Washington – California Sense. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff gave managers of the Trump administration until May 2 to answer questions about the reasons why federal agents tried to speak with the students of two Los Angeles elementary schools last week.
The Ministry of Internal Security said that agents were making “well-being checks” on students. But Padilla and Schiff, in a letter on Friday, said that the actions “terrorized hundreds of thousands of students in Los Angeles and undermine public confidence”.
The letter is addressed to the acting executive associate director, Robert Hammer of Homeland Security Investigations, a branch of American immigration and customs application. Senators asked for a briefing on the nature, scale and objectives of social protection checks, as well as policies and protocols surrounding children’s checks.
The letter detailed that the senators wanted to know how the department takes care of the problems, in particular the training of officers, coordination with the victim services and if the agents contacted children’s lawyers before visits in person.
“We do not understand why, if you have obtained evidence that led you to believe that these children were in danger, your agency did not refer to the Ministry of Social Services of California and did not coordinate with the school before the” protection check “concerning the potential concerns of child protection or trafficking,” the senators wrote.
The Democrats of the Chamber, led by representative Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach), also sent Handicboard on Monday to request a briefing on the operation.
Federal agents presented themselves on April 7 unexpected and without a legal mandate to Russell Elementary and Lillian Street Elementary in the Florence-Graham district of South Angeles. They asked to speak collectively with five students, ranging from first -year students to sixth year students. But school directors have denied access.
According to the unified supt. Alberto Carvalho, the agents falsely claimed that the families of the students had authorized contact. The agents identified themselves as in internal security surveys.
A Lausd spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comments on the Senators’ letter.
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Internal Security, told Times that the agents ensured that the children who have arrived unaccompanied on the border “are safe and not exploited, abused and sexual victims”.
“Any assertion that the officers lied are false,” she said previously. “Our police were clearly identified and clearly indicated that it was a social protection check and not an action for applying immigration.”
Invited to comment on the letter of the senators, McLaughlin said: “The defamation of our police must stop.”
The senators had met with immigration and customs surveys and surveys on internal security this week. It seems that they left with more questions than answers.
According to their letter, Padilla and Schiff request information on the question of whether the agents have arrested, detained or expelled from the former unaccompanied children or their sponsors in the context of social protection checks in California and nationally. They also want to know what measures immigration and customs application take to combat the conduct of their agents, in particular by discovering why they lied about permission to speak with children.
“These types of” well-being checks “scare children and family members, rather than promoting their security,” wrote the senators. “We urge you to put an end to all efforts to make” well-being checks “on school premises and to ensure that ice agents do not try to visit or enter schools without a mandate.”
California Daily Newspapers
