ICE is not normal law enforcement
This led Brett Plough, associate director of housing & residence life, to send a follow-up email on Jan. 28.
Opening with an apology for sending mixed messages to student employees, the second email clarified that RAs should interact with ICE the way they would with “any other law enforcement.”
The message was not circulated to all members of Housing’s student staff.
Another student employee who coordinates meetings with RAs and higher-ups said they were not briefed on these guidelines.
Because of their position, they are often told about the release of policies.
They said they heard about the release of guidelines from word-of-mouth and other peers who work as RAs.
“I think it’s encouraging student workers to be compliant,” the employee said.
Kristin Claes Mathews, senior director of strategic communications and university communications, confirmed that DePaul Public Safety has not seen any ICE agents around campus, nor have they received any reports of ICE being on campus.
“Please know that we will, within the confines of the law, use every capacity we have to help those in need during this time,” DePaul President Robert Manuel said at a university event on Feb. 3, as reported in DePaul Newsline.
Katy Arnold, DePaul political science professor and immigration expert, explained the danger in sending the message to student employees that ICE and the Chicago Police Department have the same responsibilities. Arnold said this is harmful to the larger conversation regarding immigration enforcement and is false.
Arnold said differentiating what ICE and CPD have the right to do can prevent confusing scenarios.
“The university should know that an (ICE) arrest is not a normal arrest,” Arnold said. “There’s not been normal procedures, checks and balances or oversights that normal police have.”
ICE, and local law enforcement agencies such as CPD, have different authorities under immigration and criminal law. Conflating the two could leave student workers open to disciplinary action.
All employees, including student workers, are responsible for safeguarding education records in compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Additionally, they must adhere to the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, which outlines ICE’s enforcement authority.
These legal requirements can “conflict” when university workers are confronted with federal law enforcement, according to LeRoy Rooker, a senior fellow at the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers and an expert on FERPA law.
“You can share directory information so you could say, ‘Here’s a list of all our students,” Rooker said. “But nationality, national origin, that sort of thing is not a directory information item. So that means either consent or subpoenaing the information (would be required).”
So if a student worker did share protected information with ICE, without a judicial warrant, the individual could face disciplinary action or the university could face civil penalties.
