GUARDIANS

Mississippi Schools Scramble to Help Children Left Alone After Mass ICE Detentions

Teachers, administrators step in to find accommodation for children as young as kindergarten age whose parents were among the 680 detained.

Schools in Mississippi districts where Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents carried out mass raids Wednesday have stepped in to make sure children whose parents were detained have a place to stay. Scott County Superintendent Tony McGee told the Clarion-Ledger he knew of at least six children, between the age of kindergarten and high school, whose parents were detained in his school alone, but estimated there could be many more. Scott says he instructed bus drivers to make sure they had a “visual reference to a parent or guardian” before leaving children in potentially empty homes. Those whose parents are caught up in the raids were then bused back to schools, where teachers made sure they were taken care of. Nearly 700 people were detained in the ICE raids, reportedly a record number for the agency.