VIDE Announces Task Force To Support Students Amid Immigration Enforcement Anxiety

Leadership from the Virgin Islands Education Department told lawmakers on the Senate Education and Workforce Development Committee Wednesday that policies set by the Trump administration have “direct implications for our public education system, as many undocumented students are currently enrolled in our schools.”

St. Croix Deputy Superintendent Victor Somme III said hard-line immigration policies at the federal level — and an increase in enforcement activities by Immigration and Customs Enforcement — have placed “significant” pressure on immigrant communities. Reports of visits to territory schools by immigration agents circulated last week, though a Homeland Security Investigations spokesperson told the Source Tuesday that no enforcement actions had taken place in U.S. Virgin Islands schools.

“Despite the political debates surrounding immigration, one undeniable legal and moral obligation remains,” Somme said. “All children, regardless of their immigration status, have the right to a free public education.” That precedent dates back to the 1982 court case Plyler v. Doe when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a state cannot prevent the children of undocumented immigrants from attending public schools. Somme said the V.I. Education Department “stands firmly behind this legal precedent and remains fully committed to educating every child who walks through our doors.”