Michigan’s top school board points ire at ICE with measure to support ‘student safety’

LANSING, MI – Michigan’s top school board is backing state legislation that would limit immigration enforcement in areas affecting students days after a 37-year-old mother of three was shot by a federal officer in Minnesota.

The State Board of Education adopted a resolution this week supporting “student safety, human dignity and humane immigration enforcement practices,” though not without some pushback from the board’s Republican members.

The resolution comes in response to the Jan. 7 death of Renee Nicole Good, who was shot while inside her SUV amid a confrontation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials in Minneapolis. The incident spurred protests around the country, including in Detroit, against the ongoing ICE crackdowns under President Donald Trump.

During a meeting Tuesday, Jan. 13, several state school board members emphasized the impact the intensifying operations has had on local communities and in Michigan ― a nod to the resolution’s circumstantial mention of children who may fear suddenly losing their parents or caregivers to ICE detainment and deportation while at school.

State Board President Pamela Pugh introduced the resolution and talked about Good.

“She shouldn’t have been called (an expletive) after she was shot and likely killed,” she said, referencing the exact profanity as seen in videos of the incident on social media.

The case has not been fully investigated, but members of the Trump administration have claimed Good disobeyed orders to exit her vehicle before weaponizing it. Opponents and protesters around the country have said they believe she was murdered.

Trustee Nikki Snyder, who unsuccessfully proposed changes to the resolution on behalf of absent member Tom McMillin, said the state school board was propping up the “latest interpretation” of events surrounding Good’s death.

And while she and McMillin, both Republicans, agreed with backing “humane action” in ICE activities, Snyder said they should wait until the FBI has completed an investigation, adding, “I think there is a serious lack of transparency in all of this.”

“This is not OK. There’s a lot of mixing of what we’re talking about,” Pugh replied.

“And we have legislators, senators who have proposed bills because they see the harm,” she added. “Our community should not be facing the fear that they’re facing. Our resources, human resources should not be going toward (ICE operations). … That’s not public safety. We’re talking about two different things to begin with.”

Three bills were introduced by Michigan Senate Democrats last August addressing ICE concerns.

Senate Bill 508 would prohibit immigration enforcement action in sensitive locations like educational institutions, while SB 509 would ban providing an individual’s identifying information without a court order.

As ICE agents have been widely seen wearing face coverings while on the job, law enforcement officers would additionally be prohibited from wearing a mask or personal disguise while interacting with the public on duty under SB 510.

All three were sent to committee in Lansing, where they remain.

Pugh’s resolution states that the bills “seek to increase transparency” and “clarify the role of state and local agencies” in ICE operations.

It also cites Good’s death as an example of “the real and irreversible harm caused by aggressive militarized enforcement practices” from federal authorities.

“The Michigan State Board of Education encourages a fundamental re-examination of the existence, placement, function, and deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” the resolution states. “Including whether its enforcement responsibility should be dismantled or re-assigned with the federal government to guarantee real humane solutions that center child safety.”

Snyder also questioned how Pugh’s resolution recounted the history of immigration policy in the U.S., excluding the expansion of detention and deportation under Bill Clinton and other efforts, including family detention programs, under Barack Obama.

“When an American breaks the law, they can be separated from their children because they broke the law,” she said. “… Our country actually tends to be on the side of less punitive and more humane (than others).”

ICE protests have reached Michigan in the wake of Good’s death.

Detroit advocates called for the city to stymie ICE operations in the city hours before Trump appeared to speak before the Detroit Economic Club this week. While in town, ICE was also a popular target for hundreds of anti-Trump protesters nearby.

On Tuesday, Tiffany Tilley, co-president for the state school board, said she understood that “immigration enforcement needs to happen” at large, but that she believes “people are being terrorized” by the manner of enforcement with “cities in the U.S. under siege.”

State Trustee Mitchell Robinson agreed, emphasizing it wasn’t “an abstract issue,” citing instances where ICE is spotted nearby schools in Detroit or around Michigan.

“It’s not happening somewhere else only.”