Staff at Ritenour Middle School say officers from the Hillsdale Police Department, working on behalf of federal immigration authorities, showed up at the Charlack campus this week and asked school employees about three students. The unannounced visit alarmed families and district leaders, who say encounters like this can erode trust and heighten fear in immigrant communities. Ritenour administrators say they are pushing for answers about why officers were on campus and what records, if any, they asked to see.
As reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Hillsdale officers visited Ritenour Middle and inquired about three pupils, a visit the district’s superintendent confirmed to the paper. The Post-Dispatch reports that Hillsdale’s department is operating under a contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and that district officials are seeking clarification from both the local department and federal authorities.
Ritenour’s context
Ritenour is a suburban district in northern St. Louis County with programs for English-language learners and an equity focus that serve many immigrant and multilingual families. The district’s public pages outline those services and emphasize student safety and access to learning as core priorities, which local advocates say can make any enforcement activity on campus especially fraught for families. Ritenour School District materials describe those supports and related community resources.
What federal policy says
Federal guidelines have long treated schools as sensitive places where enforcement actions should generally be avoided. In October 2021 the Department of Homeland Security issued guidance asking ICE and Customs and Border Protection to avoid enforcement in or near “protected areas” such as schools, hospitals and places of worship. That approach changed in January 2025 when DHS leadership rescinded the protected-areas memo, a move critics say gives enforcement agencies broader discretion to act at sites where children gather. The AP reported on that shift, while DHS outlined the original 2021 guidance.
Why families are worried
Advocates and legal groups say enforcement activity around schools can chill attendance and discourage families from seeking essential services. Civil-rights and immigrant-rights organizations warned when the protected-areas guidance was changed that enforcement near schools can keep kids home and strain relationships between families and educators. The National Immigration Law Center has detailed how such policies can affect students’ access to school and related services. NILC
District response and next steps
Ritenour officials told the Post-Dispatch they have asked Hillsdale and federal authorities for an explanation of the visit and said they will review how school staff should handle law-enforcement requests going forward. Parents and community advocates are calling for transparency and clearer limits on when local officers may act on behalf of federal immigration agents…