As reports of ICE on school grounds began to surface last spring, K-12 Dive asked DHS through a public records request to provide all instances of apprehensions on K-12 school grounds since the administration in January 2025 changed DHS policy to allow such enforcement. Before the policy change, schools, along with churches and hospitals, were deemed “sensitive areas” to be avoided by immigration enforcement. The agency declined K-12 Dive’s request in June, saying that releasing such information “could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings.” DHS also said it was withholding the data because it was linked to “the open status of ongoing law enforcement investigations.” A DHS spokesperson later clarified to K-12 Dive that immigration enforcement activity in schools should be “extremely rare” and would first require “secondary supervisor approval.” K-12 Dive filed another request for records in January 2026 and is awaiting a response on their release.
In the meantime, K-12 Dive identified metro areas with ICE presence from news reports, DHS announcements, school district and state officials’ announcements. K-12 Dive then conducted online searches of incidents reported on public and private early childhood, elementary and secondary school grounds, including local news reports, court documents, reports from public officials, and accounts on online forums confirmed with reporting.
Click here to see the list compiled by K-12 Dive.