"Since Trump has once again taken office, the use of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has become more prevalent. ICE deports anyone who is undocumented and separates them from their family" -- Adela orozco, 6th grade
Since Trump has once again taken office, the use of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has become more prevalent. ICE deports anyone who is undocumented and separates them from their family—however they are also negatively racially profiling people. “The US Supreme Court recently voted 6-3 to lift restrictions placed by a judge on Immigration and Customs enforcement, effectively permitting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to intensify racially profiling, detaining and interrogating Latino and immigrant communities,” reported Cair California (The Council on American-Islamic Relations.)
“We are outraged by the US Supreme Court's decision to uphold the authority of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to indiscriminately target people in Los Angeles for simply speaking Spanish or looking Latino[...] The Supreme Court's ICE ruling reads as a blatant endorsement of racially profiling, jeopardizing, Latino, Black, and LGBTQ+ community safety,” said Glad Law in a recent post.
Students at OSA are also feeling the effects of these raids.“My mom has told me that my family members have been affected by ICE before and were stopped and questioned because they looked like a person of color and thought they were immigrants which is racist,” said Ana Jimenez-Morales, an 8th grader in Literary Arts.
Usually the public hears stories of ICE deporting adults and or parents, but ICE can also deport children under the age of 18, or they keep them in custody for months and sometimes even years. However, this is illegal, hence the Flores Settlement. “Its most well-known provision, recently, prohibits the detention of children for more than 20 days,” according to the CWLA History and Update on Flores Settlement.
Basically, if immigrant children are kept in custody for more than 20 days, they are breaking the Flores Settlement law that was enacted in 1977.
“I feel like it's just so wrong, dude, the children didn’t do anything wrong, and the whole ‘they are illegal immigrants,’ but most of them are born here. And it leaves them with trauma and that's messed up,” said Sayuri Espinoza Gonzales, a 7th grader in Literary Arts.
Lola Christ, a 12th grade student in Literary Arts, agrees. “I feel like they are splitting up families so even when they are not detaining kids they are ruining lives.”
When ICE detains children, there are usually safeguards to make sure that kids will be represented by court for the month, and sadly in some cases years. This doesn’t always happen though.
Some kids are sent to juvenile jails that are usually thousands of miles away from their family and sometimes there are no safeguards to make sure they will be represented in court.
“I had a friend who lived in Ohio and her family was deported and she was, too. It was really hard on her and her family because she didn’t know the language and so it was really hard on her parents to find work. Her parents are doing relatively well but she is struggling in school since she doesn’t know the language. But I think that she is doing relatively well,” said Espinoza-Gonzales.
The increase of ICE raids has begun to make some kids scared to go to school. Some parents don’t want their kids to go to school until things have calmed down, which can be very disruptive to their education. This is in conflict with a 1982 Supreme Court Ruling that states that every single person has the right to a fair education. “All children in the United States are entitled to equal access to a public elementary and secondary education, regardless of their or their parents’ actual or perceived national origin, citizenship, or immigration status,” according to Fact Sheet Educational Service for Immigrant Children.
“I personally know a lot of people that are immigrants or children of immigrants and I can tell they are nervous and they have been taking more precautions,” added Christ.
Educators are also worried about ICE and how they could affect their jobs. When kids ask teachers if they will ever be safe again, some teachers will not know how to respond.
Marcy Hernandez, OSA Middle School Vice Principal, said that OSA has a plan in place for potential ICE raids that isBased off of different sources, different immigration advocacy groups, [including] the California Department of Education. We used their guidance creating a very,very,very clear structured plan if an ICE officer approaches.”
“It’s a very tight detailed plan with very clear things that people should do and say,” Hernandez continued.
“I feel like it has a very negative impact on kids in general, and especially kids where their parents have been deported. And this is an issue that people need to realize,” said Jimenez-Morales.
For 14 years, since the Clinton administration, the federal government had told ICE that they should not pay attention to “delicate places” such as schools, churches and even community centers. But as soon as Trump took office again, he changed that and told ICE that it was okay to raid schools.
However, on September 3rd, the Californian Legislature introduced two bills to help protect Californian students, teachers, and families. Assembly Bill 49 says that immigration officers cannot raid schools unless they have a judicial warrant or court order. Senate Bill 89 would stop healthcare officials from giving ICE access to nonpublic spaces located in hospitals unless they have a warrant signed by a judge. These two bills show that people are trying to fight back and they have made a difference.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 49 and Senate Bill 89 on September 20th.
“Public safety depends on trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve — but Trump and Miller have shattered that trust and spread fear across America. California is putting an end to it and making sure schools and hospitals remain what they should be: places of care, not chaos,” said Newsom upon signing the Bills.
“We are outraged by the US Supreme Court's decision to uphold the authority of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to indiscriminately target people in Los Angeles for simply speaking Spanish or looking Latino[...] The Supreme Court's ICE ruling reads as a blatant endorsement of racially profiling, jeopardizing, Latino, Black, and LGBTQ+ community safety,” said Glad Law in a recent post.
Students at OSA are also feeling the effects of these raids.“My mom has told me that my family members have been affected by ICE before and were stopped and questioned because they looked like a person of color and thought they were immigrants which is racist,” said Ana Jimenez-Morales, an 8th grader in Literary Arts.
Usually the public hears stories of ICE deporting adults and or parents, but ICE can also deport children under the age of 18, or they keep them in custody for months and sometimes even years. However, this is illegal, hence the Flores Settlement. “Its most well-known provision, recently, prohibits the detention of children for more than 20 days,” according to the CWLA History and Update on Flores Settlement.
Basically, if immigrant children are kept in custody for more than 20 days, they are breaking the Flores Settlement law that was enacted in 1977.
“I feel like it's just so wrong, dude, the children didn’t do anything wrong, and the whole ‘they are illegal immigrants,’ but most of them are born here. And it leaves them with trauma and that's messed up,” said Sayuri Espinoza Gonzales, a 7th grader in Literary Arts.
Lola Christ, a 12th grade student in Literary Arts, agrees. “I feel like they are splitting up families so even when they are not detaining kids they are ruining lives.”
When ICE detains children, there are usually safeguards to make sure that kids will be represented by court for the month, and sadly in some cases years. This doesn’t always happen though.
Some kids are sent to juvenile jails that are usually thousands of miles away from their family and sometimes there are no safeguards to make sure they will be represented in court.
“I had a friend who lived in Ohio and her family was deported and she was, too. It was really hard on her and her family because she didn’t know the language and so it was really hard on her parents to find work. Her parents are doing relatively well but she is struggling in school since she doesn’t know the language. But I think that she is doing relatively well,” said Espinoza-Gonzales.
The increase of ICE raids has begun to make some kids scared to go to school. Some parents don’t want their kids to go to school until things have calmed down, which can be very disruptive to their education. This is in conflict with a 1982 Supreme Court Ruling that states that every single person has the right to a fair education. “All children in the United States are entitled to equal access to a public elementary and secondary education, regardless of their or their parents’ actual or perceived national origin, citizenship, or immigration status,” according to Fact Sheet Educational Service for Immigrant Children.
“I personally know a lot of people that are immigrants or children of immigrants and I can tell they are nervous and they have been taking more precautions,” added Christ.
Educators are also worried about ICE and how they could affect their jobs. When kids ask teachers if they will ever be safe again, some teachers will not know how to respond.
Marcy Hernandez, OSA Middle School Vice Principal, said that OSA has a plan in place for potential ICE raids that isBased off of different sources, different immigration advocacy groups, [including] the California Department of Education. We used their guidance creating a very,very,very clear structured plan if an ICE officer approaches.”
“It’s a very tight detailed plan with very clear things that people should do and say,” Hernandez continued.
“I feel like it has a very negative impact on kids in general, and especially kids where their parents have been deported. And this is an issue that people need to realize,” said Jimenez-Morales.
For 14 years, since the Clinton administration, the federal government had told ICE that they should not pay attention to “delicate places” such as schools, churches and even community centers. But as soon as Trump took office again, he changed that and told ICE that it was okay to raid schools.
However, on September 3rd, the Californian Legislature introduced two bills to help protect Californian students, teachers, and families. Assembly Bill 49 says that immigration officers cannot raid schools unless they have a judicial warrant or court order. Senate Bill 89 would stop healthcare officials from giving ICE access to nonpublic spaces located in hospitals unless they have a warrant signed by a judge. These two bills show that people are trying to fight back and they have made a difference.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 49 and Senate Bill 89 on September 20th.
“Public safety depends on trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve — but Trump and Miller have shattered that trust and spread fear across America. California is putting an end to it and making sure schools and hospitals remain what they should be: places of care, not chaos,” said Newsom upon signing the Bills.
