Puerto Rico Senator Nitza Morán defended Senate Bill 1062 (PS 1062), approved by the Senate with 20 votes in favor and four against, which sets additional protections for minors facing possible federal immigration-related interventions at school campuses. Speaking on El Calentón, Morán said the measure aims to keep a minor from being removed from a school without the proper guarantees, and she questioned that the earlier protocol allowed access through different kinds of documents.
"An additional layer of protection is given to this minor," she said.
"An additional layer of protection is given to this minor," she said. Former judge Lauracelis Roques countered that the bill removes protections minors had under the Education Department protocol, including protection of classrooms and class hours, which were off limits to such actions. She said the protocol required a safe space and the presence of a parent, while under the bill a school official could suffice.
The ACLU of Puerto Rico warned that amendments by the Government and Education Committee weaken protections for immigrant children and open the door to improper federal interventions without clearly requiring a valid judicial warrant. Executive director Annette Martínez Orabona said amendments to articles 3, 6, 7 and 8 equate administrative orders with judicial ones and remove safeguards for disclosing confidential information.
The ACLU said an administrative order from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is not a court order signed by a judge, and that articles 7 and 8 bar notification, legal consultation and parental notice steps from delaying federal action. Attorney Lolimar Escudero Rodríguez said vague wording like "any document" leaves school staff with contradictory guidance.