Federal agents who were denied in an entrance to two Los Angeles elementary schools this week were seeking “access” to five young students attending those schools, Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said Thursday.

News of U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents showing up at Lillian Street Elementary School and Russell Elementary School in South Los Angeles’ Florence-Graham neighborhood was confirmed by the district Wednesday. A spokesperson said the federal agents were denied and turned away by school administrators at both schools.

The federal agents’ appearances — with as many as four showing up at one time looking for information on children in grades one through six — were believed to be the first reported cases of Homeland Security authorities attempting to enter a U.S. school.

Carvalho said in both cases the federal agents denied access falsely told school officials they were given authorization by the caretakers of the children to visit their schools and get ”access” to the students.

“The agents represented in both instances to the principals that they wanted access to the students to determine their well being,” said Carvalho at a press conference Thursday morning “It is disturbing that during that conversation, they conveyed to both principals that the parents or the legal guardians… provided them authorization for access to these kids in school. That is absolutely, blatantly untrue.”

Carvalho said he believes the visits were related to federal immigration enforcement actions. Representatives for DHS did not immediately respond to a request for information about the federal agents denied access to students.

“The children are okay, but the communities are feeling fear, and that is a shame,” said Carvalho, a Portuguese immigrant and critic of President Trump’s immigration enforcement policies, regarding the federal agents denied access to students.

“I am still mystified as to how a first, second, third, fourth or sixth grader, would pose any type of risk to the national security of our nation, that would require Homeland Security to deploy its agents to two elementary schools,” he said.

The news comes as families and educators in the nation’s second-largest school district prepare for federal crackdowns amid fear of federal enforcement among the many immigrant families in Los Angeles.

Read the full article about federal agents seeking access to students by Ben Chapman at The 74.