Example Protocol and Messaging about Employee Role and ICE

The below is provided as an example of a legal counsel's read of new procedures for ICE on campuses and what needs to be distinguished between what the cabinet must know and employees must know. It is specific to one college in a particular state. Your context may be different. This is meant to show how to communicate to audiences in different seats on campus.

Institutional Protocol

Protocol

 As a reminder, following our established practices at **, along with FERPA regulations, keep information of our students private except when subpoenaed or in the event of a valid health or safety emergency.

Procedures

In the event Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) agents (or other immigration enforcement officials) enter or ask to enter College property for purposes of undertaking immigrant enforcement actions, please follow the steps below:

1. Remain calm and courteous;
2. Inform all ICE and other such requests that they must go through the college president’s office;
3. Request credentials or identification of agents and make copies of identification; if none is provided ask for their name, title, and badge number;
4. Call the president’s office immediately (or the president’s designee) and also your Dean, VP, Executive Director, or Presidential-level employee;
   
   • If this occurs after regular business hours, contact Campus Police, who will contact the president or delegate and the process will continue.
   • The president’s office will ensure there is appropriate basis to conduct actions on campus and review all juridical requests and processes to verify they have been followed prior to permitting access to non-public spaces;
   • ICE agents may wait with either an Associate Dean, Vice President, Executive Director, or Presidential-level employee while this review is underway;
   • They may also come to the president’s office;
5. Never physically obstruct agents, but do let them know you are not authorized to let them in any other area of the college;
   
   • You can state, “I am not authorized to let you enter beyond this area. I will call our president’s office now so they may speak with you.”
   • Under no circumstances should you attempt to physically obstruct agents’ activities;
6. Do not answer questions about employees or students, or give out any information;
   
   • If pressed, state, “I am not authorized to respond to questions but will call our president’s office, which may be able to do so.”
7. You should document all steps of the process that you are involved in;
   
   • Record the names of all of the parties involved, including the names of ICE agents, to the extent feasible;
   • Save your notes and also send them directly to the president’s office and the Executive Director of Administrative Services & Institutional Effectiveness;
8. Finally, staff should comply with all lawfully issued directives from law enforcement or ICE officers.

For your information, below is language from federal regulations, 8 CFR 287.8(f)(2) related to this process:

An immigration officer may not enter into the non-public areas of a business, a residence including the curtilage of such residence, or a farm or other outdoor agricultural operation, except as provided in section 287(a)(3) of the Act, for the purpose of questioning the occupants or employees concerning their right to be or remain in the United States unless the officer has either a warrant or the consent of the owner or other person in control of the site to be inspected. When consent to enter is given, the immigration officer must note on the officer's report that consent was given and, if possible, by whom consent was given. If the immigration officer is denied access to conduct a site inspection, a warrant may be obtained.

Part of what employees need to know if the above is your protocol

Dear College Community,

As I mentioned, with the change in administration come new policies and procedures. One of the new procedures is that immigration enforcement officials are now permitted on college campuses.  This is a reversal of a long-held practice of considering educations sites (among others) as safe from such action. 

In the event ICE agents (or other immigration enforcement officials) enter[1] or ask to enter College property for purposes of undertaking immigrant enforcement actions, College please notify my office immediately.  The following actions are what we will follow:

• All ICE requests must go through the College president’s office;
• As a result, notify the ICE agent they can only enter the college through an administrative office, which means you must tell ICE agents to either report to and wait with an Associate Dean, Dean, VP, Executive Director, or Presidential-level employee before they may do anything on campus.
• Contact my office immediately.
  
  • My office will ensure there is appropriate basis to conduct actions on campus and review all juridical requests and processes have been followed to be on campus and request information about them.
• Document all steps of the process that you are involved in. Save them and also send directly to me and ***.  In your document also record all the parties involved, including the names of ICE agents to the extent feasible.
• As a reminder, our practices at the College, along with FERPA regulations, keep information of our students private except when subpoenaed or other more extreme instances.