Schools try to reassure students, parents amid stepped up federal immigration enforcement
Interim Superintendent John Thein issued an open letter last month — titled 'You Belong Here' — seeking to reassure parents that under current federal law, the district cannot ask families about their immigration status or deny them access to education based on their status.
At the same time, district officials explained, in writing, how parents can designate someone to take care of their children if they're separated from them — a process that requires a notarized document known as a Delegation of Parental Authority, or a DOPA.
The school district also has urged families to update their emergency contact information and their family plan and consider seeking assistance, if needed, from legal resources such as Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services and the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota. A Spanish-language meeting for parents has been scheduled toward the end of February.
'I want to assure you that SPPS respects, affirms and welcomes ALL students, staff and family members,' wrote Thein on Jan. 31. 'ALL students deserve to learn in respectful and inclusive environments where their identities are valued and contribute to their success in school and in life.'
St. Paul Public Schools isn't the only school district looking to reassure families and staff that they remain welcome at a tense time for many immigrants and the family members who rely on them. At the same time, some schools, colleges and municipalities with large immigrant populations have found themselves in the sensitive position of explaining when and to what degree they're required to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, such as if ICE presents a judicial order or criminal arrest warrant.
According to Wilder Research and Minnesota Compass, about one in five children in Minnesota is the child of an immigrant.
'This is a new territory for a lot of our school districts,' said Kirk Schneidawind, executive director of the Minnesota School Boards Association. 'They're primarily in the territory of educating kids, and all of a sudden, we're in a new phase or new era. A lot of them are anticipating what may be coming, and our administrators and teachers are trying to be prepared and be informed.'
In addition to seeking a better understanding of the law and how it intersects with internal school policies, 'I think we've seen a lot of our school districts reach out to community agencies to provide some support to families,' Schneidawind said.
Within days of taking office, President Donald Trump's administration has given ICE field offices heftier new detention quotas, and issued executive orders lifting restraints that kept ICE from making arrests at churches, schools, hospitals and other sensitive locations that were formerly off-limits.
'The stress and the heaviness is absolutely in the air,' said Katie Birch, a social studies and site-based substitute teacher in the St. Paul elementary schools. 'Definitely fourth- and fifth-grade students are having much more dynamic conversations than I think most people realize kids are capable of having, and they're susceptible to the stress and anxieties that their parents feel. They're very perceptive. They don't miss a thing. If the adults are feeling it, they're very aware of it.'
It's unclear, exactly, what the new directives mean for schools. On X, the social media site, ICE has begun posting pictures of recent arrests, including several in or around St. Paul, with the label 'The Worst First,' a reference to ICE's focus on priority suspects accused of violence or high-profile crimes.
At the same time, the White House has also allowed ICE to perform 'collateral' arrests of unintended targets, such as individuals living with a suspected violent offender. Quoting senior Trump administration officials, NBC News reported that of the 1,179 people arrested by ICE nationally on Jan. 26, just 613 — or little more than half — were considered 'criminal arrests.' The rest appeared to be nonviolent offenders or people who were not suspected of a criminal offense at all.
While entering the U.S. through illegal means is considered a crime, legal experts say the simple act of living in the U.S. without proper documentation is classified as a civil infraction akin to a contract violation and, standing alone, does not constitute a criminal act under the law.
Overstaying a worker or student visa tends to fall in a grayer area under the law, and might result in a ban from returning to the U.S. for three to 10 years, but an overstay would not typically trigger criminal penalties unless other criminal violations are involved.
The legal complexities of the issue have now landed at the doorstep of elementary schools, middle school classrooms, high schools and halls of higher learning. There's a difference, for instance, between an administrative warrant, which does not legally authorize officers to search school grounds, and a criminal warrant or judicial order, which may serve exactly that purpose.
'Campus departments of public safety do not enforce federal immigration laws and our officers do not inquire about an individual's immigration status,' wrote University of Minnesota officials, in an explanatory open letter to students, faculty and staff on Jan. 31. 'In compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the University does not provide private student information, unless required by subpoena or court order.'
Throughout the country, the possibility of political retribution for not cooperating with federal authorities on immigration enforcement also has heightened tensions. The Trump administration, through a memo circulated last month by the U.S. Department of Justice, has threatened to investigate any state or city officials suspected of blocking federal efforts to remove undocumented immigrants.
On Jan. 23, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison joined top prosecutors from a dozen states in issuing a public response noting that under the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution — which limits federal authority over individual states — the federal government cannot force local police departments to carry out its law enforcement duties, including federal immigration enforcement.
On Thursday, Ellison's office followed that with a formal legal opinion that Minnesota law prohibits state and local law enforcement agencies from holding someone based on a civil immigration detainer if the person would otherwise be released from custody. 'Federal regulations themselves specify that detainers issued by ICE are requests, not commands,' reads a statement from the Minnesota Attorney General's Office.
School district officials are doing their best to interpret their rights and responsibilities, Schneidawind said.
The Minnesota Reformer reported last month that Minneapolis Public Schools has been conducting staff trainings since December on how to respond if immigration officials demand access to a student. The training documents indicate that school staff are not required to assist in direct enforcement of an administrative warrant, and they should ask officers to wait outside the secured area of the school until the district's general counsel has been notified.
They're then to wait to be advised on what to do next. Even in the case of a valid criminal warrant, according to the Reformer, the district has told employees they should escort the student to the principal's office, rather than allow ICE unfettered access to school grounds.
The Anoka-Hennepin School District — the state's largest — also has indicated that requests for access to students would be reviewed by the district's legal counsel, according to a district statement.
Among other resources, St. Paul Public Schools is distributing flyers informing families about a Spanish-language 'Know Your Rights' meeting to be hosted by Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services later this month.
'A school is a care-giving environment,' said Birch, the elementary school teacher. 'In all of this uncertainty and fear, what I love about educators, especially in our school, people are banding together. It feels like we're saying, 'We can do hard things, especially when we're together.' … It's like a safe space for students to nestle into.'
Following staff requests, the district has shared information with staff on how to talk to both elementary and secondary students about any anxiety related to recent events, support civil conversation, and direct students and families to extra support if needed.
'Although we cannot provide any absolute assurances, share the message that schools remain one of the safest places for young people to be during the day,' district officials wrote to staff. 'SPPS welcomes and values ALL students in our schools.'
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USA Today
7 hours ago
- USA Today
ICE deported teenagers and children in immigration raids. Here are their stories.
Several students who attended K-12 schools in the United States last year won't return this fall after ICE deported them to other countries. An empty seat. Martir Garcia Lara's fourth-grade teacher and classmates went on with the school day in Torrance, California without him on May 29. About 20 miles north of his fourth grade classroom, United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested and detained the boy and his father at their scheduled immigration hearing in Downtown Los Angeles. The federal immigration enforcement agency, which under President Donald Trump has more aggressively deported undocumented immigrants, separated the young boy and his father for a time and took them to an immigration detention facility in Texas. Garcia Lara and his father were reunited and deported to Honduras this summer. Garcia Lara is one of at least five young children and teens who have been rounded up by ICE and deported from the United States with their parents since the start of Trump's second presidential term. Many won't return to their school campuses in the fall. "Martir's absence rippled beyond the school walls, touching the hearts of neighbors and strangers alike, who united in a shared hope for his safe return," Sara Myers, a spokesperson for the Torrance Unified School District, told USA TODAY. Trisha McLaughlin, assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, said his father Martir Garcia-Banegas, 50, illegally entered the United States in 2021 with his son from the Central American country and an immigration judge ordered them to "removed to Honduras" in Sept. 2022. "They exhausted due process and had no legal remedies left to pursue," McLaughlin wrote USA TODAY in an email. The young boy is now in Honduras without his teacher, classmates and a brother who lives in Torrance. "I was scared to come here," Lara told a reporter at the California-based news station ABC7 in Spanish. "I want to see my friends again. All of my friends are there. I miss all my friends very much." Although no reported ICE deportations have taken place on school grounds, school administrators, teachers and students told USA TODAY that fear lingers for many immigrant students in anticipation of the new school year. The Trump administration has ramped up immigration enforcement in the United States. A Reuters analysis of ICE and White House data shows the Trump administration has doubled the daily arrest rates compared to the last decade. Trump recently signed the House and Senate backed "One Big Beautiful Bill," which increases ICE funding by $75 billion to use to enforce immigration policy and arrest, detain and deport immigrants in the United States. Although Trump has said he wants to remove immigrants from the country who entered illegally and committed violent crimes, many people without criminal records have also been arrested and deported, including school students who have been picked up along with or in lieu of their parents. Abigail Jackson, a spokesperson for the White House, says the Trump administration's immigration agencies are not targeting children in their raids. She called an insinuation that they are "a fake narrative when the truth tells a much different story." "In many of these examples, the children's parents were illegally present in the country – some posing a risk to the communities they were illegally present in – and when they were going to be removed they chose to take their children with them," Jackson said. "If you have a final deportation order, as many of these illegal immigrant parents did, you have no right to stay in the United States and should immediately self-deport.' Parents can choose to leave their kids behind if they are arrested, detained and deported from the United States, she said. Some advocates for immigrants in the United States dispute that claim. National Immigration Project executive director Sirine Shebaya said she's aware of undocumented immigrant parents were not given the choice to leave their kids behind or opportunity to make arrangement for them to stay in the United States. In several cases, ICE targeted parents when they attended routine immigration appointments, while traffic stops led to deportations of two high school students. School principals, teachers and classmates say their absence is sharply felt and other students are afraid they could be next. From Los Angeles to Massachusetts: arrested, detained and deported The coastal community of Torrance is in uproar over Garcia Lara's deportation. After hearing about the arrest of him and his father, Jasmin King, president of the PTA for Torrance Elementary School, asked parents in the group for advice on how to help them. "One of our students, Martir Garcia Lara, 4th grade, who has been one of our students since 1st grade has recently been held captive in an ICE facility located in Houston Texas," King wrote in a memo to school parents obtained by KTLA in late May. "We are trying to help Martir and his family." School district officials also received inquiries from the community about what people could do to assist Garcia Lara and his family, said Myers, the district spokesperson. In the end, they couldn't do much to help the child stay in the United States. Elementary, middle and high school campuses have historically been safe settings for immigrant students and their families, but students may be picked up by ICE when they are off-campus. 'One of our classmates was deported' About 10 miles north of the White House, Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Maryland, also lost a high school junior near the end of the school year. ICE deported the student to Guatemala, according to the student organization Montgomery Blair Students For Asylum and Immigration Reform. Liliana López, a spokesperson for the district, said ICE has not appeared on the district's campuses. 'Last week, one of our classmates was deported,' the group wrote on social media. 'We're heartbroken, we're angry, and we're not staying silent.' Kyara Romero Lira, 17, who attends Montgomery Blair, said she found out about the student's deportation through a friend who was close to the girl. She said she could not name the student because the student and her family requested privacy. ICE did not respond to an inquiry from USA TODAY for more information about the student or why she was deported. School officials said they could not confirm the student's status or name due to privacy regulations. The teen's arrest elicited an emotional student walkout on the school campus in June. Romero Lira and Senaya Asfaw, the leaders of a student group on campus called Students For Asylum and Immigration Reform organized the walkout. They are both daughters of immigrants. Other high schoolers joined them on campus on June 12 in protest of the student's deportation. The teens described the protest as "extremely successful." Asfaw said there is an increased presence of ICE in their community, which has a large immigrant population. "There's been unrest, confusion and fear since the new administration came in," Asfaw told USA TODAY. "There's been a lot more ICE sightings in general, not on campus, but in the community." Romero Lira said the student's deportation "brought something that felt so far away to our doorstep." She feels "extremely scared" even though she's in a community that's historically friendly to immigrants, she said. Asfaw agreed and reiterated the surprise about the student's deportation hitting so close to home. "Our school does so much to try to help the immigrant students and parents and families. You can see that within the hallways of Blair," Asfaw said. "There are all kids of immigrants, a lot of Latino immigrants and other immigrants from all over the world." Detroit teacher will 'miss him in my classroom next year' Immigration officials arrested Detroit teen and high school senior Maykol Bogoya-Duarte on May 20 when he was driving to a school field trip. Authorities say he was tailgating a car in front of him, which turned out to be an unmarked police car. Local police officers found out he didn't have a driver's license and arrested the teen during the traffic stop, said his attorney, Ruby Robinson with the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center. A copy of the police report in the case, provided to USA TODAY by the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, showed that police officers called local border patrol agents on the scene to "provide interpretation" between officers and Bogoya-Duarte. Robinson said immigration agents learned then that Bogoya-Duarte was undocumented and had a deportation order and arrested him. He was 18 at the time of the arrest. He was also just 3.5 credits away from graduating high school. Authorities sent him to an immigration processing center in Louisiana and deported him to Colombia in June after he lost his legal appeal to stay in the country to earn his high school diploma. Bogoya-Duarte had lived in the United States since 2022 and was denied asylum to stay in the country in 2024, Robinson said. Bogoya-Duarte was planning to return to Colombia with his mother after he graduated from high school. He was in the process of obtaining a new passport. Jackson, from the White House, said Bogoya-Duarte had "previously ignored a judge's removal order and lost his appeal." "His asylum request was adjudicated prior to removal," she said. Dozens of community members spoke at a recent Detroit Public Schools meeting condemning Bogoya-Duarte's arrest, Chalkbeat Detroit reported. "On the day the rest of his classmates were starting summer and graduating, he was in a detention center," Robinson said. He described the teen as conscientious, focused on school, and said his grades had been improving since he entered the United States. "It was an opportunity cut short for him," he said. Robinson said Bogoya-Duarte was unable to apply for or receive a drivers license because of state restrictions that don't allow undocumented immigrants to obtain them. Angel Garcia, principal of Western International High School where Bogoya-Duarte attended school, called it "a really scary time" for his community. "I feel terrible for Maykol's family, but also for our other families who witnessed what happened from afar," Garcia said. Bogoya-Duarte's deportation and the Trump administration's heavy hand on immigration enforcement caused "quite a dip" in attendance last school year, he said. Kristen Schoettle, Bogoya-Duarte's teacher from Western International High School, told Chalkbeat Detroit that she's "devastated" and will "miss him in my classroom next year." 'This kid, my bright student, was passed along to prisons for a month, scared and facing awful conditions I'm sure, for the crime of what — fleeing his country as a minor in search of a better life?" said Schoettle to Chalkbeat Detroit. "And the US government decided his time was better spent in prison than finishing out the school year." 'The speed, brutality, and clandestine manner in which these children were deported is beyond unconscionable' Younger school children who attended Louisiana schools have also been caught in the crosshairs. ICE deported a 7-year-old girl in New Orleans to Honduras with her mother and her 4-year-old brother who has cancer in late April, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. The children are both United States citizens and lived their entires lives in the country, said Sirine Shebaya from the National Immigration Project, which is representing the family. The family was attending a routine immigration appointment when they were arrested and the mother did not have a criminal history, she said. The United States Department of Homeland Security said the kids' mother "entered the country illegally and was released into the interior in 2013." "She was given a final order of deportation in 2015," reads an April 29 post from the agency on X. "In February of 2025, she was arrested by Kenner Police Department in Louisiana for speeding, driving without insurance, and driving without a license," the agency wrote. "When she was taken into ICE custody in April 2025, she chose to bring both children, who are American citizens, with her to Honduras and presented a valid United States passport for each child." Shebaya said she was not given the option to leave her kids behind or make arrangements for them to stay and they were deported within 24 hours. "ICE is supposed to give families time to figure out what options there are for care for their children, but in any cases families are taken into routine check ins, taken into hotel rooms for an extremely brief time and they're told deported tomorrow," Shebaya said. ICE also deported another New Orleans family, including the mother of an 11-year-old girl and a 2-year-old boy, who is an American citizen, after they attended a routine immigration appointment in April. They were given 72 hours before they were deported, Shebaya said. The mother and the daughter entered the United States together during the first Trump administration and were undocumented immigrants. The young girl was attending school in the United States for about four years, Shebaya said. Officials from the Department of Homeland Security said on X that the mother "illegally entered the U.S. three times." "Her and her daughter were given final orders of removal in March of 2020," they wrote."When she was taken into ICE custody in April 2025, she chose to bring her daughter, an American citizen, with her to Honduras." Shebaya said the mother was told to bring her children and their passports to her immigration appointment. ICE is "actively instructing people to bring kids in some situations," she said. "If you're a child going to school or family with mixed status within it, there's a shock factor for families and for schoolmates going to school with them and not seeing them showing up," she said. "If anything, it creates terror day in and day out. Kids are being affected by it." DHS officials said in a statement about the New Orleans cases that the agency is "not deporting American children" and "takes its responsibility to protect children seriously and will continue to work with federal law enforcement to ensure that children are safe and protected." "Parents, who are here illegally, can take control of their departure," they wrote. Immigration attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Immigration Project and other advocates have condemned both New Orleans families' deportation and Trump's immigration crackdown, particularly when children are affected. 'Deporting U.S. citizen children is illegal, unconstitutional, and immoral," said Erin Ware, a senior associate at the law firm Ware Immigration, in a news release from the American Civil Liberties Union, about the New Orleans case. "The speed, brutality, and clandestine manner in which these children were deported is beyond unconscionable, and every official responsible for it should be held accountable.' 'I was hoping to graduate with my friends' Nory Sontay Ramos, a 17-year-old honors student at Miguel Contreras High School in Westlake, Los Angeles was preparing for her senior year before she and her mother were arrested by ICE at an immigration appointment. 'ICE took us to a room, and they ended up telling my mom, 'Your case is over, so we have to take you guys with us,'' Sontay Ramos told the news outlet The 19th. The teen and her mother were undocumented. The duo entered the United States as asylum seekers when Sontay Ramos was 6 years old, NBC 4 Los Angeles reported. McLaughlin said Sontay Ramos and her mother "exhausted all of their legal options to remain in the U.S." "On March 12, 2019, an immigration judge ordered their removal," she said. "On August 12, 2022, the Board of Immigration Appeals dismissed their appeal." Authorities took the teen and her mother to Texas and deported them to Guatemala on July 4. 'I feel really sad because I was hoping to graduate with my friends and be there with them doing track and field,' she told NBC 4. At Miguel Contreras Learning Complex where she attended school, physical education teacher Manuel Guevara told The 19th that she was "happy-go-lucky." 'Nory is going into her senior year, which is another thing that's just killing me," he told the news outlet. "She was going into her senior year with all this momentum.' 'Nobody should be in there' A student who was detained and later released on bond is left with emotional scars after his experience in a Massachusetts detention facility. ICE pulled over and arrested Marcelo Gomes da Silva, 18, on his drive to volleyball practice at Milford High School in Massachusetts on May 31. The next day, Gomes da Silva's girlfriend and the other seniors at Milford High School graduated under a cloud of angst. Gomes da Silva, an 11th grader, was absent, as were two of the graduating students and the families of many others who feared arrest and deportation if they showed up. "I heard many stories of people who didn't cheer for their children," for fear of being exposed to immigration authorities, Coleen Greco, mother of a volleyball teammate of Gomes da Silva's, told USA TODAY. Federal officials said they were targeting Gomes da Silva's father, who owns the car he was driving, because he is undocumented and has a history of speeding. Gomes da Silva's attorney Robin Nice said his father has no arrests or convictions for speeding. The family moved to the United States from Brazil when Gomes da Silva was 7 years old and overstayed their visa, according to Nice. At the school's graduation ceremony, Milford High School Principal Joshua Otlin referred to the community's lingering "fear and anxiety" after Gomes da Silva's arrest. 'There is wrenching despair and righteous anger, where there should be gratitude and joy," he said. Gomes da Silva was later released from the ICE detention facility after six days in custody. He has applied for asylum in the hopes of avoiding deportation. A new surge of fear for immigrant families with school children Officials at schools with large immigrant populations say many students have been fearful since Trump ramped up immigration enforcement. "There's been very high levels of anxiety in the community about immigration enforcement for many months," said Otlin. Many immigrant families in Los Angeles County, where Sontay Ramos and Garcia Lara lived, avoided graduation ceremonies after Trump sent National Guard Troops to the Southern California city when Angelenos protested ICE arrests there in June. How LA school graduations Became the epicenter of fear for ICE family separations Los Angeles Unified School District has produced 'know your rights' cards with directions on how to respond if approached by immigration agents to students who request them, said Christy Hagen, a spokesperson for the district. Officials there are urging parents and guardians to update their students' emergency contact information and designate a trusted adult as an authorized caregiver in the event they are detained, she said. School officials elsewhere said they are also making plans to aid immigrant students ahead of the new school year. Garcia, the high school principal from Detroit, said the school may increase English language instruction for students who speak it as a second language. He wants to give students "more agency in knowing their rights." "We have to be more up front and honest with students about the dangers that we're currently experiencing in our country, especially for those who are not citizens." he said. While Garcia Lara won't return to nearby Torrance Unified in the fall, Myers, the spokesperson for his old school district, said the school community's concern about the young boy and his father's well-being has "reaffirmed our district's belief in the human spirit." Contributing: Ben Adler, USA TODAY; Max Reinhart, The Detroit News Contact Kayla Jimenez at kjimenez@ Follow her on X at @kaylajjimenez.
Newsweek
7 hours ago
- Newsweek
A New App Warns Users When ICE Are Nearby
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. When Peter Grunthel witnessed people close to him, friends and family members of friends, being arrested by masked federal agents in upstate New York, he knew something had to be done. Just two days after President Donald Trump's inauguration, Grunthel gathered community members, rapid response leaders, and activists to build what would become the Coquí app: a real-time alert system designed to protect immigrant communities from sudden enforcement operations. The app's name is inspired by the coquí frog of Puerto Rico, a symbol of resilience and the power of voice. The app allows users who spot ICE enforcement activity to drop a location-based pin, notifying everyone within a 5 to 10-mile radius. Other users can confirm reports, share photos, and coordinate safe next steps, all without revealing their identities or doxxing them. Photo-illustration by Newsweek/Getty Grunthel, the CEO of Coqui, told Newsweek he wanted to build the app because there was "no secure way to warn neighbors of ICE activity." "We began as a hyper-local community shield and are now growing into a national network of protection. The mission stays the same: to be a shield, not a sword," he said. Despite this, ICE Deputy Director Madison Sheahan blasted the app and told CBS News that the app "can cause users to go and cause violence." Grunthel pushed back on the remarks, calling the statement "reckless and baseless." "I haven't seen any evidence of anyone using these apps to incite violence. Our app was built to save lives, not endanger them," he said. Responding to critics who claim the app obstructs immigration enforcement, Grunthel clarifies that Coquí simply alerts users to ICE's presence and does not encourage interference. He stresses that observing, recording, and sharing such information is legal and questions why community awareness would be perceived as threatening. "This app doesn't stop enforcement as it does not promote or recommend anyone to obstruct ICE, it simply alerts people of their presence. If basic community awareness is seen as a threat, then the real question is: what is the system trying to hide?" As Coquí expands nationally, the team is focused on growing thoughtfully and with community input, prioritizing areas where demand and trust networks already exist. Grunthel acknowledges potential legal challenges but emphasizes that the app's design complies with the law and the First Amendment, standing firmly on human dignity. Grunthel explains that the app avoids collecting personal information such as names, phone numbers, or GPS tracking data. Upcoming updates will include automatic removal of metadata from images uploaded by users, he said. Unlike many apps, Coquí does not use device IDs to send push notifications, meaning there is no central database of users. The app's newest features, Coquí Communities and Coquí Allies, strengthen local response networks by enabling users to form small, secure groups for rapid communication and by partnering with local businesses and organizations that serve as support hubs. Grunthel shares one anecdote of Coquí having helped an asylum-seeking family from Central America. "They came with no network, trusting in the generosity of strangers, other immigrants, and in the American legal system to keep them safe from despots who had destroyed their home. One of our community members came into contact with them and recommended they download the Coquí app. From then on, they have successfully lived their lives, with less anxiety," he said. Reflecting on his motivations, Grunthel says he created the app not as a typical tech founder but from a desire to do something about the increase in immigration arrests. He envisions deploying technology as a tool to protect marginalized communities. "We're here to remind people that dignity and belonging are not partisan ideas. They're human ones." Read the Full Interview Below 1. What inspired the creation of Coquí, and how has its mission evolved since its launch in New York? Coquí started in upstate New York when people I cared about, friends, and family of friends, started getting taken overnight. Over the course of eight months, literally two days after Trump's inauguration, I gathered community members, leaders of rapid response networks, and others to build the app because no secure way to warn neighbors of ICE activity existed. We began as a hyper-local community shield and are now growing into a national network of protection. The mission stays the same: to be a shield, not a sword. 2. Can you walk me through how the app works, particularly in moments of real-time immigration enforcement activity? The user experience starts when someone sees ICE circling a neighborhood or conducting active enforcement. Then that person drops a location-based pin to notify everyone within a five to ten mile radius. People nearby then confirm it, share photos, and coordinate safe next steps without exposing their identities. It's fast, local, and built on trust. 3. ICE Deputy Director Madison Sheahan recently claimed the app could "cause users to go and cause violence." How do you respond to that statement? That comment was reckless and baseless. I haven't seen any evidence of anyone using these apps to incite violence. Our app was built to save lives, not endanger them. Statements like these fuel stigma, distract from the real government overreach we're experiencing, and put already vulnerable communities at greater risk. What's more, our use case is no different than that of users on Waze reporting police activity on highways or streets around the country. 4. How do you ensure the app maintains privacy and security for users, especially in the face of potential federal scrutiny? We don't collect names, phone numbers, or track device activity. In the next update, we'll be able to automatically scrub the metadata from any image uploaded to the app automatically. Apple and Google require device IDs when an app sends push notifications, which is why our app does not, we also track no GPS history, and there is no database of users saved anywhere. If the feds come knocking, there's literally nothing to hand over. 5. Do you have any cybersecurity concerns? We're always cautious, but the architecture itself minimizes risk immensely. With no personal data and encrypted, invite-only group chats called Coqui Communities, there's no central vault to hack. We consult with security experts regularly to pressure test our systems. Our security philosophy is that the best way to keep users' identities safe is by not collecting any of it in the first place. 6. Tell me more about the new features — Coquí Communities and Coquí Allies — and what role they play in strengthening local response networks. Coquí Communities let users form smaller, completely sealed, invite-only groups to respond quickly in their immediate area and share important information and best practices. Coquí Allies are local businesses and organizations that act as anchor points, places you can go, people you can trust. Together, they build a decentralized safety network that's stronger than any single alert. 7. What's next for Coquí as it rolls out nationwide? Are you anticipating any legal or policy challenges along the way? We're expanding carefully and thoughtfully, continuing our regular touch bases with the immigrant community for direct UX feedback and thus continuing to be community-focused, starting where demand is highest and where networks of trust and verification can be built. Legal threats are always possible, but we're prepared. Our design and policies follow the letter of the law, the most important of which is enshrined in the Constitution, the First Amendment, while standing firmly on the side of human dignity. 8. Can you share any anecdotes of anyone who has used the app and shared info on how it has helped them? There is a family we know of who came to the U.S. seeking asylum from a dangerous country in Central America. They came with no network, trusting in the generosity of strangers, other immigrants, and in the American legal system to keep them safe from despots who had destroyed their home. One of our community members came into contact with them and recommended they download the Coqui app. From then on, they have successfully lived their lives, with less anxiety, because their particular community is very active, so is ICE. 9. What do you make of critics who say this impedes immigration enforcement operations? This app doesn't stop enforcement as it does not promote or recommend anyone to obstruct ICE, it simply alerts people of their presence. It's perfectly legal to observe, legal to record, and legal to share what you see. If basic community awareness is seen as a threat, then the real question is: What is the system trying to hide?
New York Post
18 hours ago
- New York Post
Iranian Supreme Leader sleeps and gets ‘high on substances' all day, Mossad-linked social media account claims
Following the 12-day war, Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, spends most days snoozing and getting 'high,' an outrageous post from the Mossad's Farsi social media account mysteriously claimed. 'How can a leader lead when they sleep half the day and spend the other half high on substances?' the post asked. The statement came from a bizarre new premium X account that launched in recent weeks, claiming to be the official Farsi-language spokesperson — the official dialect of Iran — for the cunning Israeli intelligence agency, with regular posts trolling the Iranian regime. 3 An account claiming to be a Farsi spokesperson for the Mossad said the Ayatollah likes to get high. via REUTERS 'Using drugs and speaking to spirits are not appropriate traits for someone leading a nation,' the account said in another recent post. This isn't the way the Mossad typically communicates with the public — but according to two intelligence experts interviewed by JFeed, the strange Mossad account does appear to be authentic. 'It's a new battlefield tool,' said Zvi Yehezkeli, a leading Arab affairs commentator for i24News, who said Iranians have become so disillusioned with the regime and Mossad operates differently there than in other countries. 'Some of the information it has shared could only have come from Mossad,' agreed Beny Sabti, an Iran expert at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies and a former IDF Persian-language officer. 3 The Mossad is the notorious Israeli intelligence agency. REUTERS Claims of Ali Khamenei's drug use have been floated before. An Iranian academic said in a 2022 television interview on Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated television in Turkey that the Iranian Supreme Leader often uses drugs. 'Many viewers do not know this, but Khamenei himself uses drugs,' Nour Mohamed Omara said on Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated television in Turkey in 2022. 3 The Ayatollah has publicly called drugs 'un-Islamic.' AFP via Getty Images 'He has a special village in Balochistan, where the drugs used by the leader are produced. This village is run by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and no one is allowed in.' Ironically, the Ayatollah has publicly declared drug use, especially opium, 'un-Islamic' after the 1979 Iranian Revolution — and penalties for drug-related offenses in the Islamic Republic include death. The Mossad has not officially confirmed or denied the claims about Ali Khamenei's drug use – or whether it is behind the social media account.
