House Democrats demand briefing after immigration agents try to enter L.A. elementary schools

Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach) and other House Democrats are demanding that Department of Homeland Security officials justify their attempts last week to speak with students at two Los Angeles elementary schools.

Garcia and 17 other Democrats signed a letter sent Friday to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, requesting a briefing about the operation.

“If you falsely claim to be conducting welfare checks while actually targeting children for deportation, you undermine willingness to cooperate with law enforcement, provoke fear, and undermine public trust,” the lawmakers wrote, also demanding that the agency “desist from immigration enforcement activity” involving children who do not pose a public safety threat.

Federal agents showed up last Monday unannounced and without a judicial warrant at Russell Elementary and at Lillian Street Elementary in the Florence-Graham neighborhood of South Los Angeles. They asked to speak with five students collectively, ranging from first-graders to sixth-graders. But school principals denied access.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-04-14/house-democracts-demand-briefing-immigration-agents-enter-la-elementary-schools