Border Patrol chief calls report that agents will board buses to check students’ citizenship “absurd”

Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.

---

The Alice Independent School District in South Texas warned parents in a letter Wednesday that U.S. Border Patrol agents may be checking the immigration status of students on school buses traveling for extracurricular activities — then pulled the letter down. The Border Patrol's chief on Thursday said agents would not board school buses to check papers.

“We want to bring to your attention an important matter regarding student travel for extracurricular activities, including sports, band, and other co-curricular events,” Superintendent Anysia Trevino wrote in the letter. "We have received information that U.S. Border Patrol agents may be boarding school buses at highway checkpoints in and out of the Valley to question students about their citizenship status.”

Trevino added that if a student does not have identification or other documents that show a pupil is in the country legally, “they may be removed from the bus, detained, and possibly deported.” It also warns that if students lie about their immigration status, they may not get U.S. citizenship in the future. Under current federal immigration law, someone who lies about being a U.S. citizen may be disqualified from receiving a green card or U.S. citizenship.

The school district later removed the letter from its Facebook page and its website, and Thursday evening posted another statement calling the letter a proactive move “out of an abundance of caution.”

“Student safety, which has always been and will continue to be our priority, was the only motivation,” Trevino said in the Thursday statement.

The letter also clarifies that no U.S. Custom and border Protections agents had boarded any buses at Alice ISD, and district officials had no knowledge of the agency doing so in any other district.

U.S. Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks on Thursday morning told a Fox & Friends host that Border Patrol agents are not going to "target school buses and children ... It's absurd." The district’s Thursday statement seemingly acknowledged Banks’ remarks, stating the district understood members of U.S. Border Patrol indicated school buses “will not be targeted.”

Banks added that he is considering not communicating to journalists about Border Patrol operations because he believes there has been a lot of incorrect information reported.

In an emailed statement late Thursday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which oversees Border Patrol, said immigration officers don't target school buses. But the statement says that if a bus travels through an immigration checkpoint, immigration officers may verify the immigration status of its passengers, including students.

Under federal law, immigration agents may enter vehicles to check for immigration papers of passengers without a warrant if that vehicle is traveling within 100 miles of the border. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, two out of three Americans live within 100 miles of the country's borders, including its coastlines.

Recently, the Trump administration scrapped a longstanding practice that immigration agents do not enter public schools, health care facilities and places of worship to arrest undocumented immigrants. Spokespeople for the school district and Border Patrol in the Rio Grande Valley, near Alice, didn’t respond to after-business hours requests for comment from The Texas Tribune.

The letter also states the school district is considering having a chaperone travel in a separate vehicle if a student is detained; the chaperone would be able to stay with the student while the rest of the group continues their journey.”

According to the Texas Education Agency, the district has six schools and teaches about 4,500 students; 92% are Hispanic.

Disclosure: Facebook has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.