Teachers Will Be a Formidable Force Against Trump
Teachers are working to protect undocumented immigrant students, trans students, and any student whose chance at an equitable education is at risk.
New Yorkers protest against Donald Trump’s harsh new immigration policies and accompanying ICE raids, February 11, 2017. (Reuters / Stephanie Keith)
New York schools have historically been seedbeds of political dissent, but under the Trump administration, the classroom atmosphere has been more charged than ever. Kids wonder if Homeland Security will snatch up their parents at home while they’re in school. And teachers might take a little more care to make sure their trans student can use the right bathroom without getting bullied.
Educators and students took these anxieties to a Brooklyn rally last weekled by grassroots student activists and the MORE United Federation of Teachers rank-and-file caucus, to urge New York City schools Chancellor Carmen Farina to strengthen schools’ existing “sanctuary” protectionsagainst interference by immigration authorities.
“For students who come from mixed-status families, there’s a lot of fear around deportation,” says Jennifer Queenan, a high-school teacher in Brooklyn. A recent Know Your Rights training organized at the school, she recalled, drew about 60 community members, mostly adults. Some perhaps had seen their child’s school as one of the few local institutions where they felt safe.
Although New York is a “sanctuary city”—meaning, authorities refrain from collecting information on immigration status or disclosing people’s status to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or other federal agenciesTeachers Will Be a Formidable Force Against Trump | The Nation: