Schoolsites: immigration enforcement.

Assembly Members Muratsuchi, Ortega, and Celeste Rodriguez, joined by Senator Gonzalez, have put forward legislation to restrict immigration enforcement activities in California schools and strengthen protections for student privacy. The California Safe Haven Schools Act prohibits school officials from allowing immigration authorities to enter nonpublic areas of school grounds without a valid judicial warrant or court order. The bill also bars schools from disclosing student, family, or staff information to immigration authorities absent proper legal documentation.

Under the new requirements, school superintendents and principals must notify all teachers, staff, parents, and guardians when immigration enforcement presence is confirmed on campus. These notifications must include the date, time, and location of the enforcement activity while excluding any personally identifiable information. The Attorney General must update model policies by December 2025 to align with these new restrictions, which local educational agencies must then incorporate into their own policies by March 2026.

The legislation responds to data showing approximately 133,000 undocumented children currently enrolled in California public schools, with 750,000 students having at least one undocumented parent. The bill's authors cite research indicating that immigration enforcement activities can increase student dropout rates by up to 25.2 percent and reduce Hispanic student enrollment by 7.3 percent in affected districts. As an urgency statute, the act would take effect immediately upon passage to maintain stable learning environments for these students.