‘Walking school buses’ and teaching students their rights. How educators are preparing for back to school after ICE raids

This story was originally published by Boyle Heights Beat on July 29, 2025.

After federal immigration raids led to hundreds of arrests across the Los Angeles region this summer, educators are preparing to protect their students as the LAUSD fall semester is just a few days away.

This means teaching students — including elementary-aged youth — what they should do if they are approached by a federal agent.

“We might be thinking, ‘Well, this is just for high school students, right? Only the high school students need to know their rights.’ It’s not true,” said Ingrid Villeda, an LAUSD educator.

“When we get the kids in our schools, we have to make sure that from elementary to high school, we’re teaching these kids how to protect their constitutional rights,” Villeda added.

Training educators to respond

Villeda was one of a handful of educators who on Friday led a training on how to prepare to protect students, faculty, staff and families from ICE raids. The session covered steps to follow if U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are near their campus, how to identify agents that represent different federal branches of immigration enforcement, and how to patrol neighborhoods for ICE activity.

In partnership with Unión del Barrio and the Association of Raza Educators, the training was held inside a packed room at the United Teachers Los Angeles building in Koreatown. Organizers kept adding chairs during the meeting to accommodate the overflow of people trickling in. With so much demand, a second training was scheduled for Wednesday via Zoom.

At the meeting, Lupe Carrasco Cardona, who chairs the Association of Raza Educators in L.A., stressed that students and families need to assert their basic rights, regardless of their immigration status, including their right to remain silent and their right to counsel and against unreasonable searches and seizures.

“The people have to know in their bones that they have the right to be here, that they are wanted here, that they’re supported here. Because that fundamental feeling and confidence gives [the] hope that our people need so badly right now,” said Carrasco Cardona, who works at Edward R. Roybal Learning Center.

She said students and their families should practice how they’d respond if they encounter immigration agents. Role-playing is essential, she said, adding that people should be walking in packs when school resumes. She also broke down the differences between a valid judicial warrant, which authorizes a search of nonpublic areas, and an immigration warrant, which does not carry the same authority.

The training happened months after LAUSD administrators denied entry to federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security at two schools in South LA in April. District officials credited the protocol that was issued last December and have also pointed to resources for staff and families as part of the “We Are One” campaign.

The Pico/Aliso Metro station is steps away from Felicitas and Gonzalez Mendez High School in Boyle Heights.

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Luis Cano

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Boyle Heights Beat

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Organizing a ‘walking school bus’ and arranging home visits

For some educators, being self-sufficient is necessary.

At 93rd Street Elementary, Villeda said school personnel are implementing a “walking school bus.” She said school staff and volunteers will wear vests and carry signs as identifiers, and will deploy to certain neighborhood blocks to walk with kids to school. If there’s an agent present, Villeda said, the adults would be able to respond to them and take the kids inside.

“We knew right away that walking families are going to have a lot of fear bringing the little ones to school,” Villeda said.

“All of us know that parents like to hang out to see their little ones get picked up from their line and go inside,” she added. “The first day back is going to look very different … Parents can’t do that anymore.”

At Roybal Learning Center, educators are using their pupil-free day on Aug. 13, before the first day of school, to conduct home visits to speak with families and help ease fears, Carrasco Cardona said.

“It’s important because families are really worried. We just need them to know that we are a place that is safe for the students,” Carrasco Cardona said. “We’re there to ensure that their rights and their right to due process is defended. … Some parents are just really afraid.”