California Passes Bill to Require Schools to Notify Parents of ICE Operations

The legislation would take immediate effect and requires all schools and colleges to notify parents, guardians, and staff about nearby operations.

A Homeland Security officer speaks to classmates and relatives gathered outside immigration court in Chelmsford, Mass., on June 5, 2025. Brian Snyder/Reuters

An emergency bill to require California schools to notify parents and school staff when federal immigration officers are operating in the area passed the state Legislature on Sept. 2.

Senate Bill 98—dubbed the Sending Alerts to Families in Education, or SAFE Act—is now waiting to be signed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

“With students returning to school, this legislation is more important than ever,” the bill’s author, state Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez, a Democrat from Pasadena, said in a statement. “The SAFE Act will inform and protect immigrant students and their families on school campuses.”

If signed into law, the measure will require all elementary, secondary, and charter schools and college campuses to make the notifications. The schools would need to update their safety plans to include procedures for the notifications and provide additional resources for families about their educational rights, state privacy laws, and counseling or support services.

The notification would also be required to include the date, time, and location of the immigration enforcement.

The legislation includes an urgency clause, which means that it would take effect immediately after Newsom signs it, instead of the typical date of Jan. 1, 2026.

California schools serve an estimated 133,000 children aged 3 to 17 who are illegal immigrants, according to the Migration Policy Institute, a Washington-based global immigration policies think tank.

More than 2.7 million people in California are illegal immigrants, and more than 400,000 have moved to the state within the past five years, the institute reported.

President Donald Trump declared a national emergency at the southern border on his first day in office on Jan. 20, making immigration enforcement a top priority. Since then, federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations have included checking the welfare of immigrant children who crossed the border illegally and without a parent in the past four years.

In April, two elementary schools in Los Angeles denied entry to Department of Homeland Security investigators checking on the health and safety of such children.

“DHS is leading efforts to conduct welfare checks on these children to ensure that they are safe and not being exploited, abused, and sex trafficked,” a department spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email at the time.

In the face of ongoing federal immigration operations, Pérez said the SAFE Act can help “inform and empower school communities to make the best decisions about their safety and their family’s safety.”

“I urge [Newsom] to sign the SAFE Act,” Pérez said. “Students and their families have been living in fear. California must ensure our schools and colleges remain places where students can learn, teachers can teach, and classrooms can be safe places for young Californians.”

Flanked by images of a person arrested for violence during the ICE protests in Los Angeles, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks about President Donald Trump's response to the protests at the White House on June 11, 2025. Bryan Dozier/Middle East Images via AFP via Getty Images

The legislation was a priority of the California Latino Legislative Caucus and was sponsored by California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, the University of California Student Association, the California State Student Association, the Student Senate for California Community Colleges, the California Faculty Association, and others.

“Our immigrant families are living in fear and our time to act is limited,” Thurmond said in a statement. “The school year has begun, and now is the time to make decisive efforts to protect our communities and maintain school as a safe place for learning.”

Aaron Villarreal, chair of the Cal State Student Association, said he has witnessed classmates and colleagues struggle with fear of immigration enforcement.

“This anxiety is not unique to Sacramento State but is shared across all 22 campuses,” Villarreal said.