Grant Sovern Quoted in Madison 365 Article About Dane County Schools’ Response to Immigration Policy Change
Grant Sovern, national co-chair of the Quarles & Brady Immigration & Mobility Practice Group, shared his thoughts in a Madison 365 article about how Dane County Schools plan to respond if U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents enter their district. ICE previously followed a federal policy that discouraged entering schools, health care facilities and places of worship; however, the new administration recently revoked this guidance.
Sovern explains how there is a difference between an administrative and judicial warrant as an administrative warrant does not automatically allow officers to enter private places. The question now is if schools are a private place.
An excerpt:
“Every person in America is covered by the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution’s protection against unwarranted searches and seizures,” Sovern said.
Sovern said it’s a legal gray area whether a school is a private place. With school security ramping up – and more schools being locked during the day – in recent years, school administrators have more opportunity to bar federal agents from entering their buildings.
”A lot of schools are coming up with designated officials who will be the one to give consent or to look at the warrants to decide what they say,” Sovern said. “Maybe it’s the superintendent, maybe it’s their general counsel, maybe it’s only the principal, but that’s usually part of what their policy would say is who can make that decision.”