Controversy sparks in Washtenaw County as Immigration Officers are seen targeting parents at school bus stops, threatening student and family safety. AAPS took action.
On Tuesday January 27 reports surfaced of ICE agents purposefully targeting parents waiting at school drop off zones with their children, this led to Washtenaw County Sheriff Alyshia M. Dyer contacting ICE officials who denied taking part in these actions.
AAPS Superintendent Jazz Parks, astonished by this, sent out an email regarding the detaining of multiple parents in the county where she stated that these actions are “deeply troubling, concerning and undermine the sense of safety that all families deserve.” She also stated that “every child has a right to a free public education, regardless of immigration status,” “In the AAPS, we take our responsibility to uphold and protect these student rights seriously.” After these events the AAPS has removed all bus stop locations from the district website as an effort for precautionary measures.
Due to community and board efforts a new resolution has passed establishing “ICE-free zones”.
The new resolution passed on Jan 21, 2026 by the Board Of Commissioners protects all Washtenaw County buildings from officers conducting civil immigration enforcement on county property without a warrant or court order.
The Board took action after “ICE Out For Good” protests were pushed to Ann Arbor’s city hall on January 10th after the murder of Renee Nicole Good. The decision came when what is said to be dozens of members of the community went to the board room of the Washtenaw County Administration Building to support this resolution.
Concerns in Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County have stayed consistent even after this resolution was passed as ICE activity remains consistent in neighborhoods all over the county such as the Orchard Grove Manufactured Home Community in S. Wagner Rd where residents have seen a huge increase in activity throughout these last few days. Pioneer junior Gizel Salazar, a resident of Orchard Grove stated “We see them here all the time, always doing laps” “Some people are scared to go outside of their homes, this shouldn’t be an everyday problem.”
Sophomore Vanessa Salazar stated “These last few months they have been more active than ever, I had never seen so much activity.”
Ypsilanti City Council has gone even further in on preventive methods as they unanimously passed a new resolution prohibiting the use of the city’s resources, funds or personnel to assist in civil immigration enforcement and prohibits ICE agents or personnel from entering private areas in city buildings for immigration enforcement purposes without a warrant. Ypsilanti Ward 2 City Councilman Patrick McLean stated that “For the last year, we’ve been hearing that the supposed purpose of ICE and CBP actions under Trump’s regime was to find, detain and deport violent and dangerous criminals who did not have the right to be in the United States. Instead, what we’ve seen is ICE and CBP have devolved into a goon squad that does not protect our communities but rather terrorizes our communities.”
This resolution came after on January 27 four people were taken by ICE near two local high schools. Councilmembers said that this is only a step in the right direction but not a complete solution, Councilmember Amber Fellows stated that “Even with this type of action, which isn’t nothing, it’s still woefully weak in the context of the times. I mean, we have a rogue agency that’s doing extra judicial murders and kidnappings,” and Councilmember Steve Wilcoxen said “It’s not going to change them doing what they’re doing at the moment, but it gives us some recourse after the fact.”