How ICE Drove Minnesota Educators to Sue
Once a protected space, schools have become enforcement targets
In early February, several Minnesota school districts and education leaders — including Fridley Public Schools, Duluth Public Schools, and the statewide teachers union Education Minnesota — filed a federal lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) seeking to block immigration-enforcement activities at or near school campuses and bus stops.
Education Minnesota represents more than 80,000 educators statewide and says the surge of federal agents into Twin Cities communities has crossed a line that has turned ordinary school days into scenes of fear and disruption.
“A teacher shall make reasonable effort to protect the student from conditions harmful to health and safety,” said Education Minnesota President Monica Byron, quoting from the code of ethics for educators in the state. She frames the legal fight as not just a policy dispute but a matter of student welfare and professional responsibility.
The lawsuit centers on DHS’s termination of a long-standing “sensitive locations” policy that historically limited immigration enforcement near places like schools, hospitals, and houses of worship — a policy critics argue DHS rescinded in haste and without public notice. Plaintiffs are asking a federal judge to reinstate protections and bar immigration-enforcement operations within roughly 1,000 feet of schools absent a judicial warrant or truly exigent circumstances.
In some districts, the impact of increased enforcement has been dramatic enough that administrators have canceled in-person school days and shifted to remote learning out of concern for student safety and attendance, which has dropped sharply amid reports of agents near bus stops and school grounds.
What hasn’t been covered as deeply is what led school administrators to take the unprecedented step of going to court — and what they hope to achieve from this lawsuit. To explore that side of the story, we spoke with Dr. Brenda Lewis, superintendent of Fridley Public Schools, one of the district plaintiffs in the lawsuit. The conversation focused on the decision to sue, the strategy behind the legal challenge, and what this case could mean for schools’ ability to serve their students.
Below is an edited Q&A based on that interview.
The Preamble: Let’s start with the decision to file the lawsuit, which challenges the removal of the long-standing “sensitive locations” policy. Can you explain in plain terms what legal grounds the suit is based on?
Dr. Brenda Lewis: Before the inauguration last year and for many years, if not decades before that, schools were sensitive spaces where immigration-enforcement activities could not be taking place unless it was an extreme emergency. And all of that was removed the day after inauguration. And so it has just created this situation of utter fear and terror because now ICE is literally coming into property. So we’re having to find ways to protect our children, our staff, and our families over what used to be protected space anyway.
The Preamble: You’re asking a federal judge to restrict ICE and DHS activity near your schools. Explain what specifically you would like a court order to do if you’re successful. Are you looking for an injunction? Mandated restoring of the pre-2025 enforcement policy? Other relief?
Lewis: Mandated restoring of the pre-2025 sensitive-location pieces within 1,000 feet of school-district property. We have had just so much ICE activity on our properties to intimidate — principals getting yelled [at], photoed, videoed. Six ICE vehicles up and down, up and down, up and down, right outside of our school. A mother who’s legally in the country was followed by two ICE vehicles on her way to school today with her child in the back. Our school board member, who is a US legal citizen, was followed this morning all the way from her residence to her daycare yesterday, with her three-year-old in the back [seat of the car]. Four ICE agents sat outside of a board member’s home. [Last] Thursday, I was followed in the morning. I was followed in the early evening, late afternoon.
The Preamble: Take me inside the decision-making process here. What was the tipping point that led your district to decide that a lawsuit was necessary? Was there a specific incident or was it a culmination of instances?
Lewis: You know how a boiling pot of water, it starts and then it boils and then it boils and then it boils. And now we have boiling over. So when I was approached by Education Minnesota, it was the right moment at the right time, I guess, where we have plain and simply had it. We need some helpers. The lawsuit is a helper. We just need a way to protect our children and to protect our staff. And we just want pre-2025 status back.
The Preamble: I have to imagine that the lawsuit wasn’t your first move, right? No one wants to go to federal court, especially administrators who have plenty of other things to do in their jobs. Can you describe some of the intermediate steps before you got to “Hey, maybe the lawsuit is our only remedy here”?
Lewis: I’ve been really taking to my social media to chronicle what’s happening. Sometimes it’s multiple posts per day of the horrific things happening.
Meeting with Sen. [Amy] Klobuchar’s team. The governor several weeks ago came with First Lady [Gwen] Walz and [Minnesota Education] Commissioner [Willie] Jett. This was right around the first time I canceled school. And he sat with me for an hour and just heard the absolute horrific impacts this has had on my school district.
We’ve done press conferences. [State] Senator [Mary K.] Kunesh held a press conference. We had a press conference yesterday with Governor [Tim] Walz. I’ve requested to meet with the ICE czar, so I’m waiting to hear back on that. We’ve reached out to local reps and national reps. We held a breakfast with elected officials at the local level.
Initially, we literally built a security team in a weekend. So every building had a security-staff member, former police officer. So that’s kind of what we did, we started by just building safeguards, getting observers at arrival and dismissal, training the observers.
But we’re also elevating our voice. I take every single media request so that our voice can be elevated.
And, I mean, are we celebrating the fact that we’re suing the federal government? Of course not. But we need something solid and permanent because not only are our schools places that are under siege and uncertainty right now, we have retaliation going on.
The Preamble: That’s a hot-button word with this administration in particular — the word “retaliation.” Like you said, you’re taking all the media requests. You’re not being shy about this. Do you fear retaliation personally, or to your school district or even state, from an administration that, let’s just say, hasn’t shied away from going after those they feel are poking them in the eye?
Lewis: I mean, maybe two weeks ago I was scared of it, but obviously they’re retaliating, and they are letting me know that every moment of every day. So I guess I’m just in that mode of like, how do we handle the retaliation? So listen, that’s kind of last week’s news. And so we’re in this situation now where I have taken to my social media, to the media. I put it out. I’ve contacted the Department of Public Safety, the governor’s office, Senator Klobuchar, Senator [Tina] Smith — they are front-line support here.
The Preamble: Switching gears a bit: there was a landmark 1982 Supreme Court case, Plyler v. Doe, that affirmed that all children, regardless of immigration status, have a right to public education. Full stop. Did that case’s precedent influence y’all’s legal thinking and strategy?
Lewis: It’s definitely safe to say that the landmark case was a foundational piece of the lawsuit saying this has been decided before. Let’s enforce that. Let’s reinstate the [previous] administration’s policy, 100%. The precedent there was even more confirmation to us that the lawsuit was the right place to go. The next step.
The Preamble: Let’s transition into potential outcomes. Lawsuits are not fast, and they can be unpredictable. And with appeals, they often include a potential for a lot of different levels and actors to involve themselves. So, as of right now, how do you assess the likelihood of success? And what do you see as the potential biggest hurdles?
Lewis: I think it’s going to be very successful. The legal founding is right there, right? So I think it would be very successful. Hurdles or concern areas, worries that I would have, number one is what you just said. How long is this going to take? Is it going to be appealed? And is the federal government even going to follow it?
The Preamble: Bingo. That’s where I was going next, because we have seen some legal challenges that allege DHS has ignored court orders in other matters. So how are you factoring that in?
Lewis: I have a huge belief [that the lawsuit] will be successful, but I do not have a huge belief that the ruling will be followed.
I will continue to just bring every incident forward to those in positions of power [who have] the ability to influence and change. Am I going to run out to the ICE vehicles with the lawsuit finding in hand? No, but I think it’s ridiculous that this is something that we would even have to pursue to begin with.The Preamble: That’s a hot-button word with this administration in particular — the word “retaliation.” Like you said, you’re taking all the media requests. You’re not being shy about this. Do you fear retaliation personally, or to your school district or even state, from an administration that, let’s just say, hasn’t shied away from going after those they feel are poking them in the eye?
Lewis: I mean, maybe two weeks ago I was scared of it, but obviously they’re retaliating, and they are letting me know that every moment of every day. So I guess I’m just in that mode of like, how do we handle the retaliation? So listen, that’s kind of last week’s news. And so we’re in this situation now where I have taken to my social media, to the media. I put it out. I’ve contacted the Department of Public Safety, the governor’s office, Senator Klobuchar, Senator [Tina] Smith — they are front-line support here.
The Preamble: Switching gears a bit: there was a landmark 1982 Supreme Court case, Plyler v. Doe, that affirmed that all children, regardless of immigration status, have a right to public education. Full stop. Did that case’s precedent influence y’all’s legal thinking and strategy?
Lewis: It’s definitely safe to say that the landmark case was a foundational piece of the lawsuit saying this has been decided before. Let’s enforce that. Let’s reinstate the [previous] administration’s policy, 100%. The precedent there was even more confirmation to us that the lawsuit was the right place to go. The next step.
The Preamble: Let’s transition into potential outcomes. Lawsuits are not fast, and they can be unpredictable. And with appeals, they often include a potential for a lot of different levels and actors to involve themselves. So, as of right now, how do you assess the likelihood of success? And what do you see as the potential biggest hurdles?
Lewis: I think it’s going to be very successful. The legal founding is right there, right? So I think it would be very successful. Hurdles or concern areas, worries that I would have, number one is what you just said. How long is this going to take? Is it going to be appealed? And is the federal government even going to follow it?
The Preamble: Bingo. That’s where I was going next, because we have seen some legal challenges that allege DHS has ignored court orders in other matters. So how are you factoring that in?
Lewis: I have a huge belief [that the lawsuit] will be successful, but I do not have a huge belief that the ruling will be followed.
I will continue to just bring every incident forward to those in positions of power [who have] the ability to influence and change. Am I going to run out to the ICE vehicles with the lawsuit finding in hand? No, but I think it’s ridiculous that this is something that we would even have to pursue to begin with.
The Preamble: What does it feel like as an administrator whose job it is to, at the most basic level, give these students a safe place to learn?
Lewis: It haunts you in your soul every moment of every single day. I literally said to our assistant superintendent yesterday, “It’s 4:30. No one was murdered today.” That is our reality. That is our reality.
I was being asked about being followed by ICE agents, and I literally heard myself say, “Well, the first time it happened, I was a little bit scared. After that I didn’t know what to expect.” None of that’s normal.
The Preamble: That’s heavy. That’s heavy. I don’t want to, but I have to go there: if the lawsuit doesn’t go as you hope, or takes a long time, or gets appealed and at some point you get an unfavorable ruling. Have you talked about plan B? Plan C?
Lewis: As I said, I’ve already requested a meeting with the ICE czar. I continue to mobilize our volunteers here who come every morning, every afternoon. So I think that we continue just being those safeguards. We keep transparently talking to our Fridley community and the broader community. And I think that we just continue to persevere and we continue to look for and celebrate our helpers and just keep navigating the horror that it is.
The Preamble: I’ve been struck by the number of times and the variety of times you’ve said “helpers.” Across the country, people are noticing Minnesota. How can they be helpers? How can we provide assistance from afar to become a part of your growing helpers list?
Lewis: I love that.
Number one, believe us.
Number two, understand that for me and for public schools here in Minnesota, this isn’t about Democrat or Republican. This is about the ability for our children to attend federally required school in a safe and productive way that has been ripped away from them.
Number three, raise hell with our elected officials and force them to take a stand and take that stand publicly and fight for it.
And number four — I’m doing this already — other states are reaching out like crazy, so I’m literally helping other states. I’m the helper to help them to build their own army against ICE for public schools.
I want this to end tonight, and I want it to end nationally. I don’t want anyone else to need this lawsuit. I don’t want anyone else to have to learn the playbook from myself and other school administrators here in Minnesota. This needs to stop tonight. So do I think that other states can learn from and use our resources and our tools and our strategies? Yes. But please, please, please, let’s not have them use that.
This attack needs to stop tonight.
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The state of Indiana is trying to pass a bill that forces public schools, universities, hospitals, local governments, and SNAP and Medicare administrators to comply with ICE. The inhumanity of this needs no repeating. It’s still wild to me how intellectually dishonest this party is. States rights unless the states are doing something we don’t like. Local control unless your city government and school system aren’t complicit in the terrorizing of children and turning over law abiding residents to the whims of ICE. Disgusting.
Thanks so much for this interview. It still seems surreal that we’re in this situation for public schools in the US, in this “day & age”. May that federal court decision be made soon!!