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As four students seeking asylum in the U.S. remained in federal immigration custody Tuesday night, dozens of community members asked Detroit school officials to do more to protect newcomers.
All four of the students went to Western International High School in Southwest Detroit.
Before public comment began at the Detroit Public Schools Community District board meeting, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said the district and the board would release a statement calling for the students’ release.
“These continue to be troubling times for the district and our immigrant population,” Vitti said. “We do advocate for our federal government to find better uses of its time and resources to attack the real problems in our society and not immigrant populations.”
Vitti said the district will continue to work with advocacy groups to support the students and will distribute information to students about their rights.
He said immigration officials have not attempted to enter district property.
Many at the meeting said the letter wasn’t enough. They want the district to take a harder stance against immigration enforcement. Among their demands were mandatory staff training, safer transportation, and counseling for students with immigration concerns.
“It’s time to stop being scared,” Heidi West, a teacher at Academy of the Americas, said to the board. “Speak up strongly and publicly.”
There have been at least five DPSCD students detained by ICE in the months since federal immigration enforcement ramped up in the second Trump administration.
‘Shattered dreams’ for students detained by ICE
All four students had pending court dates in asylum cases, said Christine Sauvé, manager of policy and communication at the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center.
Mor Ba, a 19-year-old who came to the U.S. without any family from Senegal in April, graduated from Western International last month.
The night before his detention, Ba filled out college applications, Adja Ndoye of the Detroit-based African Bureau for Immigrants and Social Affairs said. Ba planned to study mechanical engineering.
“He was already going around and asking about apprenticeships,” said Ndoye. “He had his goals set on how to make a new life. I think he was thriving. He was the embodiment of the American dream.”
On Nov. 26, police stopped Ba and blocked his vehicle in search of another person, Ndoye said. The teen, who was on his way to work, provided the officers his identification to confirm he was not the person they were looking for, but was still taken into custody, she said.
Ba is being held at the Northlake Correctional Facility in Baldwin about three and half hours north of Detroit, ICE records show. He had a pending asylum case with a court date scheduled for early next year, Ndoye said.
On Sunday, Santiago Jesus Zamora Perez, a 17-year-old in 11th grade from Venezuela, was taken into ICE custody, according to Kristen Schoettle, one of his Western International teachers.
The teen and his mother were reportedly pulled over by police in Fraser for driving under the speed limit, Sauvé said.
Zamora Perez is a star baseball player with good grades and aspirations of playing in college, according to his teachers.
Kerly Mariangel Sosa Rivero and Antony Janier Peña Sosa, 16-year-old cousins who came to the U.S. in 2023 from Venezuela were taken into immigration custody on Nov. 20. with two of their parents. Federal agents raided their home on the eastside of Detroit while the family slept, attorney George Washington said at a recent protest outside of Western International. The agents were searching for another person.
Sosa Rivero, an 11th grader, plays volleyball, shared alternative indie rock music with her teacher, and looked forward to attending college.
Peña Sosa, in 10th grade, plays the violin, excelled in Advanced Placement art class, and was quickly learning English, according to his teachers.
The three students under 18 were sent to facilities in Texas, Sauvé said.
Maykol Bogoya-Duarte, an 18-year-old who attended Western International, was detained by ICE in May. He was deported to Colombia, where he was born, in June.
Boyoga-Duarte, who arrived in the U.S. at 16, was only 3.5 credits away from graduating. He was working to get the travel documents he needed to return to Colombia before his arrest.
Teachers want for more resources, training
Educators and advocates have been vocal in recent months demanding the district offer know-your-rights training, more counseling, and safer transportation options for students with immigration concerns.
Last month, dozens of people asked the board to update its 2019 “Sanctuary District” policy and train all of its staff in protocols around interacting with ICE. The board did not take any action.
Alexander Cintron, director of the newcomer program at Western International, told Chalkbeat that attendance is being impacted by fears of ICE. “It’s also affecting students’ grades and mental health,” he said.
There is “an undercurrent of despair and anxiety” in students who are immigrants, a teacher of one of the detained students said. The teacher asked for anonymity out of concern about retribution from the district.
“How do you teach someone who had family members yanked from them?” the educator said. “How can I address their constant worries about being stopped at a park by immigration while trying to meet their educational needs?”
Schoettle said she lost around 20 students this year due to immigration issues.
“I had about eight more tell me they wanted to leave today,” she said during Tuesday’s meeting.
Sauvé said schools can play a pivotal role in sharing information. The nonprofit released best practices for schools in February.
“We get so many calls from teachers who say they’re not hearing information from their leadership,” she said.
Seydi Sarr, founder of ABISA, asked district officials to meet with parents of English learners and use their resources to help them advocate to state lawmakers.
“We want you to wield the power that you have to make sure we have a real impact,” she said.
Other speakers asked for the board to meet with English language teachers, a legal support hotline, make it clear educators can give out “Know Your Rights” cards to students, more public condemnation of immigration enforcement from board members, and for the district to support students’ right to protest.
Board members did not address the speakers when public comment ended.
Once the meeting adjourned, some attendees yelled at the board for not responding to their concerns.
“What if it was your kids?” one said.
Corletta Vaughn, chair of the board, said after the meeting that the letter in support of the students would be posted publicly by the end of the week.
There were more than 7,400 English learners in the Detroit district last school year, making up more than 15% of all students.
Around 1,200 students were newcomers in DPSCD last year, meaning they have been in the U.S. for less than three years and are not fluent English speakers.
Western International serves more than half of the district’s high school newcomers.
Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.
