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Janae Pierre: Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. I'm Janae Pierre. A group representing major tech companies is throwing its support behind Governor Kathy Hochul's plan to restrict cell phones in schools. The group, Tech:NYC, represents companies like Meta and Google. Julie Samuels is its president and CEO. She appeared on NY1 Thursday.

Julie Samuels: There's enormous opportunity that comes with, for instance, mobile phones but there are also challenges. We think that for all of the reasons the governor just put out, they shouldn't be in school while kids are in class.

Janae Pierre: Governor Hochul wants to prohibit students from using their mobile devices on school grounds during the day. Her plan has support from the state's teachers union, but some parents have expressed concern about being able to contact their children during the school day. New York City Mayor Eric Adams joined other local leaders in Albany this week to testify at a state budget hearing. The mayor's budget testimony put him face to face with a couple of his challengers in this year's mayoral race. WNYC's Jon Campbell was there, too, and shares how it went down.

Jon Campbell: It was interesting. This was a state budget hearing, so state lawmakers got to question him. Two state lawmakers who did question him are Democrats from Queens who are running against the mayor. That's State Senator Jessica Ramos and Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani. Ramos was up first. She pressed him on early childhood funding and when the city's going to get opioid settlement money out of the door. Here's the thing. She only had three minutes to question him. Listen to this.

Mayor Eric Adams: Staten Island was not improved-- it was approved to get the opioid dollars partnered with A.G. James--

Jon Campbell: Did you hear that little beep? That was the mayor literally running out the clock. The clock stopped and he just stopped. It was a strategic move by the mayor. Mamdani was up next. He tried to pin the mayor down on whether the city's going to cooperate with immigration officials as President Trump pushes for mass deportations.

Zohran Mamdani: Will you today clearly state that as long as ICE does not have a judicial warrant signed by a judge, you will deny them entry into New York City public schools, hospitals, and any other city property?

Mayor Eric Adams: We are examining all the EOs, and based on those EOs, we would never put an employee of the city in harm's way.

Jon Campbell: EO is executive order, we should say. We should also note, too, City Comptroller Brad Lander got to testify at the hearing later in the day. He's yet another person running against the mayor. He made a point to criticize Mayor Adams for not really addressing the possibility that the city could lose a lot of federal funding under the Trump administration.

Janae Pierre: That's WNYC's Jon Campbell. After the break, we look at what steps New York City schools are taking amid President Trump's promise of mass deport. Stick around.

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Janae Pierre: The Trump administration is ramping up immigration enforcement and deportations. Now New York City schools are bracing for the possibility immigration officials could show up at their doors. My colleague Michael Hill talked with WNYC's Jessica Gould, who has been talking to educators and parents about how they're preparing if ICE does show up.

Michael Hill: Jessica, set the stage for us, please. What has Trump done on immigration that's affected school communities?

Jessica Gould: As the data on detentions of undocumented New Yorkers is still coming in. It's a little thin right now, but ICE says it's making a thousand or more arrests every day across the country. We know that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem joined ICE agents on a raid in the Bronx last week. She said they were getting dirt bags off the street and they detained 39 people. That said, there have not been any ICE agents at New York City schools so far. There's a lot of fear right now about what would happen if they did show up.

Michael Hill: What are the city's public schools supposed to do if ICE agents do come to the door?

Jessica Gould: The Trump administration has overturned the policy that banned ICE operations in sensitive locations, and that includes churches and schools. According to city policy, ICE is still not allowed in schools. if they do come, administrators have to immediately call the legal division for backup.

Michael Hill: You report that even though the city says ICE is generally not allowed in schools, the fear is still having an impact, isn't it?

Jessica Gould: Yes. We're seeing some potential impact on attendance. According to school's chancellor, Melissa Aviles Ramos, attendance was down just a little bit a few points in the days following the inauguration. She was talking to lawmakers in Albany, and she said that fear was among the factors contributing to that. The other factors were, of course, that it was very cold that week and there's a lot of viruses going around. The mayor's office is downplaying the impact on attendance, saying attendance has been within the range of normal this year at this time of year. Multiple teachers have told me that some kids are staying home. I spoke to Carol Jimenez, who is a bilingual teacher at a School in Sunset Park. Here's what she said.

Carol Jimenez: I had one parent share that her daughter has been home for a week because the family has been staying home because a neighbor was deported, so they're afraid to go out.

Jessica Gould: I've heard similar things from parents and teachers across the city.

Michael Hill: Has the district told us how many undocumented, unauthorized students are actually in the city's public schools?

Jessica Gould: It's a rule that they don't track immigration status. The numbers that we have are-- A comptroller's report last summer said there were 50,000 undocumented families in city shelters. There are also undocumented and mixed families outside shelters. We've been reporting for years now about how schools have come together to integrate newcomer families and students into their classrooms. At this moment, some parents and teachers have really been taking matters into their own hands in an effort to protect the kids.

Michael Hill: What steps are they taking?

Jessica Gould: There's a range. You may have heard of these red cards that outline people's rights in multiple languages. Teachers are handing them out or post posting them to bulletin boards, putting them in libraries. Some teachers have also joined ICE Watch groups, so encrypted messaging apps where they report to each other when they see ICE in certain neighborhoods. I've also been hearing grassroots efforts where parents are offering to escort kids from undocumented families to school so their parents spend less time on the streets.

Michael Hill: Are there other steps that these parents and teachers say the city should be taking?

Jessica Gould: Immigrant advocates met with the school's chancellor this week and laid out a bunch of recommendations. Those included updating guidance as policies on the federal level change so quickly, having a point person at each school who is central for supporting immigrant students. They say that right now there's a lot of activism because people are stepping in where the city is falling short in these areas. I've also heard from parents and educators who say they don't want schools to be politicized and they don't want to stoke alarm among these kids.

Michael Hill: Jessica, right now, so far as we know, no ICE raid is taking place at any of the city's schools.

Jessica Gould: That's right. But we'll be keeping a close eye that.

Janae Pierre: That's WNYC's Jessica Gould talking with my colleague Michael Hill. Before we go, we want to take a moment to remember hip hop producer and Queens native Irv Gotti. His death was confirmed late Wednesday by Def Jam Recordings, the former parent company to a label co founded by Gotti, Murder Inc. Records. Born Irving Domingo Lorenzo Jr. He rose to prominence in the late '90s and early 2000s and is credited for helping start the careers of musicians like Jay Z, Ashanti and Ja Rule. Irv Gotti died at the age of 54. Thanks for listening to NYC Now from WNYC. Catch us every weekday, three times a day. I'm Janae Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.

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