Orange County Public Schools says if federal immigration officers show up on campuses to interrogate or arrest students, administrators will follow the law and allow it — but will also seek permission to contact parents and refuse to hand over records without a subpoena.

President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday issued a directive enabling federal immigration authorities to make arrests and conduct interviews on school property, part of a broader crackdown on immigration. The move reverses a 2011 directive from President Barack Obama’s administration that said “sensitive areas,” such as schools, churches and hospitals, should not be the focus of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, “enforcement actions.”

Trump officials said the old policy was an effort to “thwart” law enforcement and needed to end. “Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,” said BenjamineHuffman, acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, in a statement.

About 850,000 children in the U.S. are unauthorized immigrants, according to the Pew Research Center. While OCPS does not track students’ immigration status, the country’s eighth largest school district says it serves students who represent 199 countries.

John Palmerini, OCPS general counsel, sent a memo to district leaders on Jan. 9 in anticipation of the “promised change in immigration enforcement” by the incoming Trump administration. In the memo, Palmerini gave guidance to school principals in case an ICE agent came to their campus seeking a student, advice that stands this week following the president’s new directive.

The district, in short, has its hands tied. ICE agents can arrest anyone suspected of being an “alien” without a warrant, Palmerini wrote. And soon, local police and sheriff’s departments could be deputized to carry out deportations. according to a memo Gov. Ron DeSantis sent to the Florida Legislature.

“We’re going to continue to educate our children, and we are going to continue to ensure that supports are available for what they need. But at the end of the day, we are all required to follow the law,” said Superintendent Maria Vazquez.

Felipe Sousa-Lazaballet, the executive director of the Apopka-based immigration organization Hope Community Center, said allowing ICE into schools would be “inhumane” and could cause many mixed-status immigrant families to hold kids out of school.

“It would create a scenario where students and young people, instead of being focused on their studies, they’re going to be stressed out and afraid,” he said.

Sousa-Lazaballet called on the district to take a stronger stance against the Trump order, saying OCPS needs to “be bold.”

“Schools are no longer safe for immigrants,” he said. “That’s basically what the email is saying, which to me, that sends the wrong message to children and their families.”

Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, echoed the call for more resistance, adding in a text that she “wants to do everything we can to ensure kids can be kids and for teachers to focus on teaching.”

A 1982 U.S. Supreme Court case said school districts could not deny services to students based on their immigration status. In 1990, the Florida Department of Education, on behalf of the state’s school districts, entered a legal agreement after it was sued, saying that it would not ask about students’ immigration status — nor refer students to federal immigration authorities. Both those cases still legally guide public schools, Palmerini wrote.

School districts cannot share student records with law enforcement officers unless the officers have a subpoena or the child’s parents agree, he added.

The memo urged school principals to ask the officer if they can contact the child’s parents or sit in on the interview. However, Parmerini warned that if the officer denies those requests, principals need to follow the officer’s directions as not complying could lead to an arrest for obstructing law enforcement.

Katherine Crnkovich, a spokesperson for Seminole County Public Schools, said the district did not have a policy in place, nor has it sent communications to parents or staff about what to do if ICE came to a school. The district would follow the law and any court orders, she said.

Lake County Schools also has not sent any message about potential ICE visits at schools, said spokesperson Sherri Owens.

The School District of Osceola County did not respond to requests for comment ahead of publication.

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