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A fifth grade teacher from a metro Denver charter school was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement last week.
The teacher is now being held with family members, including minor children, in a Texas detention center, according to a letter sent to school staff by Stacy Bush, principal of Global Village Academy-Douglas County in Parker.
The teacher was arrested with her family on Friday during a routine immigration appointment at a Centennial ICE office, the letter said.
Michael Henderson, executive director of Global Village Academy Collaborative, which oversees the Parker school and two other Colorado locations of the language immersion school, said in a statement that the network had inspected the teacher’s employment documentation forms and conducted a background check through the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
“This employee has a valid employment authorization document, authorizing her lawful employment in the United States, with any U.S. employer through the spring of 2029,” he wrote.
The teacher is from Peru and has taught at Global Village Academy-Douglas County since July, according to a LinkedIn account that matches her name. Chalkbeat is not naming the teacher to protect her privacy. The school’s Douglas County campus offers language immersion programs in Spanish, French, and Mandarin.
Global Village Academy Collaborative is one of several plaintiffs in a recent lawsuit against the Trump administration over a federal plan to charge $100,000 for each worker on an H-1B visa, a type of visa that allows American companies to employ foreign workers in certain jobs that require a bachelor’s degree or higher.
President Trump unveiled the proclamation on H-1B visas on Sept. 19, with the new rule taking effect on Sept. 21. The lawsuit was filed in early October by Democracy Forward and other legal organizations on behalf of groups that represent nurses, doctors, teachers, college professors, researchers, and religious workers.
Henderson declined to comment on whether the teacher is an H-1B visa holder.
The lawsuit is ongoing, but the Trump administration recently appeared to ease the new visa rules. Updated language on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website suggests that generally the $100,000 fee may not apply to people already in the United States who are changing from certain immigration statuses to H-1B visas.
Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.
