Pima County schools chief says he will help 'connect' district superintendents, ICE

Pima County’s schools chief says he will act as a liaison between Homeland Security and the superintendents of public schools across the county.

Superintendent Dustin Williams made the announcement on the same day Tucson Unified School District provided more details about its plans for handling immigration officials coming onto school campuses.

“It’s a scenario where if (Homeland Security) had to go to a school, I would then connect them directly with the superintendent,” Williams said late Wednesday.

The line of communication, Williams said, is between himself and a Homeland Security agent whose coverage area includes Pima County.

Williams said the message he received from federal officials is: “Schools are not the number one target that his organization or others are looking at,” Williams said. “It’s really a matter of protocols and safety.”

Williams said he wanted the relationship between his office and immigration officials to be “as amiable as possible.”

He did not specify how many districts he had reached out to about his communication with Homeland Security.

At a news conference earlier in the day, TUSD Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo said the district has started training staff on protocols to make immigration officials’ visits to schools go as smoothly as possible.

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What has seemed like a patchwork of district policies is being galvanized to form cohesive staff guides.

Principals have received training already this week. The district has been working with them on recognizing different types of government identification and being familiar with official paperwork — like warrants — to know what action to take.

The next round of training will focus on office staff at the district’s 89 schools, Trujillo said.

“Oftentimes they are on the front lines,” he said.

Besides training by the district, staff will receive written guidance to refer to when working with immigration officials.

TUSD also put together an immigration resource list for families. That list is available online at tusd1.org.

District officials have said TUSD will be relying on their policy to work with immigration officials. That means office staff and principals will be the gatekeepers to their building.

TUSD governing board member Natalie Luna Rose recently said: “If any (immigration) officials come to one of our campuses, they can’t just say, ‘I’m Border Patrol agent Brown,’ and that’s it. They have to follow the law. There has to be documentation. There are protocols.”