WASHINGTON – The union representing millions of educators and school employees is suing President Donald Trump for immigration crackdowns, saying arrests near school campuses are intimidating children and their teachers, causing some students to drop out of school.
At the beginning of Trump’s second term, his Republican administration said it would allow arrests of immigrants in schools – long considered restrictive. Violation of the law is the lawsuits of the two largest American Teachers Unions, the National Education Association and the American Teachers Federation.
Also joining the lawsuit were educators in Oregon’s preschool class, where masked agents broke the window and dragged the student’s father out of his car shortly after the child got out of the car. The arrival of the police prompted the school to lock down, and teachers were playing music, so the students could not hear the commotion outside.
Teacher Lauren Fong, who taught the child whose father was arrested that day, said she was troubled by her decision to be in the school parking lot, which was private property.
“Why is a school? Why is there no other place, and there are other places?” Fang said in an interview. “That was in the parking lot, and there were so many young kids who could witness it.”
Educators are joining a lawsuit filed by Oregon Farm Union and a group of churches in April, challenging the Trump administration’s decision to open a chapel to immigration enforcement. The revised lawsuit was filed Tuesday in federal court in Eugene, Oregon.
A request for comment has been sent to the Department of Homeland Security.
For nearly three decades, immigration agents have been instructed to avoid avoiding “sensitive locations” such as schools, hospitals and places of worship unless in exceptional circumstances. According to the 2021 memorandum, the Department of Homeland Security can “complete (its) law enforcement tasks without denying or limiting individuals’ access to the medical services they need, children’s access to schools, displaced food and shelter, and people of faith entering places of worship.”
The day after Trump took office, the ministry canceled the memorandum and instead urged agents to use “common sense” when operating near schools and churches. Officials outlined the reasons behind the move in a statement: “Criminals will no longer be able to hide in schools and churches in the United States to avoid arrest.”
The lawsuit describes several instances of arrests from immigration and customs law enforcement around schools and churches. In Los Angeles, masked Border Patrol officers landed in a car parked next to high school and ordered a 15-year-old disabled boy at the gun while searching for a man with a gang tie. They handcuffed him and released him only when they found the wrong person.
The lawsuit includes testimony from unnamed teachers who reported reduced anxiety and participation and attendance among students with immigrant or immigrant children.
High school teachers in Pennsylvania and Virginia said some students stopped showing up in the spring, fearing they would be arrested on campus. An verbal pathologist at an elementary school in California said immigrant parents are reluctant to sign up for special education services for their children because it means providing more information to schools. A high school teacher who studies English in Texas said her course enrollment rate dropped sharply.
“Classrooms in the United States must be safe and enthusiastic places to learn and discover,” said AFT President Randi Weingarten.
Leaders of the large number of immigrant churches prosecuted also described the increase in anxiety and mass attendance.
Lawyers argued that Trump’s decision to open the church to immigration enforcement violated the First Amendment for parishioners because it made them too scared to attend the church. The lawsuit claims that revoking sensitive memorandums violates the Administrative Procedure Act, which prohibits agencies from enforcing policies that are “arbitrary, capricious, abuse of discretion or otherwise incompatibility with the law.”
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