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Protect immigrant students amid harsh crackdown

Hailing from Connecticut, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and more, educators gathered at the “Defending Immigrant Students Against Deportation” session during the AFT TEACH conference for one purpose: become better protectors, advocates, and lifelines for immigrant students and their families in light of the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration crackdowns.

Defending Immigrant Students Against Deportation

Presented by Kent Wong, vice president of the CFT (the California state federation) and Jessica Tang, president of AFT Massachusetts, the session offered strategies and tactics for educators in K-12 and higher education to enact right now to better keep their students, families and communities aware and safe.

Wong began the session with two short videos—both shot by undocumented students—that chronicled struggles to earn degrees in a society that does not always provide easy paths to citizenship. These stories, as Wong noted, were crucial in putting a human face on deportation and detention.

“What’s happening in Los Angeles, what we are seeing across the country is unprecedented. Marines, ICE Agents in masks and no ID, driving unmarked cars, threatening and grabbing parents in front of their kids. We see students afraid to go to school,” said Wong. “This is the reign of terror we are experiencing daily, and it must stop.”  

There are strategies to meet the moment, he insisted. Earlier this month, the United Teachers Los Angeles and the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor organized a nonviolence training with more than 1,400 participants. To help his students, Wong set up a food delivery program for those who were too afraid to leave their homes or have been couch surfing  to avoid detection, deportation or detention.

Tang focused on ways K-12 educators can be useful, highlighting the Unafraid Educators, an organizing committee of the Boston Teachers Union, which launched scholarships, know-your-rights trainings, and safe spaces to keep undocumented students in school and engaged.

Most important, she emphasized that if your school does not yet have a plan, now is the time to create one. Specifically, Tang highlighted the need for schools to know what to do if Immigration and Customs Enforcement  shows up at their school, noting that simply ensuring the agents show a judicial warrant and clearly marking public vs. private areas in the school are crucial first steps.

Tang also reiterated that unions can be a vital way to organize and mobilize these efforts and that by partnering with the AFT, locals have negotiated contract language that establishes immigrant support centers, staff training and more. Educators across the country are organizing phone trees, creating sanctuary schools and building alliances with faith leaders.

“This is a labor issue,” Tang said. “These are our workers. Our neighbors. Our students. The movement to protect immigrant students is not just legal or political—it’s moral.”

For educators, parents, union leaders and allies looking to take action or learn more, here are key resources highlighted at the event:

[James Hill]