Federal agents were denied entry to two primary schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District this week. They appeared without notice and the agents tried to contact five students who had entered the country without documents, school officials said Thursday.

According to Schools Supt. Alberto Carvalho, an agent said he was there to check on the happiness of his students and said that his family lied when he told school officials that the family had given them permission to contact them.

This was the first reported example of attempting to enroll in a US public school. This attempted to enroll in LA Public Schools amid a pledge to strengthen enforcement of US immigration laws and deport immigrants within the country more quickly without permission.

Around 10am on Monday, the four arrived at Russell Elementary in Firestone Boulevard and identified them as safe agents in their country, Carvalho said at a press conference Thursday. An agent interacting with the principal asked them to speak to four students, first through sixth grade. The principal denied access, Carvalho said.

Two hours later, a similar incident occurred at Lillian Street Elementary School, where agents tried to contact the sixth graders and were denied access by the principal. Both schools are located in the Florence Graham district of South Los Angeles.

“They declared to the principal in both instances that caregivers of these students allowed them to go to school,” Carvalho said. “We confirmed it was false. We spoke to the caretakers of these children, and sometimes parents.

District officials said people identified themselves as agents in the U.S. immigration and customs enforcement department, the homeland security investigation unit. Carvalho said they were not wearing uniforms and said that the principal was reluctant to provide formal identification more than a short time, when he tried to write down the information. He said the district could not confirm that they actually worked for homeland security.

“The principal did the right thing. They denied access. They asked for proof of agency,” Carvalho said. District legal staff were deployed to the school, at which point federal staff left the school in dark vehicles.

Carvalho was visibly furious on Thursday as he explained the interaction. He said he arrived in the US as an undocumented teenager from Portugal, as he had in the past.

“I’m still about how first, second, third, fourth or sixth graders pose all sorts of risks to the national security of our country where homeland security requires that they deploy agents to primary schools,” he said. “School is a place of learning. School is a place of understanding. School is a place of teaching, school is not a place of fear.”

In a statement issued to The Times Thursday, Tricia McLaughlin, deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, said the visit was not related to immigration enforcement and instead was a “wellness check” for children targeted. McLaughlin confirmed that the agents were a Homeland Security investigation. Conduct crime research to smuggling operations, drug trafficking and other major cross-border crimes.

“These HSI officials were at these schools and were doing wellness checks on unaccompanied children at the border,” she said in an emailed statement. “DHS is making major efforts to implement welfare checks on these children to ensure that these children are safe, exploited, abused, and sex trafficking.”

It was not clear from her statement whether the agent had evidence that the children in question were being abused. The agent did not present school staff a court order allowing the visit.

Karina Ramos, managing lawyer for the Immigration Defenderslow Centre, said she heard this week that an HSI agent said she had knocked on the door in search of an unaccompanied minor who was staying at her home.

Unaccompanied minors who cross borders are typically processed at federal facilities and are placed with US relatives or sponsors while the asylum plea is unfolded. Traditionally, the Refugee Resettlement Office under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has generally conducted follow-up wellness checks over the phone to ensure that children are safe and at school, she said.

“This is the ice research department,” Ramos said of HSI agents taking on the role. “They weren’t sent to knock on the door before and find a child, not my experience.

The Times shared McLaughlin’s statement with district officials.

The Times first reported an unusual encounter on Wednesday evening, with the district holding a press conference on Thursday to provide more details. District officials said it was the only school that Russell and Lillian visited.

Carvalho said the district will continue to close campuses to federal agents arriving without a judicial warrant.

“It was a wake-up call,” said Mario Valenzuela, director of political and community action for United teacher Los Angeles. “That’s not something that should be happening in our schools, especially in elementary schools.”

Public Leader Tony Thurmond issued a statement later Thursday praising school employees for denying “unauthorized access to innocent children who don’t take risks to our national security.”

A Los Angeles unified spokesman said that after the encounter, other district schools sent “preventive messages” to families who referenced “reports of immigration enforcement activities.”

The nation has Prepared guidance Helps school districts comply with state laws and state laws that restrict local participation in immigration enforcement activities. Immigration agents are not required to be granted access to the K-12 campus without a warrant.

Los Angeles Unification requires employees to receive training in what support or documents should be provided, rather than to federal immigration authorities.

The LA Board of Education has passed a series of resolutions stating LA Unified will become a sanctuary for immigrants.