PORTLAND –– Attendance in the Portland School District is down this week, as parents keep their children home in fear of being arrested by ICE agents, according to school officials.

“Learning doesn’t happen when kids are hungry, when they are scared, and when they don’t feel safe, and what is happening in our community right now is making our community not feel safe,” said School Board Chair Sarah Lentz. “There are other ways to do this.”

Lentz joined Portland School Superintendent Ryan Scallon, Mayor Mark Dion and five Portland city councilors  Wednesday to give an update on what they knew about ICE operations happening in Portland this week.

“Our communities feel anxious and fearful,” Dion said. “They see this action as unpredictable and a threat to their families.” 

Dion said he has not been officially informed about any of ICE’s activities and can only relay what he has been told by his constituents. He said right now, there does not appear to be the large-scale “paramilitary” presence that ICE agents have displayed in other cities.

“We’re seeing very individualized activity by ICE –– a person here, a neighborhood there,” he said.

Dion said the activity suggests that federal agents are acting on warrants for specific persons, but councilors reported fear in their wards nonetheless.

“We have people delivering groceries to mothers that need diapers but they’re too afraid to leave because they know, correctly, that as soon as they leave there’s going to be four guys in the unmarked car outside their driveway that will throw them to the ground and take them (to) nobody really knows where,” said Councilor Wes Pelletier. “This is a war of terror that’s being waged on our city by the federal government.” 

Councilor Regina Phillips said she was most worried about the welfare of children losing their parents.

“That’s the most concerning to me is what is actually happening to those children where their parents are being taken away literally at the gas station, or the grocery store, or at the schools?” Phillips said.

Lentz said her own child came home to say when a teacher told him to be careful of ice in the playground, he misinterpreted it to believe federal agents were coming to take his friends away.

“That level of worry and anxiety is what all of our children are carrying as they go into the classroom,” she said. 

Lentz and Scallon said as much as 53% of the student body of the Portland School District is made up of students of color, and Lentz said about one-third are multi-language learners.

When asked about students, faculty or parents being arrested by ICE, Lentz declined to go into detail but said, “There have been people detained.”

Scallon said so far, there have been no reported sightings of ICE agents on or around school property, but attendance has dropped throughout the district more than 5% this week. In some schools, he said attendance has gone down as much as 20%.

“Kids are not coming to school, and their families are holding in their houses,” Lentz said. 

Scallon said the district is considering but has not yet switched to remote learning.

“As much as possible, we are planning to maintain in-person learning,” he said.

Dion urged residents not to interfere with ICE agents, but to do their best to observe and document what they see.

“The best thing you can do is be the best possible witness,” he said.