Potus should drop a preserve documents order to schools
Maine Law Firm Tells Public Schools to Resist ICE Enforcement by Destroying Immigration Records
Steve RobinsonBy Steve RobinsonJanuary 26, 2025Updated:January 26, 202525 Comments6 Mins Read4K Views
A leading progressive law firm in Maine is advising public school officials on how they can effectively resist potential immigration enforcement actions that may involve the families of minors who attend government-run schools, including by destroying evidence of potential immigration crimes.
The advice may place school officials in the legal crosshairs of the Trump Administration under a new policy advisory distributed by the U.S. Department of Justice, which warns state and local officials not to interfere with federal law enforcement activities.
“[S]chool officials should generate a plan for what to do if immigration officials seek to conduct activities at school, and provide appropriate training to those who may come in contact with officials,” law firm Drummond Woodsum warned in an “Immigration Client Alert” distributed on Jan. 21.
A copy of that advisory email was obtained by the Maine Wire and is published below in full.
The memo advises clients who may have evidence that a student and that student’s parents or guardians are not U.S. citizens or are present in the U.S. without authorization.
According to Drummond Woodsum, school officials should destroy those records or stop collecting them so as to obstruct or prevent federal immigration officials from enforcing American immigration law.
Schools may have collected data on students’ U.S. citizenship, nationality, country of birth, U.S. entry date, the date a student first attended school, or the immigration status of the student or their parents or guardians, the memo states.
“[T]his information should not be stored as part of a students education record and should be destroyed as soon as it is no longer needed,” the memo states.
Drummond Woodsum, the Portland-based law firm that instructed schools to destroy evidence of potential illegal immigration, is a well-known left-wing firm in Maine.
In addition to practicing law, the firm is a major progressive lobby shop that generally advocates for Democratic Party policies and clients aligned with the Democratic Party.
The firm has been deeply involved in not only immigration-related disputes but also efforts to pressure public schools to conform with left-wing policies rooted in gender ideology. The firm provides a robust government services division — subsidized by lucrative payments from taxpayer-funded sources — for contracting with local governments and public education entities.
In the case of the latest “Immigration Client Alert,” Drummond Woodsum may be advising its local school clients to take steps that could draw the ire — and potential legal sanction — of the federal Department of Justice.
President Donald Trump’s administration, both before and after his inauguration on January 20, has stated that it will enforce existing U.S. laws and prosecute government officials who hinder, undermine, or impede federal immigration enforcement.
On January 21, one day after he was sworn into office, President Trump’s Department of Justice issued a memo under the Acting Deputy Attorney General underscoring the administration’s willingness to target state and local officials with criminal penalties if they interfere with immigration enforcement actions.
https://www.themainewire.com/2025/01/maine-law-firm-tells-public-schools-to-resist-ice-enforcement-by-destroying-immigration-records/