NP3 Reacts to Supreme Court ICE Ruling

By Bryn Macias
Editor-In-Chief | The Pacific Times

On Sept. 8, the Supreme Court ruled in Noem v. Vasquez-Perdomo that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has the right to question and detain people based on criteria that some people consider racial profiling. As a result, ICE is now able to stop people based on their apparent race or ethnicity, the fact that they speak Spanish or English with an accent, their job, or their presence at certain locations.

Since the ICE raids in Los Angeles over the summer, some people have expressed their concerns about the regulations around ICE agents entering schools. The Department of Homeland Security has made it clear on their website that ICE does not target or raid schools, and although they can legally enter schools, there have been no confirmed reports of them doing so.

NP3 seniors Estafani Esther Galvez and Alexxia Serratos both believe that schools have a responsibility to protect students and their families if ICE agents do come to school campuses. They said they believe all students have the right to learn and be protected while at school.

“Schools have the obligation to ensure a student’s safety on school grounds, after all it is the students who bring value to a school,” said Galvez. “If this means having a plan in case ICE agents present themselves, then so be it.”

Sandiv Wijesiriwardane, also an NP3 senior, added that schools should ensure students know their rights and feel safe on campus, but “schools still shouldn’t be a place where federal law isn’t applied.”

“If ICE agents have a legal warrant and a serious case, schools do not have the right to interfere,” said Wijesiriwardane. “But overall, school is not the place for ICE agents to do their work.”

NP3’s Family Handbook reads that the school has been committed to their Safe Haven Resolution since February 2017. This resolution supports the Natomas Unified School District’s commitment to protect students and families from hate crimes or deportation, within the district’s legal limits. This includes but is not limited to sharing students’ immigration status and supporting students if ICE agents want to visit schools to question students, according to the Natomas Unified School District website.

The site reads, “Every NUSD student is a valuable part of our district family, and providing an engaging and safe learning community where all students will demonstrate responsibility, achieve academic and social-emotional growth, embrace diversity, and are prepared to make decisions about their college and career success is NUSD’s mission, regardless of immigration status.” This information is under The Office of Equity in Excellence segment of the Departments section of the NUSD site.

The Noem v. Vasquez-Perdomo case originated in Los Angeles, Calif., but since it was appealed up to the U.S. Supreme Court, the decision can be applied to everywhere in the United States, including Sacramento.

Serratos described Sacramento as “an ICE agent’s paradise,” because of California’s large immigrant population, and the diversity of Sacramento.

Sacramento County is the 17th most diverse county in America, according to the Sacramento County website. In fact, Niche, which collects data on U.S. schools and neighborhoods, found that the Natomas Unified School district is the second most diverse in the nation in 2025 and 2024. The Public Policy Institute of California also notes that California has more immigrants than any other state, many of whom come from countries in Asia and Europe, as well as Latin America.

Non-Hispanic or Latino immigrants have also expressed increased fears over deportation with reports of ICE activity. In the first six months of 2025, 3,705 Asian Americans were detained for deportation, according to AsAmNews.

ICE has been conducting raids in Los Angeles since June of 2025, sparking protests throughout the city and California. For example, on June 9 there was an “ICE out of Sac” protest in Cesar Chavez Plaza in Sacramento. Hispanics and Latinos have vocally opposed the actions of ICE, saying they feel that they are being unfairly targeted.

“If we allow Hispanic people or even Latino-passing people to walk around our country with a target on their back, can we really call ourselves the home of the free?” asked Serratos.

Wijesiriwardane says, “Our country has immigration laws, illegal immigrants broke our immigration laws, and ICE is here to enforce those laws. Accountability and fairness should guide every action.”

The U.S. Supreme Court ruling has set the stage for ICE agents to stop, detain, and question Hispanics and Latinos at schools without fear of being accused of acting unconstitutionally.

“This administration feels like a constant reminder of how fragile our democracy has become, and of how easily the trampling of our rights can be disguised as measures to ensure ‘freedom,’” said Galvez.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote a concurrence in support of the court’s ruling saying that it is reasonable to question people who meet “common sense” criteria for possibly being in the country illegally.

“America’s strength comes from equal treatment under the law, and targeting based on identity violates that principle,” says Wijesiriwardane. “However, ICE has a duty to enforce immigration laws fairly and effectively. Certain states and areas tend to have more undocumented immigrants, so if they have reasonable suspicion in an investigation, they have the right to investigate with professionalism and respect for human dignity.”