Freshman Niya Bowers worries for the safety of students in Los Angeles schools in light of the ever-growing presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids sweeping across Southern California since spring.
“It’s just not good to be scared to go someplace where we should be able to feel comfortable and have a safe space,” Bowers said. “But with ICE raids coming around, it’s unexpected at any time. Someone could come out of a white van and snatch people up just like that.”
On Sept. 8, the Supreme Court overturned an order that had previously prevented federal agents from racially profiling people based on their skin color, accent and other ethnic defining features to detain them in Los Angeles. Many critics, including the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) believe the decision is unconstitutional due to the Fourth Amendment, which states that government agents must have reasonable legal suspicion to detain people and cannot detain anybody without probable cause…