Texas school district warns Border Patrol may board buses and question students about citizenship

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.

“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.

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% Hispanic.