Ramos Parés: Federal agencies have not requested data on immigrant students

Education Secretary Eliezer Ramos Parés

By The Star Staff

Education Secretary Eliezer Ramos Parés, said Tuesday that he has not received any requests for information about the immigration status of immigrant students in island schools. However, he acknowledged that the school community has experienced fear and absenteeism following recent operations carried out by federal immigration agents.

“I have to say that nothing in our system indicates that someone has a legal or illegal immigration status; we serve our children regardless,” Ramos Parés said at a press conference. “So if a request were to come in, I believe the department would be unable to address an ambiguous request.”

The official reiterated that the department does not collect or store information on the immigration status of students or their families.

“We do not keep documents of that nature to enroll and serve a student in school,” he said. “Nothing in our platform says this is a person who comes from a family with an unclear or uncertain immigration status.”

Ramos Parés noted that, although ICE and HSI have conducted recent operations in some communities, schools have not received specific orders to provide information.

“The orders must include a first name, last name, date of birth, something that allows us to identify a minor or a specific person,” he stated. “What I can’t do is separate one from the other and tell a federal agent, ‘Here are these families without legal status.’”

The education secretary also emphasized that the school community, especially in areas where immigrants live, faced high absenteeism around the start of the federal operations.

“At one point, there was an absenteeism rate that exceeded 70 percent of the student population in some schools. Without a doubt, it was due to panic, it was due to fear,” Ramos Parés said. “That fear gradually diminished, and the students returned to school and were able to finish the semester.”

To address the anxiety and emotional impact on the communities, Ramos Parés said the socio-emotional protocol was activated with the support of psychologists, social workers, and school counselors.

“The protocol does establish the activation of the socio-emotional component in schools,” he noted. “There is external work with the student and also internal work with the school community that is affected by these incidents.”

The official emphasized that the Education Department has no legal obligation to collect immigration data, not even for the next school semester.

“I have nothing that obligates me at this time to collect that information,” he stated. “If it were a new requirement to enroll our children, we would certainly look into it and explore it, but nothing has ever been requested beyond the identification of a student with their address and contact number.”