Fear of ICE upends daily life in Fridley schools, officials say

School officials in Fridley, Minn., a Minneapolis suburb, say fears of Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity have upended daily routines, prompting early-morning escorts for staff, packed food giveaways and afternoon patrols by the superintendent on Jan. 31, 2026. District staff described pre-dawn car pools that escort a newly arrived teacher who was sponsored to work on a visa and said 27 other employees are being escorted to school.

Officials said many international teachers fill crucial special-education roles and that administrators are trying to protect them and anxious families. Fridley Public Schools serves about 2,700 students, the district said, with significant Somali and Ecuadorean populations and nearly 20 percent of students still learning English.

School officials said several hundred children are learning online because they are afraid to attend; more than 400 students had signed up for remote learning since mid-January, the district said. Superintendent Brenda Lewis and Mark Mickelson, a former police officer who now handles district security, said they spend afternoons circling neighborhoods at dismissal looking for federal agents.

They described one episode in which they reported an SUV at Commons Park that matched a community database tracking ICE vehicles; Dr.

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