For mixed status families, deportation fears cast shadow over new academic year : NPR

A member of the community writes a welcome note for students on the first day of DC public schools outside an elementary in Washington, DC, on August 25, as support for immigration and the application of customs and raids of federal agents in the city. Neighbors, volunteers and parents applauded, whistled and rocked the drums as they accompanied the children to school.

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Through the United States, many parents sigh in collective relief: the school is back in session. Sitting in her trailer in the rural south of Maryland, a woman who asks to spend her initial first, “M.”, says that she is one of those very relieved parents. This is because she spent most of the summer inside with her four children and said that it made her almost crazy. She asked NPR to refer to it by the first initial only because it is undocumented, and like many undocumented immigrants, the new school year has new fears and anxiety express to the application of ice in and around schools.

M. holds a wick of his hair. “Look,” she said, pointing white streaks, “she said, were not there before this summer. It was stressful, she said, died inside with the children. While she speaks, her youngest rises to the top of Washing machine and proceeds to a hundred plastic Easter eggs on the ground; With her knowledge for her, the baby she lightens makes a large bottle of glue save. His 7 -year -old child was walking by holding the family’s cat upside down.

Mr. and her husband have been living and working in the United States for about 15 years. Their children are all American citizens, but she said this summer, it was too risky to go anywhere. There were no trips to the swimming pool, no visits to the aquarium or local parks. His elder planned to go to a Stem summer camp, whose family withdrew him.

A few weeks ago, something happened which, according to Mr.. He hid and sent the family A message, in case it is detained.

Mr. said that night, they sat the children and explained: “You are all American citizens, but we are not. If we take you to the aquarium or a hotel, we could be detained and expelled. “”

Now, the start of a new school year has raised difficult questions: what if immigration agents come while children are in class, or while she picks them up? Can immigration agents enter school? Can they question children about the legal status of their parents?

“There are no confirmed reports on ice raids or the application of ice inside schools,” said Elora Mukherjee, director of the Immigran Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School. She says it is important to let parents know that ice agents cannot enter a school without mandate. In addition, it is unconstitutional to refuse students access to public education according to immigration status, and in certain cities such as Chicago and New York public schools, the language stipulates that administrators may not ask questions about immigration status. A few years ago, attempts to do it in Alabama were canceled as unconstitutional.

But Mukherjee understands fear around schools and the application of immigration. Almost as soon as President Trump took office, in January, the places previously designated by the limits – schools, churches and hospitals – were considered a fair game for the application of immigration.

There are many relationships of parents detained just outside their children’s schools.

Mukherjee says, despite the repeated rhetoric of the administration on the detention of “the worst of the worst”, the figures show that the vast majority of people detained by ice so far are without criminal convictions. “Anyone can be targeted if officers have reasonable suspicion of believing that they can be in the country without authorization.”

A second-year student of 8 years, born in the United States of an undocumented family, holds a sign in their graduation ceiling and their dress after their school ceremony outside the federal building, while the demonstrations continue in response to federal immigration operations in Los Angeles on June 10.

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The fear of taking children to school had an impact on attendance. The last school year, in districts across the country, the immigration application raids coincided with frequentation reductions: in the Central California valley, there was a 22% increase in absenteeism during ice operations. In Chicago, one of the first cities to discover the immigration raids of the Trump administration, the teachers told NPR that they had seen a drop in students attendance.

“Last year was a difficult year,” said Roy, a second year teacher in the Chicago public school system who asked that his surname and the name of his school be refused to protect his students, some of whom are undocumented or who have undocumented parents. “We had students who missed lessons and deactivate for a month. Fear was the biggest cause. This puts you late. If we had more time with these children, we would have become further. We need our children in school,” he said.

The members of the community have panels such as a demonstration of support for students who go on the first day of DC public schools outside an elementary in Washington, DC, on August 25, as an application of immigration and customs and raids of federal agents in the city.

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP / Getty Images

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Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP / Getty Images

In some school districts, teachers and organizers are preparing for the possibility of greater application of immigration near schools. In Chicago, where President Trump has promised to take action, educators say they plan to offer optional online courses for some children. “Everything is on the table,” explains Stacy Davis Gates, president of the Chicago Teachers Union. “Young people become safe, young people learn. Young people can have adults as we think about how they stay in school.”

A few days after the start of the school year, send me an audio message from the bus stop. She is there to look for her children. It is held at approximately one pâté de houses and the cars of the Sheriff department are there.

She is afraid.

A few minutes pass and she sends another message.

“I’m at home,” she said out of breath. “I frozen. I caught the kids and went home. “Nothing happened,” she said, “not this time.

The incident did not prevent Mr. from sending his children back to school.

She says that the first week that her children were back in school, she did what many parents through the United States probably did: she made a very long nap.

And then she did something most of the parents Never to do: she contacted a friend, an American citizen, to start the process of proxy, in case her husband or her husband is caught and deported.