Anchorage FBI support of Trump immigration crackdown draws local pushback

Local civil rights leaders are pushing back after a federal immigration enforcement operation in Alaska over the weekend.

Little information was available Tuesday on the specifics of the operation. But it follows President Trump’s vows to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, calling his plan the “largest deportation program in American history.”

The federal government’s stance has left many migrant and refugee communities in Alaska worried about their status. It also prompted Anchorage School District Superintendent Jharrett Bryantt to send a letter to families Monday underscoring that his priority is that students feel safe, welcome and supportive.

“While complying with all applicable laws, we are steadfast in protecting the learning environment and the rights of our students and families,” he wrote.

The immigration operation in Alaska was publicized by the FBI Anchorage office on X on Monday afternoon. The post says the FBI, along with the Department of Justice, is supporting the Department of Homeland Security with its immigration enforcement efforts in Alaska. Three photos accompany the post, showing men in handcuffs, flanked by FBI agents and Homeland Security officers.

Politico reported Tuesday that the administration was engaging in a social-media blitz to highlight immigration enforcement. But national daily counts of immigrant arrests had not significantly increased, and some of the arrests appeared to be routine federal actions.

Anchorage FBI spokeswoman Chloe Martin said the Alaska operation took place over the weekend and into Monday. She said she didn’t have details about its scope, any arrests or deportations involved or the identities of the men seen in the photos.

A spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, David Yost, said the operation took place across multiple states, and that details about its results were still coming in. He said only that it involved “our core law enforcement mission.”

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‘We we will always want to prioritize families feeling safe’

Less than an hour after the FBI’s social-media post, the Anchorage School District shared Bryantt’s statement on the district’s immigration policy.

“Any immigration official seeking to enter ASD property will be required to present a judicially signed warrant,” Bryantt said. “This warrant will then be reviewed by ASD’s legal counsel to ensure it meets the necessary legal standards before any action is taken.”

Bryantt’s statement was posted in full on a new immigration resources website, available in eight languages. It was accompanied by a list of frequently asked questions with answers asserting that ASD does not collect or share information on students’ immigration status, which has no effect on their enrollment status.

Bobbi Lafferty, director of the district’s English Language Learners program, said Tuesday that no federal agents have entered local schools or detained local students. The district’s response to immigration issues was being assembled well before the FBI’s Monday’s post, she said.

“Some of the immigration resources that we began crafting, we began in the fall (in) anticipation of families’ uncertainty and potential fear,” Lafferty said. “And we will always want to prioritize families feeling safe and comfortable with their children going to school.”

According to Lafferty, the district’s timeline for posting the information was accelerated by Trump’s initial executive orders calling for a crackdown on migrants last month, as well as concerns from students and parents.

“It was also tempered and clarified and taken into account also in response to families calling in, families contacting teachers, principals or the elementary or secondary education departments to ask questions about the safety of their students and potential actions in the future,” she said.

The district’s policy for federal officers entering schools involves processes determined after consultation with ASD’s legal department.

“Those processes include verifying identification, taking down information about the person's badge number, contacting their supervisor to verify the legitimacy of the visit, and then taking information about any warrant or subpoena that they might have directing that to our legal department for review,” Lafferty said.

Lafferty said Bryantt wanted to be clear about students’ safety at local schools, amid concern about federal immigration actions having a chilling effect on parents and students – an effect Monday’s information was meant to ease.

“I would say that there is concern,” she said. “I will also say that so far, we haven't seen a big impact and we hope that that continues.”

‘Far from the best use of the FBI’s skills and resources’

Anchorage-based immigration attorney Margaret Stock said Tuesday that the FBI’s involvement in civil immigration action is “a new development,” despite its traditional involvement in criminal cases.

“But most immigrants in (Alaska) are not criminals; at most, they have violated civil immigration law,” Stock said in an email. “In the past, the FBI has not been involved much in civil immigration enforcement, so this appears to be a new trend.”

She noted that Homeland Security itself estimates about 11 million undocumented people live in the U.S., with research showing that they commit crimes at markedly lower rates than the overall population.

“The new Trump directive will take FBI personnel away from investigating major crimes and have them instead investigate non-crimes, like overstaying a visa, and misdemeanors like entering the country without documentation,” Stock said. “So the FBI’s mission will now include (detaining) people who have lived in Alaska for years and decades and who have deep family ties here. This is far from the best use of the FBI’s skills and resources.”

Stock said the effect of Trump’s policies on immigrants who do commit crimes is uncertain. She cited the high-profile Alaska example of Brian Steven Smith, who came to the U.S. from South Africa and was sentenced last year to 226 years for killing two Alaska Native women.

“Under the new Trump Administration and the new Laken Riley Act, he is supposed to be taken into DHS custody for mandatory detention and deportation,” Stock said. “It is not clear what happens when he is doing 200 plus years in state jail; a lot of criminal immigrants like him are quite happy to be deported because they are then freed from their criminal sentences.”

‘We want all Alaskans to know that they have rights’

Meghan Barker, a spokeswoman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska, said the group is still assessing the FBI’s actions in the state.

“We are very disappointed with the FBI announcement that it has decided to take the unusual step to enforce federal civil immigration law in our state,” Barker said. “We know that Alaska public safety assets are very scarce, and this decision is going to take away the limited resources from our law enforcement to prevent and investigate crimes in our state that are actually impacting Alaskans on a daily basis.”

The ACLU’s immediate response in Alaska, Barker said, involves holding a series of “Know Your Rights” events to educate community leaders and others about their options when asked about their immigration status.

“We want all Alaskans to know that they have rights – even non-citizen Alaskans have rights,” she said. “And so we want to make sure that people are equipped to advocate for their rights when they are approached by a law enforcement officer, and to do so in a way that defends their rights and also is appropriate for what the officer is asking.”

Barker praised ASD’s response Monday, noting that all Alaskans – not just district officials – can demand that federal officers show a warrant.

“They were explicitly clear that all enforcement agents would be required to produce a judicial warrant,” she said. “That's something that we are making sure that people know that they must have: a judicial warrant, not an administrative warrant or any other kind of piece of paper. It has to be a warrant signed by a judge.”

Alaskans confronted by federal officers also have the option to remain silent, Barker said.