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Civil Rights Attorneys Sue Boston Public Schools To Gain Access To Documents Linked To Deportation Case

A group of civil rights attorneys and several student rights organizations have filed a lawsuit against Boston Public Schools (BPS) to obtain documents they say are linked to the deportation of an East Boston High School student.

In a statement Thursday, attorneys with the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice, as well as the Center for Law and Education, said the lawsuit was filed after BPS failed to fulfill a public records request.

The documents requested would include, the lawyers said in their statement, information related to what the groups claim is the school system's "disturbing practice of sharing student information with federal immigration officials, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) via the Boston Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC)."

The lawyers added that the Massachusetts Supervisor of Records has "already ordered BPS to disclose records related to this school-to-deportation pipeline, but BPS refuses to share any information."

The lawsuit centers around a report made by a school resource officer at East Boston High involving male students. The lawyers called the incident the report documents "run-of-the-mill," and described it as a failed effort to start a fight. Immigration officials told WBUR in January that one of the students involved had entered the U.S. illegally in 2014 after traveling from his native El Salvador. The report "was used as evidence against the student in the deportation proceedings," the lawyers said in Thursday's statement.

A spokesperson for Boston Public Schools said they have no comment at this time.

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Lisa Creamer Managing Editor, Digital News
Lisa Creamer is WBUR's managing editor for digital news.

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