Across the country, harsh immigration enforcement has created trauma and fear in our school communities. Federal immigration enforcement near schools, whether through surveillance, data sharing, or arrests, impedes access to a free public education for children regardless of immigration status, as established under Plyler v. Doe (1982), which guarantees every child the right to a free public education regardless of immigration status.

This toolkit seeks to equip students, educators, families and community members to organize in their community and state to develop policies to defend education for all students. This includes resources to support Safe Zone school district policies that ensure the safety of not just immigrant students, but all students in our communities. Safe Zone policies are one way we fight back and build lasting protection from the threats that ICE poses to students, which disrupt learning, traumatize families, and divide communities.