When Natalia Garcia dropped her 6-year-old daughter off at Riverside Elementary School in Coral Springs on Friday, three U.S. Customs and Border Protection pickup trucks were parked across from the entrance.
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“A border patrol truck, and not just one, but three of them at the pickup line,” Garcia said with worry in her voice.
According to Broward County Public Schools, the federal agents were on campus for career day, speaking to students in kindergarten up to 5th grade.
The district said in a statement, “The vehicles on campus were associated with the educational event and were not connected to any immigration enforcement activity at or near the school.”
“All career day participants are parents of students attending the school,” they added.
“I was uncomfortable with our daughter participating in career day where ICE was going to be present, so I went back to the school and picked her up,” Garcia said after she brought her daughter home.
Garcia was upset that the school didn’t let her know CBP would be on campus ahead of time.
“In this country, there are schools fighting to keep ICE out of the school, yet Riverside invited them for career day. That’s what I’m uncomfortable with,” she said.
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“That’s supposed to be a safe haven, let people know what’s going on with their children,” said Curtis Jennings, Garcia’s husband.
Some parents at pickup were equally disturbed to learn the federal agents were part of career day. They say they would’ve considered pulling their children out of school had they known.
“Had I known, I didn’t know that,” Rachel Goodstein said.
Others saw educational value in agents speaking with students.
“I don’t think that’s a big deal. Why would it be? It’s something to better us and our kids. The kids should be getting knowledge of what they came to do, the kids have nothing to do with it,” Ray Victoria said.
The growing number of arrests and the high visibility of arrests by Border Protection and ICE agents in the community over the last year have made Garcia and Jennings fearful of both agencies.
There is no evidence of federal agents conducting immigration enforcement at any South Florida schools.
“I’ve seen firsthand the terror that they’ve caused,” Garcia said. “Even though I was born here, I never know if speaking Spanish or the way that I look can cause me to be harassed; that fear is what makes me uncomfortable, not something I want around my six-year-old.”
BCPS said school administrators communicated with parents about career day, but it’s unclear if they specified who was participating.
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