use “common sense.”

Predictably, the right claims that the restrictions have hampered “law and order.” As Ron Vitiello, acting director of ICE during Trump’s first term, told the conservative-leaning NewsNation, eliminating protected areas and sensitive locations is necessary to streamline and simplify the deportation process. He and the new administration clearly see this as a first-order priority.

Needless to say, immigrants and their allies disagree.

Noel Andersen, national field director of Church World Service (CWS), told Truthout that despite Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda, advocates are trying not to stoke panic. At the same time, he says, faith and community groups are distributing “Know Your Rights” materials to inform people about how best to handle interactions with ICE.

Likewise, the National Immigration Law Center has published detailed recommendations for what school administrators, hospitals, courthouses, social service organizations and places of worship can do to support and protect immigrants in their communities and prepare for possible raids.

For its part, CWS is now working with direct service providers who counsel and provide material support to immigrants. “One of our biggest concerns is the chilling effect the loss of sensitive locations could have on a broad spectrum of solidarity activities,” Andersen said. “Ministries that support food pantries, distribute clothing, run legal clinics or offer sanctuary will have to think about how they want to respond if restrictions are announced.”

And while he anticipates that there will be some retrenchment, he knows that many ministries will continue to provide support and services to undocumented people.

Religious Sanctuaries

Shawn Anglim, a pastor at First Grace United Methodist Church in New Orleans, Louisiana, is resolute about providing help where it is most needed.

In 2017, First Grace provided sanctuary to Jose Torres, an undocumented immigrant who was threatened with deportation; Torres remained in the church for eight months and was finally granted asylum in 2020.

Anglim is proud that the congregation stepped up to defend Torres, adding that this is just one of the ways they have put their faith into action. The church also runs Hagar’s House, a shelter that pays no mind to immigration status.

“I don’t know immigration policy,” Anglim said. “But I know what the people standing in front of me look like. These people are my neighbors and that is how I will treat them. As a pastor, I see my role as helping folks figure out what kind of people they want to be in the world. Furthermore, I want to help them think about what kind of country they want to live in.”

Anglim is far from alone. During the first Trump administration, more than 800 United States congregations declared their willingness to provide sanctuary to those at risk of deportation, and a wide array of religious bodies continue to offer additional support, from financial assistance to groceries, English lessons, and legal and personal counseling.

Christ Lutheran Church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, sponsors three free medical clinics — a five-days-a-week medical office staffed by nurses, a three-days-a-month dental clinic, and a once-weekly clinic for people with chronic ailments.

“We intentionally avoid collecting any type of intake information,” pastor Matthew Best told Truthout. “We are not concerned with immigration or other statuses. We exist to provide care.”

And if their ability to do this is threatened? “We’re talking about having one person on staff who will be designated to speak with ICE agents if they come in,” he said. “For us, this is not a political issue. It’s a humanity issue. It’s about allowing people to live their lives. Ending protection for sensitive locations or protected areas is meant to create fear. The people who come to our clinics are human beings with names, faces and stories. They deserve help.”

Hospitals as Sanctuaries

According to the National Immigration Law Center, health care providers are not legally obliged to inquire into or report patients’ immigration status to government entities. In fact, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, better known as HIPAA, prohibits medical facilities from disclosing information without the patient’s consent unless a judicial warrant has been issued.

Federal legislation, introduced in 2021 and 2023, could have strengthened HIPAA and other legal protections, but the measure, called the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act, failed to get out of committee and never received a vote.

Altaf Saadi, a neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and founder of Doctors for Immigrants, a group that works to ensure that clinics and medical offices are welcoming and safe for everyone regardless of their race, ethnicity, nationality or immigration status, calls this failure a “missed opportunity” to permanently restrict ICE and CBP overreach. Nonetheless, she sees the present moment as a time for “disaster preparedness,” and told Truthout that she and her medical colleagues are drawing on work done during the first Trump administration to protect patients.

“We have to be proactive and build on policies and procedures that mitigate harm,” she said.

Like Reverend Andersen, Saadi suggests placing “Know Your Rights” materials in places where undocumented people congregate. She and her hospital co-workers are also revisiting existing institutional policies on interacting with law enforcement. “A lot of places already have policies that need to be republicized so staff know what ICE/CBP can and can’t do in public and private spaces,” she said. “ICE/CBP agents need a warrant to enter private spaces. Hospitals, clinics and health centers need to determine which spaces can be designated as ‘private’ to keep people from ICE and CBP out.”

Additionally, Saadi says, not calling patient names aloud in case agents are hovering in waiting areas, and ensuring that all medical records are kept out of the line of sight, are simple and helpful shifts.

In addition to protecting patients, she reports that medical institutions should also think about staff, many of whom were born outside of the U.S. A study by the Migration Policy Institute found that 28 percent of doctors and surgeons and 38 percent of home health aides are foreign-born. Overall, approximately 1.6 million immigrants work as doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, medical assistants and dental hygienists.

“If patients are not motivation enough for medical administrators to protect immigrants, perhaps protecting their workforce will move them,” Saadi said.

Schools as Sanctuaries

During the last Trump administration, undocumented parents were often fearful about sending their children to school because they worried about what would happen if they were arrested while their kids were in class.

This reality prompted the Los Angeles Unified School District to affirm its sanctuary policy for students in the wake of Trump’s second term. The updated 2024 policy bans school employees from voluntarily sharing student immigration information with authorities and promises that every child will have a safe, supportive learning environment.

Juan Ramirez, chair of the American Federation of Teachers’ (AFT) Latino Issues Task Force and executive vice president of the California Federation of Teachers, told Truthout that “Know Your Rights” classes for union leaders, teachers and parents are now rolling out. People need to be reminded, he said, that they “have the right to stay quiet and not answer questions.” He adds that the union is currently working with lawyers and community-based organizations to develop additional mitigation strategies. Lastly, the AFT is making sure that every student provides their school with the name of an emergency contact, something Ramirez calls “Plan B.” This is needed, educators say, in case parents are arrested during the school day, a reality that could leave students scared and alone, with nowhere to go when classes are dismissed.

The union is also planning to provide training to teachers, showcasing best practices for dealing with students who are anxious or traumatized. “As leaders, we have to make sure that our students understand that nothing that is happening, or that is threatened to happen, is their fault,” Ramirez says. While school-based counselors are sometimes available, the burden of dealing with student anxiety typically falls on teachers, many of whom are dealing with their own immigration struggles.

Like medical workers, many educators were born outside of the U.S., and Ramirez acknowledges that an unknown number of Los Angeles teachers have Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status or live in mixed-status families. “It’s frustrating and stressful for them to be there for their students even as their own status is precarious,” he says.

That said, Ramirez is taking the long view. “Back in 1994, Proposition 187 was passed by California voters. It would have barred undocumented immigrants from using public services, including public schools and public hospitals and health care facilities. A lawsuit stopped it. This could happen again.”

Los Angeles is not unique in its preparations.

Karla Hernandez-Mats, president of the United Teachers of Dade in Florida’s Dade County, told Truthout that the nation’s third-largest school district is working to ensure that schools are safe havens for students and their families. “I think that if Trump’s people go into houses of worship or schools, even those who voted for him will push back,” she said.

“In 2017 we created training materials to give parents the confidence to keep their kids in school,” she said. The material laid out their rights should ICE come to their door and assured them that their children have the right to a free public education from pre-kindergarten to grade 12. It also provided them with a list of local resources. “Schools never ask about immigration status,” she added. “We understand that these kids have left their home countries because of political unrest, violence or poverty. They are here looking for sanctuary, and it is our job to create a welcoming, secure place for them. When they feel that they belong, it allows them to learn what their teacher is trying to impart.”

Nonetheless, she concedes that fear of a Trumpian future exists and is a tense undercurrent in the everyday activities of immigrants, especially if they are undocumented.

Liz Theoharis, director of the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice, and co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, agrees and told Truthout that this is why pro-immigrant activists are working at both the macro and micro levels. “In this horrific moment, people are making sure that the immediate material needs of immigrant families are met. We’re simultaneously developing long-term resistance and survival strategies,” she said. “People are bringing food and other necessities to undocumented people so they won’t have to go outdoors as much. We’re doing religious services on Zoom. And we’re using moral suasion to talk to politicians and civic leaders about welcoming the stranger. We’re anticipating. We’re preparing. And we’re building powerful connections.”