CINCINNATI (WXIX) - “Wellness checks” on Cincinnati Public Schools students is why a police chief claiming to be with Immigration and Customs Enforcement drove more than an hour to Cincinnati on Wednesday, CPS Superintendent Shauna Murphy explained.The superintendent said one officer and Tonina Lamanna, the chief of police for Gratis, a village between Oxford and Dayton, went to three different schools: Rees E. Price Academy, Roberts Academy and Western Hills University High School, according to Murphy.Murphy said Lamanna arrived at the Cincinnati schools in a marked police vehicle and in uniform to perform the “wellness checks.”The described “wellness checks” were for specific students, according to Cincinnati Police Sgt. Anthony Mitchell.“They had a list of students that they were inquiring about,” Mitchell told FOX19 NOW.The chief and officer did not have ICE identifications or lettering on their uniforms, Murphy explained.“They did not have ICE on their backs, but nonetheless, our staff felt a very heightened sense of being alerted and uncomfortable with this,” Murphy said.Despite that, the Gratis police chief proclaimed to be an ICE agent, the superintendent said. Murphy could not confirm if the chief is in fact an ICE agent, deferring the answer to that question to Cincinnati leaders.[Watch more from FOX19 NOW]With no warrants or paperwork, Lamanna and the unidentified officer did not get access to CPS students, according to the superintendent.Murphy discussed CPS protocols to protect students, saying students are only released to a parent or someone authorized by a parent.“We’re super proud of our staff who followed through as they are trained and did not entertain the police chief who had another individual with her,” the superintendent said.Murphy said there is no question she views what happened at the three schools on Wednesday as a “threat.”Following the incident, an ICE spokesperson shared a statement with FOX19 NOW that read in part:“ICE does not target schools for enforcement actions. Yesterday, a local law enforcement partner attempted to verify school enrollment and conduct welfare checks on children who arrived unaccompanied across the border. To be crystal clear, this was not an ICE officer or an enforcement action.”Mayor, sheriff respondMayor Aftab Pureval echoed Murphy’s sentiment, calling Chief Lamanna’s actions “incomprehensible.”“As a CPS parent, I am disgusted by the incomprehensible actions of the Gratis Police Chief,” Mayor Pureval emphasized. “It is patently ridiculous and inexcusable that a police chief from a small town an hour from here would come into our City’s public schools unannounced, let alone do so allegedly at ICE’s request, to intimidate our children and their families. Stay out of Cincinnati.”Hamilton County Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey released a statement, saying, “I am very aware of the incident that occurred yesterday at Cincinnati Public Schools, and the concerns around that type of attempted federal enforcement. I am communicating with federal and state partners to ensure that guidelines and policies are followed. I am working in collaboration with Cincinnati Police to monitor and identify current ICE policies and/or actions.”The Cincinnati Police Department said they are not investigating.Lamanna has talked with CPS General Council Daniel Hoying since what unfolded Wednesday.Hoying said the Gratis police chief told him she would not be doing checks at Cincinnati schools anymore.Federal agreementThe Gratis Police Department has a formal agreement to work with ICE.A Memorandum of Agreement between ICE and the police department, signed by Lamanna on Oct. 23, 2025, allows ICE to delegate limited immigration enforcement authority to trained officers of Gratis PD.The MOA says Gratis officers have the authority to act on behalf of ICE to interrogate, arrest, detain and charge people in connection with immigration violations.That authority must be within the department’s jurisdiction, the agreement states.The signed federal agreement defines the jurisdiction that Gratis PD holds, meaning the authorized immigration enforcement activities are limited to the geographic jurisdiction the department already holds.“We’re sort of horrified that people could come into the school, disrupt the school environment, cause perhaps panic, chaos, things like that,” said Brad Smith with the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers.An ICE spokesperson provided FOX19 NOW with the following statement:FOX19 NOW has reached out to Chief Lamanna for comment.See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.Copyright 2026 WXIX. All rights reserved.