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When the Department of Homeland Security did away with the longstanding practice of avoiding immigration enforcement at schools, a memo to agents instructed them to use “common sense.”
But common sense is not what Superintendent Brenda Lewis says she sees playing out daily in Fridley Public Schools, the 2,800-student district she leads in a diverse inner-ring suburb of Minneapolis.
A lawsuit filed earlier this month in U.S. District Court in Minnesota alleges DHS agents followed Lewis and school board members and staged operations from at least two Fridley school parking lots. In an interview, Lewis said ICE agents repeatedly circled a roundabout near a school one morning, refusing to stop for crossing guards or allow children to cross.
Attendance is down dramatically, and under state law, the district loses money when students miss more than 15 days of school. About 400 students now are enrolled in virtual options.
Fridley Public Schools is taking the lead in the latest effort to use the courts to keep ICE agents away from schools. Along with Duluth Public Schools and Education Minnesota, the state teachers union, the district is suing the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary Kristi Noem to restore protections for sensitive locations such as schools, churches, and hospitals.
Denver Public Schools filed a similar lawsuit in February 2025, but later abandoned it after U.S. District Court Judge Daniel D. Domenico, a Trump appointee, found that Denver had failed to show serious enough effects to justify a preliminary injunction.
Whatever the reasoning in the Denver case, Lewis said the impacts in Fridley and in Minnesota more broadly are “very well documented.”
“We can show that through attendance data,” she said. “We can show that through students enrolling in virtual learning. We can show that in students and family members being detained, which then takes away from the educational environment, when they’re legally in this country. And I think we can show the mental health impacts that are happening with our children now, unfortunately, normalizing ICE agents near their school district buildings and interfering with the school.”
The lawsuit comes amid a backlash to aggressive immigration enforcement tactics after agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minnesota. A viral image of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos drew attention to the rising number of children in detention.
Democrats in Congress have laid out 10 conditions for agreeing to fund the Department of Homeland Security. One of them is restoring sensitive locations protections for schools, churches, and hospitals.
That’s a priority for many education advocacy groups, but it’s not clear how much of a priority it is for lawmakers. Most of the public debate has focused on whether immigration agents should operate more like other law enforcement officers, forgoing masks and obtaining judicial warrants to enter private property.
Congress has until Friday to reach a deal, and so far the two sides remain far apart. Funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement will continue regardless.
The lawsuit describes school vans and buses stopped by immigration agents, parents arrested while waiting at school bus stops, and preschool teachers arrested in the parking lots of child care centers, including one who was tricked into coming outside by agents who told her someone hit her car. The lawsuit alleges that the decision last year to withdraw protections from schools was arbitrary and capricious and violates the Administrative Procedures Act.
The Department of Homeland Security and Immigrations and Custom Enforcement did not respond to a request for comment on the specific allegations in the lawsuit or to questions about how the restoration of sensitive locations protections would affect their operations.
“ICE is not conducting enforcement operations at, or ‘raiding,’ schools. ICE is not going to schools to make arrests of children,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement released last year. “Criminals are no longer able to hide in America’s schools to avoid arrest. The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement and instead trusts them to use common sense.”
Duluth Public Schools, the other school district suing DHS, isn’t experiencing the same kind of direct effects as Fridley. Immigrant families make up a relatively small share of the district’s 9,100 students, and ICE hasn’t ramped up enforcement activity in this northern city.
But Duluth Superintendent John Magas estimates that 30%-50% of his staff’s administrative time is now being spent on preparations and communications and support for families. Staff members of color are carrying their passports. Parents stopped showing up for adult English classes.
Magas said he was frustrated that letters and public appeals didn’t seem to be getting the attention of people in power. He also felt like he was in a position to stick his neck out on behalf of districts that are more heavily affected and fear retribution. He had the unanimous support of his school board in joining the lawsuit.
“We believe in Minnesota in being good neighbors. and we want to stand up and be a good neighbor to the North and stand up for our communities that are being impacted,” he said.
Lewis said she hopes the lawsuit results in more protections for schools in Minnesota and ideally nationwide. But if Congress wants to act, that would be even better.
“Whatever is the quickest — and not able to be undone — method, we’ll take it,” she said.
Erica Meltzer is Chalkbeat’s national editor covering education policy and politics. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.
