The FBI raided the offices of the Los Angeles Unified School District and the district’s superintendent, Alberto Carvalho. So far, it’s unclear exactly what prompted the raid conducted on Wednesday morning.
FBI raid
The FBI and Department of Justice reportedly confirmed federal agents searched Carvalho’s office at LAUSD headquarters in downtown LA. Employees were reportedly evacuated from parts of the building while the search took place.
“We have been informed of law enforcement activity at Los Angeles Unified School District headquarters and at the home of the Superintendent,” the school district said in a statement. “The District is cooperating with the investigation and we do not have further information at this time.”
Along with that raid, federal officials were seen entering Carvalho’s home in San Pedro, about 25 miles south of downtown LA.
Agents were seen carrying boxes out of the home, but it’s unclear what was inside.
The FBI’s Miami office also searched a home in Southwest Ranches, a neighborhood about 30 miles northwest of Miami. Before serving as LAUSD superintendent, Carvalho was head of Miami-Dade County Public Schools.
An FBI spokesperson in Miami told The Associated Press that agents “have since cleared the scene” and that no further information was available.
Recent lawsuit
This is not the first action from the federal government against LAUSD in the last week. The Trump administration recently joined a lawsuit alleging the school district discriminates against white students.
At the center of the suit is an effort to help disadvantaged students of color by providing smaller classroom sizes. It leaves out campuses with a larger number of white students.
“Treating Americans equally is not a suggestion — it is a core constitutional guarantee that educational institutions must follow,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said. “This Department of Justice will never stop fighting to make that guarantee a reality, including for public-school students in Los Angeles.”
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said Los Angeles County students shouldn’t be treated differently because of their race.
“Yet this school district is doing exactly that by providing benefits that treat students — based on their race — as though they have learning disabilities,” she said.
Trump and Carvalho
It remains unclear if Carvalho is in any legal trouble. The superintendent has been an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump and his policies.
Last year, Homeland Security agents were denied access to two LA public elementary schools. The agents said they were attempting to do a welfare check on migrant children rather than immigration enforcement.
Carvalho didn’t believe that.
“We have confirmed that that is a falsehood,” Carvalho said at the time. “We’ve spoken with the caretakers of these children, in some cases parents, and they deny any interaction with these entities, and certainly deny providing authorization for these individuals to have any contact with these children at the school.”
The president has used some of the law enforcement tools at his disposal to target political enemies during his second term.