Milwaukee Public Schools updates Safe Haven procedures outlining staff steps if ICE agents appear on campuses

Student walkout brings renewed attention to district protocol

Milwaukee Public Schools leaders say the district has an established process for responding if federal immigration agents arrive at a school, a message reiterated this week after students staged a walkout from Golda Meir School and marched to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility downtown.

The demonstration reflected anxiety that has surfaced in some classrooms and households amid heightened immigration enforcement activity elsewhere in the Midwest. District officials said the public response underscores the need for clarity on what school staff are expected to do — and what they are not permitted to do — if approached by immigration authorities.

What the district’s “Safe Haven Resolution” covers

MPS designates district sites as “safe havens” for undocumented students and families under a resolution adopted in 2017. The resolution describes district commitments and procedures intended to protect student privacy while ensuring staff respond consistently to requests from law enforcement.

As part of that framework, MPS maintains a district immigration advisory group developed with community partners, and each school is expected to identify a designated staff resource for immigrant and undocumented students and families. The resolution also references continued compliance with the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which restricts disclosure of student education records.

The district’s written policy states that staff shall not disclose information about any student or family member when faced with an immigration-related inquiry.

How staff are expected to respond if agents arrive

District leaders have described a building-level chain of response designed to limit ad-hoc interactions between federal agents and individual school employees. The protocol calls for staff to direct any federal immigration agent who comes to a school to central office administration, rather than handling the request at the school level.

Separately from immigration-specific procedures, MPS has also continued broader emergency-planning efforts in recent years, including districtwide emergency operations planning and training designed to standardize responses across campuses. District materials describe school safety planning as a mix of physical security, incident response protocols, and coordination with public safety partners.

Limits of the policy and what families should know

MPS materials emphasize that the district does not provide legal advice to students or families. Instead, the district publishes multilingual informational resources intended to help families understand rights and prepare for emergencies, including family preparedness planning.

District communications to families have also stressed that MPS does not collect information about a student’s immigration status and that any inquiry of that kind is to be referred through established administrative channels.

• MPS sites are designated as “safe havens” under a 2017 resolution.
• Each school is expected to have a designated staff resource for immigrant families.
• Staff are directed to refer immigration agents to central office and to protect student privacy.
• The district highlights compliance with federal student privacy requirements and provides multilingual informational materials.