How teachers and their students are prepared for migratory raids

CNN
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A 6 -year -old girl in New York City has been asking to visit the school nurse almost every day during the last month, hoping to be sent home. His teacher finally discovered why.

“He is afraid that if he waits until the end of the day, he will not be able to see his mother, that something will happen and his mother will not be able to pick her up” if she or the members of her family are trapped in an immigration control operation, Katie recalled Kurjakovic, specialist in English students at the United Federation of Masters, who told him a colleague.

In New York and other cities in the country, educators are dealing with fear between students and parents that the US immigration and customs control agents (ICE (ICE) are presented in the schools or in their homes, while the Trump government promises to deport millions of undocumented immigrants.

“All that the teacher can do is try to make this girl feel as sure as possible,” Kurjakovic told CNN. “Invite the girl to sit with her during most of the day possible … it is very distressing, but it is what teachers are forced to do in the classroom: make children feel safe.”

Anxiety in the United States classrooms has only increased since last month the government reversed a long -standing policy that indicated immigration agents to avoid sensitive places such as schools, churches and hospitals, leaving educators looking for guidance on what to do If agents appear and how to reassure the students and worried parents.

“Criminals may no longer hide in the United States schools and churches to avoid arrest,” said Interim National Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman. “The Trump administration will not tie the hands of our brave agents of the order, and instead trusts that they use common sense.”

The White House and ICE, along with several other federal agencies, have disseminated multiple photos and videos of their social networks control actions in a public relations campaign aimed at showing the impulse of deportation of the administration.

There have been no confirmed reports from ICE agents in US schools, but educators said the generalized alarm on deportations seems to have contributed to a recent decrease in class assistance in some communities.

“It’s like a terrible rain cloud in the style of Charlie Brown who looms over all,” said Deb Gesualdo, president of the Malden Teacher Union, Massachusetts, a diverse city and working class of about 65,000 inhabitants north of Boston, where more than 70 languages ​​are spoken in public schools.

In Virginia, the president of the Fairfax County Masters Federation, David Walrod, said the teachers are having to face the traumatizing fears of their students about deportations.

“These are students who do not know if their best friend will be here,” he said. “When you have a situation with someone from the forces of the order in a school, that is not only traumatic for that particular student, but also for the thousands of other students who are also in the building and see what is happening.”

From Massachusetts to California, educators and defenders have been providing information to teachers and parents about the type of order that ICE agents must have to access schools and about the right that all children have to an education, regardless of their immigration status, and what to do and say in case of a meeting.

“Whether they are teachers or support professionals, everyone is really worried,” said Gesualdo, a music teacher with 22 years in the public school system. “I’ve never seen or heard anything like this … everything is so legs up.”

In Malden, New York City and other places with large amounts of immigrant families, teachers and directors have been instructed to immediately contact district officials if federal agents appear in school lands.

“They don’t have access without restrictions. They are not given information freely, ”Gesualdo said about immigration agents. “We refer them to the Superintendent’s office … it would be so harmful to any of our students not only to be detained at school, but to witness that that happens.”

According to the Think Tank Institute of Migration Policy, around 733,000 undocumented children in school age live in the US.

The Massachusetts Attorney General, Andrea Joy Campbell, has issued a guide on how school officials should respond if immigration agents try to interrogate or withdraw students. “As part of the broader planning efforts of a school district related to circumstances that could make it not safe for a child to return home, they must prepare for the case where a father is arrested or detained by the ICE,” he says The guide.

Gesualdo added: “Even if there are no ICE raids in our schools and perhaps there are no ICE agents, wasting outside schools, still significantly interrupts the school environment. That fear that students can be separated from their families or that students discover that while they were at school, their parents were arrested. ”

However, not all US educational officials oppose Trump’s government impulse to allow ICE agents to enter schools. Ryan Walters, Superintendent of Public Instruction of Oklahoma, has promised to fulfill the efforts.

In addition, the State Board of Education of Oklahoma, which Walters Supervisa, voted at the end of January to approve a proposal that requires parents to inform about their immigration or citizenship status by enrolling their children at school. The proposal still needs the approval of the Legislature and the Governor.

“The schools are paralyzed by the avalanche of illegal immigrants and the open border policy of Biden/Harris. The inhabitants of Oklahoma and the country elected President Trump and we will do everything possible to put Oklahoma students first, ”Walters said in a statement.

In New York City, where almost 45,000 migrant children have registered in public schools since July 2022, according to the city’s department of education, Yensy López said that their three children have tired of randomly blows in the Hotel door in Manhattan that serves as a temporary refuge. She is worried despite having a work permit and being in the process of asylum.

“All this has been a psychological trauma for them and me,” said the Colombian migrant to CNN a recent morning. “I’m afraid. I don’t know what the future holds. ”

Thousands of migrants began arriving in New York City in the summer of 2022 after being transported by bus from the Texas border. The Mayor of New York, Eric Adams, has been Franco on the city’s immigration crisis. He has expressed his willingness to work with the Trump government.

On Tuesday, when Adams was asked at a budget audience to state legislators about children who are afraid to go to school, he replied: “I think we need to let these children know that they can continue their education. Our administration has affirmed this again and again. ”

The country’s largest school system sent a memorandum to the directors last month reiterating that ICE agents are not allowed on school lands “without the appropriate legal authority.” The letter also emphasized that the school system does not collect information on the immigration status of students.

In an email to members with information on the orientation of the Department of Education of New York City last week, the president of the United Federation of Masters, Michael Mulgrew, wrote: “We will continue fighting so that schools continue to be areas safe. Our students deserve a free education of fear, humiliation and trauma. ”

Viridiana Carrizales, co -founder of IMMSchools, a non -profit organization that works with schools throughout the country to serve immigrant students and families, said the organization has been flooded in recent weeks with calls from parents and worried educators.

“Although there is no place at this time that is the safest for immigrant families, in many ways, schools are safer than even our own homes,” he said. “That is one of the things we are trying to tell families: your child could have more protections, or it could even be safer in school than if they keep it at home.”

In Chicago, the Director of Education, Bogdana Chkoumbova, has said that the city’s public schools are committed to protecting students and their families, and will not ask or share the immigration status with ICE. In November, the City Board of Education approved a resolution that states that the school system will not attend ICE agents or allow them to enter campus without a criminal court order.

California Attorney General, Rob Bonta, said Tuesday that the State will defend immigrant educators and students against Trump administration policies who have “created fear and uncertainty in our immigrant communities.”

“The California schools are and will continue to be a cozy, inclusive and safe place for all, regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity or immigration status,” Journalists told journalists. “The Federal Government does not dictate what we teach, or write our curricula. We do that here in California. ”

Diana Herrera, a secondary school teacher from the Central Valley of California, last week promised to protect her students “by any necessary means” if ICE agents arrive at their classroom.

“Being closing the door, moving them away,” he said. “I have a great fear that they will come to my door and be it, you know, in the first line … I’m going to protect my students and I will do what I can to keep them away.”