Cincinnati, OH - The sanctuary city of Cincinnati is now facing the harsh reality of the Trump administration's immigration policies, as evidenced by recent actions at local schools that have sent shockwaves through the community. On April 15th, police officers from Gratis, Ohio, whose jurisdiction lies 50 miles away, descended upon Cincinnati schools, including Roberts Academy, where nearly three-fourths of the student body is Latino, under the guise of conducting “wellness checks” on behalf of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

These so-called “wellness checks” are nothing more than thinly veiled attempts to intimidate and gather information on vulnerable immigrant children and families. The officers, whose sidearms were visible, presented school staff at Western Hills University High School with a list of approximately 30 individuals, inquiring about their enrollment status. This brazen display of power, conducted without warrants or prior notification, is a direct assault on the rights and safety of students.

Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval rightly condemned these actions as “disgusting,” highlighting the ethical and moral implications of targeting children in this manner. Rights groups have echoed this sentiment, emphasizing that these incidents are part of a larger pattern of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under the Trump administration using ICE to target already marginalized communities. This strategy seeks to instill fear and disrupt the lives of families who have sought refuge and opportunity in the United States.

The Trump administration's claim that ICE does not target schools for enforcement is demonstrably false. While an ICE spokesperson asserted that a local law enforcement partner was merely attempting to verify school enrollment and conduct welfare checks on children who arrived unaccompanied across the border, the context and location of these actions paint a far more sinister picture. This pretext is especially troubling given the November launch of a DHS effort that the Trump administration claims is "aimed at protecting the 450,000 unaccompanied children (UAC) illegally smuggled over the border” that the former claims entered the country under the Biden administration.

The incident at Western Hills, where staff confirmed the enrollment of two students on the list, is a clear violation of student privacy and raises serious questions about the legality of sharing such information with ICE. Furthermore, the officers' failure to provide warrants or official documentation underscores the unauthorized nature of their actions. The Trump administration claims that sponsors of unaccompanied undocumented children who entered the US during the Joe Biden years were not always vetted properly.