What does Bridget Ziegler’s pro-ICE resolution actually mean for Sarasota parents and students?
By Alice Herman/Suncoast Searchlight
Original Air Date: January 30, 2026
Host: Hundreds of students, parents and community members crowded around the School Board of Sarasota County building last Tuesday. They formed a line so long that many could not get a seat in the meeting happening inside.
Community members lined up for a Sarasota County School Board meeting Tuesday, Jan. 20. Photo by Alice Herman, Suncoast Searchlight
More than 100 people signed up to speak at the meeting, while hundreds more protested outside. They carried signs denouncing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Sarasota School Board Chair Bridget Ziegler. What prompted all this was a resolution she proposed calling for full cooperation with ICE inside public schools.
Despite the outcry, board members voted 3 to 2 to pass the measure, committing to “full cooperation and collaboration” with ICE and stating that the school board will not raise “additional barriers, policies or directives” that could “hinder or delay lawful law enforcement actions on school property.”
Suncoast Searchlight’s Alice Herman reports that the resolution raises questions about the district’s actual policy regarding ICE in schools. Due to technical problems, you will not hear Alice’s voice today, but mine.
Johannes Werner: The tension surrounding the nearly 7-hour school board meeting highlights how the national immigration crackdown has sowed mistrust between local communities and federal law enforcement—even in a deep red county like Sarasota.
Francisco Madrigal: I’m a green card holder, my wife and kids are USA residents, and the saddest part is that, today, my first thought was, “Am I going to be stopped just to come here and talk to you guys? Just because I have a last name that you cannot pronounce?”
JW: That was Francisco Madrigal, a Sarasota County Schools parent, speaking at the school board meeting.
The resolution on ICE introduced questions about the role of public schools in maintaining a safe learning environment while collaborating with federal police who have ramped up deportation efforts this year.
As it stands, the school district’s current protocols for handling possible visits from ICE are unclear.
Sarasota County Schools does not collect information about students’ immigration status and is subject to strict privacy requirements regarding student information.
Attendees at the Jan. 20 school board meeting listened to more than five hours of public comment, overwhelmingly featuring speakers who opposed the ICE resolution. Photo by Alice Herman, Suncoast Searchlight
But the district has no formal policy on immigration enforcement entering school property. Administrators insisted Tuesday that schools would grant entry to ICE only if officers provide lawful paperwork, which can mean a few different things.
For example, a judicial warrant in a criminal case requires probable cause and authorizes entry into a private space like a house.
When ICE has a removal order for somebody, that’s different. A removal order is paperwork signed by an immigration official and authorizes agents to seize people in public places, according to Luis Castro, a Bradenton immigration attorney that Suncoast Searchlight interviewed.
In February 2025, the ACLU of Florida issued a memo to school districts in Florida telling them that they could require officers to present a judicial warrant—not just administrative papers—before entering school property.
Gertrude and Thomas Mueller, who immigrated to the US from Hungary and Germany, protested the ICE resolution. Photo by Alice Herman, Suncoast Searchlight
During the public comment period at the school board meeting last week, Cassie Jewell, a mom of two, asked the district to put that in writing.
She wanted the schools to “affirm on the record that no child’s access to public education is conditioned on immigration status. If this resolution,” according to Jewell, “truly reflects existing law, there should be no objection to including those protections clearly and explicitly.”
In an email to Suncoast Searchlight, a Sarasota County Schools spokesperson wrote that the school board “does not currently have a policy that specifically addresses law enforcement seeking to enter a school for the purposes of immigration enforcement.”
This was a report by Alice Herman, reporting for Suncoast Searchlight.
To read the full report, visit suncoastsearchlight.org/ziegler-ice-resolution-questions-sarasota-schools-policy.
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