Immigration Officials Asking About Fourth-Grader Turned Away By NYC School

Carolina Moreno
Updated

Two immigration officials were turned away by a Queens elementary school on Thursday after they inquired about a fourth-grader.

News of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officials’ visit to P.S. 58 in Maspeth first broke over the weekend. On Monday, New York City Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña visited the school to quell concerns from parents and told the press that city schools are a safe place for children.

She echoed that message in a video on Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Twitter account.

“It’s a pleasure to be here at P.S. 58 today to greet parents as they bring their children to school this morning and to reassure them that the best place for children to be is in their local schools,” Fariña says in the video. “In our schools we protect our students and our families and want to reassure parents that no information is ever given to any federal agent that is not something that would not go through a special process.”

“An incident that happened here last week is still being investigated,” she continued, “but we are assuring parents that not only were the agents never allowed beyond the front door, [but] that in the future they will actually be kept out on the sidewalks until something is being investigated at a higher level to tell them how to proceed.”

Fariña also said that administrators and staff at the school would be informed and trained on protocol. The incident comes two months after de Blasio ordered city schools to turn away federal immigration officers if they do not have a warrant signed by a judge.

In a statement to CBS2 on Sunday, a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesperson confirmed that two USCIS officials visited a school in Maspeth, Queens, “as part of an administrative inquiry pertaining to an immigration benefit request.”

The spokesperson emphasized that the agents were there to “verify certain facts about the student’s enrollment in relation to a request for an immigration benefit,” and did not ask to see or speak with the child.

USCIS officials are not the same as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Unlike ICE, USCIS can’t arrest anyone.

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April 2015

At an event hosted by Texas Patriots PAC: “Everything’s coming across the border: the illegals, the cars, the whole thing. It’s like a big mess. Blah. It’s like vomit.”
At an event hosted by Texas Patriots PAC: “Everything’s coming across the border: the illegals, the cars, the whole thing. It’s like a big mess. Blah. It’s like vomit.”

June 2015

At a speech announcing his campaign: "When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."

August 2015

On NBC's "Meet the Press": “We’re going to keep the families together, we have to keep the families together, but they have to go." 
On NBC's "Meet the Press": “We’re going to keep the families together, we have to keep the families together, but they have to go." 

September 2015

On CBS's "60 Minutes": “We’re rounding ‘em up in a very humane way, in a very nice way. And they’re going to be happy because they want to be legalized. And, by the way, I know it doesn’t sound nice. But not everything is nice.”
On CBS's "60 Minutes": “We’re rounding ‘em up in a very humane way, in a very nice way. And they’re going to be happy because they want to be legalized. And, by the way, I know it doesn’t sound nice. But not everything is nice.”

November 2015

On MSNBC's "Morning Joe": “You are going to have a deportation force, and you are going to do it humanely." 
On MSNBC's "Morning Joe": “You are going to have a deportation force, and you are going to do it humanely." 

February 2016

At a GOP primary debate: “We have at least 11 million people in this country that came in illegally. They will go out. They will come back ― some will come back, the best, through a process.”
At a GOP primary debate: “We have at least 11 million people in this country that came in illegally. They will go out. They will come back ― some will come back, the best, through a process.”

March 2016

At a press conference when asked if he would consider allowing undocumented immigrants to stay: "We either have a country or we don’t. We either have a country or we don’t. We have borders or we don’t have borders. And at this moment, the answer is absolutely not.”
At a press conference when asked if he would consider allowing undocumented immigrants to stay: "We either have a country or we don’t. We either have a country or we don’t. We have borders or we don’t have borders. And at this moment, the answer is absolutely not.”

April 2016

At an event hosted by NBC's "Today Show": “They’re going to go, and we’re going to create a path where we can get them into this country legally, OK? But it has to be done legally. ... They’re going to go, and then come back and come back legally.”
At an event hosted by NBC's "Today Show": “They’re going to go, and we’re going to create a path where we can get them into this country legally, OK? But it has to be done legally. ... They’re going to go, and then come back and come back legally.”

July 2016

At the Republican National Convention: "Tonight, I want every American whose demands for immigration security have been denied ― and every politician who has denied them ― to listen very closely to the words I am about to say. On January 21st of 2017, the day after I take the oath of office, Americans will finally wake up in a country where the laws of the United States are enforced."

September 2016

At a rally: “Anyone who has entered the United States illegally is subject to deportation. That is what it means to have laws and to have a country. Otherwise we don’t have a country.”
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September 2016

On "The Dr. Oz Show": “Well, under my plan the undocumented or, as you would say, illegal immigrant wouldn’t be in the country. They only come in the country legally.”
On "The Dr. Oz Show": “Well, under my plan the undocumented or, as you would say, illegal immigrant wouldn’t be in the country. They only come in the country legally.”

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.