New York City officials on Wednesday reassured immigrant families that the city's schools are safe for children to attend, despite a wider immigration crackdown that has concerned many New Yorkers.

At a Manhattan press conference reaffirming the city's sanctuary policies ahead of the Sept. 4 start of the school year, New York City Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos said the city government is ready to support families, regardless of their immigration status.

"Our schools are safe places. They are welcoming places where your child will be cared for and valued," Aviles-Ramos said. "We are here for you."

At the press conference, which was also attended by a teachers' union leader and immigrant rights advocates, Aviles-Ramos said the city is "committed to student safety, above all else."

New York City's immigrant communities have been on edge since the return to power of President Donald Trump, who has promised mass deportations. Parents of noncitizen children, in particular, have been unnerved by a slew of arrests of school-age children in recent weeks.

From January, when Trump returned to the White House, through the end of July, about 50 children under 18 were detained in the New York City area, and at least 38 of them have been deported, according to federal data.

Earlier this month, a 7-year-old Ecuadorian public school student named Dayra, who was living in the U.S. without legal authorization, was arrested alongside her mother and adult brother while attending a routine check-in at 26 Federal Plaza, a federal building hosting a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office and an immigration court.

After being separated from the brother during the arrest, Dayra and her mother have been sent to a facility in Texas, where they are currently detained. Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, issued a statement last week describing the arrest as "cruel and unjust," and said she contacted federal officials to demand the immigrants' "immediate return."

ICE did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

For the past 14 years, ICE has followed a "sensitive locations" policy, under which its agents would not conduct immigration enforcement at sensitive locations like schools. Under the Biden administration, the policy was expanded to cover bus stops and common transit routes to and from schools, with the goal that students didn't feel deterred from attending school for fear of immigration enforcement.

Trump rescinded the sensitive locations policy in January as one of his first executive actions targeting people living in the U.S. without legal authorization.

Emma Curran Donnelly Hulse, an education counsel at the New York Civil Liberties Union, said the level of protection immigrant children receive largely depends on the state and school district in which they live. 

Following Trump's election victory, ahead of an anticipated increase in immigration enforcement, the New York State Education Department issued comprehensive guidance as to what obligations school districts have in protecting immigrant students. State officials recommended steps for school districts to take, like strengthening their policies protecting student data and to create protocols in the event that parents are detained or deported.

In New York City — the largest school district in the country — a protocol dating back to the first Trump administration prohibited ICE agents from entering public schools until they consulted with a New York City Department of Education attorney. In February, the city school system chancellor clarified publicly that New York City public schools would not admit ICE agents without a judicial warrant.

Naveed Hasan of the Panel for Educational Policy, a 24-member voting body overseeing the city's public schools, said at the press conference on Wednesday that children detained by ICE have been held in deplorable conditions, shuttled from state to state and denied access to legal representation and education.

Speaking to reporters, Hasan sought to make clear to migrants who have just arrived that every person between the ages of 4 and 21 has a right to a free public school education in New York City.

"Public schools are a reflection of the communities in which they exist," Hasan said. "We do not ask for immigration status from anyone."

Hasan talked about a "worsening federal immigration enforcement environment" in which immigrant families have been harassed or detained by immigration authorities.

"Children are being asked to show their papers while playing baseball in the park. Families are being detained at regularly scheduled court hearings," he said.

Hasan said the city can provide advice about school enrollment for new arrivals, seasonally appropriate clothing and books, help with temporary housing issues and referrals to legal services.

"New York City is strong, and we succeed when we support each other — when families are safe and children are learning," he said.

Mary Vaccaro, vice president for education at the United Federation of Teachers, the New York City teachers' union, said teachers are ready to welcome students back and aware of immigrant families' concerns.

"They're afraid to put their child on the bus because they don't know who's going to be waiting on the other side," she said. "I can once again assure you that our teachers will be there, our paraprofessionals, our social workers, our guidance counselors will be there, receiving your child's on their other side as soon as they arrive at school, and walk them right into that school."

Rita Rodriguez-Engberg, an attorney and director of the Immigrant Students' Rights Project at the nonprofit Advocates for Children of New York, reiterated to Law360 that New York City Department of Education policy prohibits ICE agents from entering schools unless absolutely required by law, and said school safety officers have received training on how to handle visits by ICE agents, she said.

In a sign that the city's policies are effective, there haven't yet been instances of ICE seeking to enter public schools, Hulse said. But nationally, as well as in New York, ICE agents have arrested students at bus stops or outside school buildings, she said.

"That's the risk," she said. "Once you're in a public space, the protections of the Fourth Amendment are much more limited."

--Editing by Alanna Weissman.