On July 5, De La Salle High School in Concord, California, was locked down for 15 minutes while ICE sought to arrest a construction worker on the school grounds. Confusion erupted after two Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police officers driving past the school that morning saw a suspicious man with a holstered handgun disappear between two buildings. The BART officers notified school administrators and the Concord police, which sent officers to the school to intercept the mystery gunman. The gunman turned out to be one of four undercover ICE agents seeking to arrest a Mexican immigrant employed by a contractor doing asbestos abatement at the school. According to ICE spokesperson Virginia Kice, the worker had a prior conviction for driving under the influence and had failed to comply with an immigration judge's order to leave the country. Kice said the employer told ICE where to find the worker, but the agents didn't realize it was a school until they arrived, and then they assumed that because it was summer, no students would be around, so they proceeded with the arrest.

Brother Christopher Brady, the school's principal, said more than 200 students were on campus for special classes and a basketball camp. The teens were immediately moved from outside to the school theater, and kept there for about 15 minutes until the lockdown was over. ICE has since assured the school and the Concord police that it will notify them during similar operations in the future, Kice said. (Contra Costa Times, July 5)

From Immigration News Briefs, July 7

See our last post on the immigration crackdown.