President Donald Trump signed a new executive order: “Protecting American Communities from Criminal Aliens.” He directed federal agencies to identify and take action against state and local jurisdictions that obstruct federal immigration enforcement.
In Alaska, the Anchorage School District has implemented policies that may come under federal review due to the new executive order.
The executive order directs the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security to publish a list of such “sanctuary” jurisdictions and to consider withholding federal funding from them.
The Trump Administration’s stance is that sanctuary policies, in which local governments limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities, pose a threat to national security and public safety. These jurisdictions may be violating federal laws, including those related to obstruction of justice and harboring unauthorized immigrants.
While Anchorage is not officially designated as a sanctuary city, it does have aspects of one, using different language adopted during the Ethan Berkowitz Administration, whereby “Welcoming” replaced “Sanctuary” to avoid the legal consequences during the first Trump Administration.
The Anchorage School District, however, has declared its schools as off-limits to federal immigration officers. Superintendent Jharrett Bryantt stated that the district requires immigration officials to present a judicially signed warrant before entering school property and that such warrants will be reviewed by the district’s legal counsel to ensure they meet legal standards. The superintendent did not specify how long such legal review would take. This would give him time to ensure that any illegal alien on school grounds has a chance to escape before authorities could enter a campus.
ASD’s policies rely on Bryantt’s unique interpretation the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which protects student privacy by prohibiting the sharing of student-specific information without parental consent, except in specific legal situations. The district has a varying interpretation of this act but it maintains that it is complying with all applicable laws.
The executive order is expected to face legal challenges, as have previous attempts by the Trump administration to withhold federal funding from sanctuary jurisdictions.
In 2018, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that such actions exceeded presidential authority, emphasizing that only Congress has the power to control federal spending.
A full list of sanctuary cities and other jurisdictions can be seen at this link at the Center for Immigration Studies.
Better start shopping around for a new Superintendent. This fellow’s shelf-life is about expired.
This fellow was rancid before he was ever even put on the shelf….
Our prepubescent school superintendent can avoid having ICE officers search our schools if he’d just cooperate and hand over the illegal alien criminals hiding in our schools.
As dystopian as it might be to see the feds storming the ASD admin building, I would dearly love to see Bryantt perp-walked and put in a squad car. He has been an abject failure since getting the job. Budget after budget blown. Crisis after crisis bungled. Test scores near the bottom of the barre. But at least he’s delivered on DEI, CRT and his buddies in the NEA and AFT are doing well…
I find it ironic that they stand on a claim of protecting the privacy of students while they’re trying to pass a law that will violate the privacy of students into their adult lives.
Anchorage School District has declared its schools as off-limits to feds? So, they don’t realize that the federal dollars are also off limits to ASD, right? I hope they get slammed, and Anchorage parents get wise and get rid of these fools.