Monday’s Eden Prairie School Board meeting drew an unusually large crowd as community members voiced frustration and fear over the district’s communication and safety policies amid recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in the Twin Cities.
Eden Prairie is home to a large Somali community, and parents told the board the district has not clearly communicated how it will keep students safe as federal immigration activity intensifies. Community members said they want specific, public-facing plans rather than general reassurances.
District leaders later addressed those concerns at the meeting, saying they are reviewing safety procedures and continuing to communicate with families.
The immigration enforcement operations follow a series of racist, targeted attacks by President Donald Trump on Minnesota’s Somali community, including a remark last week in which he called them “garbage” he did not want in the country, according to The New York Times.
ICE enforcement orders followed, with the Trump administration directing federal agents to focus primarily on Somalis in the Twin Cities who have final deportation orders, according to reports from The New York Times, CBS News and Star Tribune. As many as 100 agents have been brought in, and ICE operations are now underway in the metro.
The school district issued an email Friday, Dec. 5, in response to escalating fear in Eden Prairie over ICE activity, but community members criticized it Monday as too “vague” and not reassuring regarding student safety.
The email did not explicitly mention ICE or an increase in immigration enforcement operations, other than stating that “people in our community are experiencing real fear based on what they are hearing and seeing.”
“Please know that while we cannot control the actions of federal authorities or legal agents, as long as students are in our care, we will do everything we can to provide a safe and welcoming environment,” Superintendent Josh Swanson said in the statement.
Swanson also said in the email that school leaders are “trained in managing these situations” and that the district has and will continue to “review and strengthen procedures that keep students and staff safe.”
No specific safety measures were listed in the email. Community members at Monday’s school board meeting said that was not enough.
Fadumo Hassan, an Eden Prairie resident with children in the district and a member of Indivisible Eden Prairie Area, a volunteer group that works to increase civic engagement, told the board that Swanson’s email was cryptic and offered no “concrete plan” for parents if ICE agents show up at school.
“When you say we individualize, that means after the event happens and after the damage is done,” Hassan said. “That’s not a plan, that’s not a caring district that wants to show the parents and assures that we can trust you with our kids.”
Hassan added that she sometimes sees students waiting to be picked up from school after their extracurricular activities, and there is no adult supervision or “assurance from our city police officers.”
Many of the attendees at the board meeting were members of Indivisible who came to support Hassan, according to a Facebook post Sunday. The post asked residents to show up in solidarity with Hassan and community members affected by escalating ICE operations, and to “please walk her to her damn car after the meeting.”
Babar Khan, an Eden Prairie resident who spoke during public comment, agreed with Hassan’s sentiment and said safety policies should be better communicated by the school district so parents are not left in the dark regarding student safety. He said knowing the policies ahead of time could help ensure students are kept safe and parents would know what to do.
“When you say that you are going to work with individuals, that becomes after matter of fact,” Khan said. “But if we know the policy, maybe we can avoid (it), we can be slightly more proactive, and we know what we need to do and what you need to do.”
The last public comment on the issue came from the Rev. Trish Sullivan Vanni, pastoral director of the Charis Ecumenical Catholic Community in Eden Prairie, who expressed concerns about students of color, particularly Somali students, amid harmful rhetoric and increased ICE activity in the region. Vanni said she heard from one of her pastor friends this past weekend that a member had witnessed an ICE raid at the Preserve Apartments and that the issue is now “right in our midst.”
Vanni also called for greater transparency from the district, including “clearly-stated plans” about student safety policies. She also criticized the city’s response for not being specific enough.
“I understand completely the need for the protection of employees and student privacy, but in the area of policy, I think we can be completely upfront with the city. It was too vague,” Vanni said. “The city itself was also too vague in their communication. We want to know exactly how you’re going to protect people.”
At the end of her comment, Vanni said she wanted district safety plans to involve “very clear and well-informed resources” for youth who have witnessed ICE raids and may need special care, and she said students should be held accountable. Vanni said she has witnessed harmful rhetoric on online city social media boards and fears it may spread to students.
“I am stunned by the things people feel licensed to say, and I’m concerned that in households, particularly households of dominant culture, folks in the city, kids are going to be fueled to act out on this hateful rhetoric themselves,” Vanni said. “So I really want to see us be very rigorous in how we hold students accountable.”
While school board members do not respond to public comments, Swanson, the board’s ex officio member, made some remarks on the issue.
“Based on events that have been happening in our community (and) around the Twin Cities, and we know they’re having an impact on students and families and staff,” Swanson said. “We know the actions by federal immigration authorities and comments and some of the rhetoric are creating fear that’s very real and dehumanizing. And that’s not who we are as a district.”
Swanson also said the district’s policies regarding working with outside authorities are “very public” and are done “proactively on an individual basis” as well as reactively. He also reemphasized that the school district continually reviews and strengthens safety policies, but does not make all of them public in order to maintain student and staff security.
“I will tell you, as long as kids are in our care, we’re working really hard to do everything we can to provide a safe and welcoming environment, and that will continue to be our focus and that we’re going to remain grounded in those strong relationships,” Swanson said.
