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“It doesn’t matter what race or status a person is. We are all equally deserving of education,” a CHHS community member who wishes to remain anonymous said.
With a new (or, rather, returning) president, it seems many voters only want safety in this country, at all costs, including our country’s founding principles. An example is what happened in the city of Columbus, Ohio and its public schools where students have stayed home instead of attending classes for fear of an Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid. Latinos with immigrant families are afraid of deportation, and even more so now with President Trump’s new promises to remove undocumented immigrants from the United States.
Many people fear ICE, and when Trump invoked the agency’s name in the press when announcing the end of federal restrictions protecting students and families whose immigration status is under review or not legally submitted for review (including in places previously thought of as “safe zones” such as schools, mosques and churches), this fear only increased.
“Imagine carrying that confusion and living in fear that at any moment of your day someone can take someone you love away from you,” Columbus City Schools immigrant parent Bertha Obayuwana said at a school board meeting following Trump’s new directive. “Imagine how difficult it will be to learn when you have the fear of deportation on your mind.”
Obayuwana went on to emphasize how students already struggle with the language barrier and the current situation in schools is making things even more difficult—something that unfortunately rings true for many Columbia Heights Public Schools (CHPS) students and families too. Not only are parents afraid, but teachers are as well.
“Students already have problems in school because of language barriers. If they have recently arrived in the United States, some of them do not know how to speak English. This can cause problems in school and when trying to make friends,” Columbia Heights High School (CHHS) English teacher Ms. Marcy San Martin said. “Now that ICE is scaring them with deportation, they have to worry about raids at school. This creates unnecessary fear in other people.”
Some teachers and school administrators in Ohio and other similarly Republican-led states are mobilizing to turn schools back into a “safe zone” for students by communicating with families about the protocols for being approached by ICE agents. The belief that education is a right regardless of immigration status is made clear at CHPS too, and there is a policy that states members of the government, including law enforcement, cannot converse with students during school hours without permission from district legal counsel, which has been communicated through multiple “Know Your Rights” information sessions held in both Spanish and English, and available both in-person and online. Additionally, parents have been told that student safety is the district’s number one priority in a bilingual letter sent home. However, this doesn’t mean the fear doesn’t remain among many students here at CHHS.
“I don’t fear ICE because I’m legal,” CHHS student Kevin Jara (12) said. “But I do fear for my family and my friends who are not legal in the country.”
The Trump administration claims it is only trying to protect U.S. citizens. But with all these people who are not only afraid of ICE but also afraid of their loved ones being forcibly deported, are they actually keeping people “safe”? There are of course some examples of when ICE has caught criminals, but most of the time people see the organization as one that only cares about getting rid of undocumented immigrants or, in their terms, “aliens.” In fact, detention facilities are at capacity in most locations, forcing ICE to discharge thousands of its detainees regularly. Also of note is that while several people blame President Trump for what ICE has done, this has been the agency’s mission even when President Obama and President Biden were in office, so one could argue Trump has only made residents more fearful of a group that was already quite greatly feared.
Thankfully, Anoka and Hennepin counties, where the vast majority of CHPS students live, are classified as “safe counties,” meaning they will not report illegal immigrants living in these places to the government. But this does not guarantee that you will not be deported in these counties. To be clear, ICE vehicle sightings in Columbia Heights have been reported to CHPD.
But remember this: the amendments of the United States apply to both citizens and non-citizens. You can refuse to open your door to the police if they do not have a warrant. You also have the right to say no to a search if they do not have a warrant to look through your personal belongings. All of these rights are protected by the Fourth Amendment in the Constitution. Trump may mean to scare those who are undocumented, but between the rights afforded to all under the Constitution and the support and protection of our communities, it is possible to be stronger than fear.
