Sensitive Locations Case Moves for Pausing ICE Access as Lawsuit Continues
EUGENE, Ore.— Last night, plaintiffs the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) in PCUN v. Noem filed an emergency motion to stop ICE from indiscriminately operating in and around community-serving spaces, also known as sensitive locations. More than 60 educators and healthcare workers across 18 states provided testimony with the motion as a representative sample of the over 4 million union members represented by plaintiffs in this case: they detail the devastating impacts that ICE presence at and around schools and healthcare facilities is having on themselves, their ability to do their job, and on their students and patients. The motion seeks an immediate hold on ICE’s unfettered access to these formerly protected sites while the litigation continues.
These 60-plus declarants include members of NEA and AFT, the largest educators’ unions in the country, and two of the plaintiff organizations in PCUN v. Noem. Educators and health care workers are courageously speaking out to protect our students and patients, each other, and our sacred spaces of care and connection by calling for the immediate reinstatement of safeguards.
“All students, regardless of race, place of birth, or language they speak, deserve schools that are safe, welcoming, and free from fear—no exceptions. Families trust educators and schools to protect children. ICE does not belong in or near our schools,” said NEA President Becky Pringle. “The mere presence of ICE near school grounds terrorizes students and educators and disrupts teaching and learning. Fear and cruelty have no place in public education or our democracy. We are taking this legal action to demand that long-standing protections for sensitive locations be restored. The places we go for care, education, and worship must never become places of intimidation and cruelty at the hands of federal agents.”
“Our schools, hospitals and churches should be sacrosanct,” said AFT President Randi Weingarten. “But ICE’s unfettered access to these sensitive places is traumatizing communities and making it nearly impossible for AFT members to do our work as educators, healthcare workers and public service professionals. Children are terrified, families are afraid to send their kids to school, people who are sick are afraid to get medical care, and many of our members, especially those who are non-white, are scared of being harassed while at their workplaces. We are seeking emergency relief to ensure that our students can travel safely to school, our patients can seek the medical treatment they need and our members can do their jobs without the threat of being interrogated, brutalized, abducted—killed, even—by masked immigration agents with unchecked power. The federal government is supposed to protect, not endanger, people. We are taking action because the Trump administration is failing miserably in that sacred responsibility.”
“It is an upside-down world when masked, armed agents swarm hospitals and schoolyards, fly drones over elementary schools during pick-up, step between nurses and their patients, or snatch kids and families seeking care at the emergency room,” said Stephen W Manning, Executive Director and attorney at Innovation Law Lab. “We are asking the court to put an immediate stop to the chaos at places like hospitals and schools that are intended to be safe spaces for everyone.”
“As a mother of a high schooler in Los Angeles, I’ve seen first-hand the impact ICE has had on our communities,” said Karen Tumlin, Founder and Director of Justice Action Center. “Teachers to be able to teach, and kids to be able to learn. Heavily armed, masked agents should be nowhere near sites of learning, healing, or worship, and we will use every legal tool available to reinstate these basic, common-sense protections.”
A declaration from a nurse in Alaska recounts a tense exchange with an immigration enforcement officer while performing regular discharge procedures of a minor patient. The officer demanded the nurse disclose information about the patient, forcing them nurse to choose between complying with a directive from a federal agent or violating HIPAA, the law that protects patient privacy.
Their declaration states, “A hospital is supposed to be a sacred space and a place of healing. I no longer feel safe and I now question whether I can keep my patients safe.”
Originally filed in April 2025, PCUN v. Noem seeks to restore longstanding protections for sensitive locations from ICE, alleging that the administration violated the First Amendment, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act when it revoked the protections in January 2025.
Justice Action Center, Innovation Law Lab, the National Education Association, and the American Federation of Teachers represent plaintiffs.
More information on PCUN v. Noem and related court filings are available here.
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