Prominent institutions in Kentucky are seeking to defy the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies. As the White House takes decisive action to curb illegal immigration, local officials and the media are teaming up to shield those who reside in the country unlawfully. 

Donald Trump was elected President on the promise to crackdown on illegal immigration, a promise which he immediately made good on. In the first week of his presidency, Trump authorized federal authorities to “take all necessary action to immediately repel, repatriate, and remove illegal aliens across the southern border of the United States.” Earlier that week, Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman issued a new directive to empower Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to enforce immigration law in so-called “sensitive areas” such as schools, churches, and hospitals. 

However, prominent institutions within the state of Kentucky are seeking to thwart the actions of these federal agencies. On January 31, the front page of the Louisville Courier-Journal boldly declared “JCPS bans ICE agents from its schools.” The action taken by the Jefferson County Public School system requires court orders for immigration officers to enter any school facility. 

Just days after the policy change, principals within JCPS were sent instructions for how to handle “non-emergency visits from government officials.” ICE and CBP are clearly in view in these instructions, which advise the school staff to call district police, the district attorney, and the student’s parents if such “government officials” arrive on campus. In a phrase, JCPS is demanding their staff obstruct federal agents. 

These instructions however, are not entirely new. Carolyn Callahan, spokeswoman of JCPS, points out that this policy dates back several years. In 2017 the JCPS school board narrowly passed a resolution to make JCPS schools a “safe haven” for illegal immigrants. In doing so, JCPS is turning its campuses and employees, funded by taxpayer money, against the directives of federal authorities. The resolution even went so far as to forbid JCPS employees from disclosing information concerning “a student or family’s immigration status to Immigration and Customs Enforcement without a valid court order or permission from a parent or guardian.” 

The Courier-Journal reported last Tuesday that JCPS has experienced an attendance drop since the new directive from Huffman: “The absence rate for immigrant students at JCPS increased 1.7% over three days following the policy change, compared to the same timeframe last year.” JCPS Superintendent Marty Pollio laments the fact that kids are missing out on their education from fear of being deported. However, one has to question whether JCPS is truly providing a proper education to begin with. Public schools exist to advance public virtue. But the lesson JCPS is teaching children is how to evade federal law enforcement. 

However, JCPS is not alone in this task. On February 7, the Courier-Journal printed a piece advising illegal immigrants on how to best evade ICE. The column explicitly encourages non-compliance with federal authorities. It makes use of the left-wing ACLU’s “Know Your Rights” web-page. And while technically in line with federal law, the column encourages illegal immigrants to refuse to comply with law enforcement officers. The column regularly invoked illegal immigrant’s right to remain silent, right to “refuse to show identity documents showing your originating country,” and also advised unlawfully present individuals to “Review [their] social media accounts to not disclose information [they] may want to be private or could be deemed harmful.” 

Kentuckians already view the Louisville Courier-Journal with skepticism, and its recent support for illegal immigrants avoiding immigration enforcement only deepens that distrust. Similarly, JCPS seems more focused on advancing political agendas than addressing the pressing educational challenges within its schools. By defying federal law, these institutions jeopardize their credibility and alienate the very communities they exist to serve.