The arrival of federal agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs Border Protection (CBP) in North Carolina on Saturday, November 15 has led to fear and chaos throughout our state this week. Following raids at churches, apartment complexes and several businesses, schools in Charlotte-Mecklenburg County saw alarmingly high rates of absenteeism. According to reports, around 20 percent of CMS students did not attend school on Monday.
There have also been reports of severe racial profiling and aggressive tactics being used against individuals suspected of not having legal status and community members trying to protect them. The very real threat of deportation and/or physical harm is actively contributing to the ongoing issues of chronic absenteeism and mental health crises among students. Moreover, these tactics are sending a message to students of color– particularly hispanic students, regardless of their immigration status– that they do not belong within our communities.
At the Public School Forum of North Carolina, we believe that public education is for every child. Since 1982, all students– regardless of their immigration status– have been guaranteed the right to enroll in public schools in the United States. Additional federal requirements for states ensure that multilingual learners have equal access to a high-quality education. However, recent immigration enforcement efforts around the country and now in our own state deeply undermine these rights.
Public schools welcome and serve all children, and nothing has changed regarding who has legal access to enroll or attend. However, a sense of belonging is essential to the high-quality education our children are owed, and these raids pose a serious threat to schools’ ability to provide that. Educators are being faced with questions from parents of whether it’s safe for children to come to school, and students are being left with extreme anxiety about what could happen to them or their classmates and friends.
Our children deserve better than this. They should not have to pay the price of our extreme political climate. They should not have to live in fear that they will be ripped apart from their loved ones. They should not have to wonder whether school is a safe space. The Public School Forum will continue advocating for safe schools and safe communities for every child, but those things will not be possible if such physically and emotionally violent tactics are allowed to continue within our state or any other.
Leave a Reply