Fact check: Have ICE went to elementary schools and take children

1. Summary of the results

Based on the analyses provided, there is limited evidence supporting the claim that ICE has gone to elementary schools to take children. The most direct evidence comes from a recent incident where a 9-year-old student, Martir Garcia Lara, was detained alongside his father at an ICE field office in Torrance ^[1]. However, this detention occurred at an ICE facility, not at the elementary school itself.

Additional cases show ICE detaining school-age children and students, but not specifically at elementary schools:

• A 3-year-old was arrested by ICE agents during route checks at a San Francisco ICE field office ^[2]
• A 20-year-old Bronx high school student named Dylan was detained after an immigration hearing ^{[3] [4]}
• Two young men - a high schooler and recent graduate were detained in Chelsea ^[5]

Notably, Mayor Eric Adams stated that there have been no raids in schools and emphasized that children should be in school ^[4].

2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints

The original statement lacks several important contextual elements:

• Location specificity: Most documented cases involve detentions at ICE facilities or during immigration proceedings, not at school premises themselves
• Age range clarification: While elementary-age children have been detained, many recent high-profile cases involve high school students and young adults ^{[3] [5] [4]}
• Detention circumstances: Cases often involve family detentions or individuals with existing immigration cases, rather than random school raids ^{[1] [4]}
• Policy context: ICE has detention standards and procedures for unaccompanied minors, including lawsuits challenging transfers to adult facilities ^{[6] [7]}

Educational advocates and immigrant rights organizations would benefit from emphasizing school-based enforcement to mobilize public opposition, while ICE and immigration enforcement supporters would benefit from framing operations as targeted enforcement against individuals with existing cases rather than broad school raids.

3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement

The original statement contains potential overgeneralization and imprecision:

• Grammatical ambiguity: The phrasing "have ICE went" suggests ongoing or widespread practice without specifying frequency or scope
• Location conflation: The statement implies ICE operations occur at elementary schools, while evidence shows most detentions happen at ICE facilities or during immigration proceedings ^{[1] [2] [3]}
• Missing nuance: The statement doesn't distinguish between targeted enforcement of individuals with existing cases versus random school raids, which appears to be an important distinction based on official statements ^[4]

The statement may inadvertently amplify fear in immigrant communities by suggesting widespread school-based enforcement operations, when the documented evidence shows more targeted and circumstance-specific detentions.