Category: immigration raids

Are ICEbreakers appropriate for EML students this year?

The school year has gotten off to a quiet start, against the most horrifying backdrop imaginable for immigrant students in the English Language  Development (ELD) program (formerly called ESOL). Images on the news show ICE agents throwing black and brown men to the ground and leading them away in handcuffs, disappearing them to unknown destinations, where due process is almost nonexistent. Law-abiding residents just going to work. The families and neighbors of my students targeted by armed men in masks.

I teach at one of the largest high schools in the state of Maryland, with a student population that’s 60% Hispanic, and about 25% actively enrolled in our ELD program. After sitting through a week of Pre-Service teacher meetings where not a single mention of immigration was made, I sent an email message to my supervisor pointing out my concerns that students might face unusually high levels of anxiety and fear as they come back to school this year. And maybe we could send an email to the entire staff. And share the robust MCPS web page for Immigrant Supports. 

I even mentioned that the typical classroom ICEbreakers might be triggering for some students.

Instead of support, I got called in to my supervisor’s office and reprimanded for sending out a “political” message using school email. Apparently now it’s “political” to express concern for EML students.

Is it that my supervisors are low-key MAGA enthusiasts? Are they afraid? Do they just not want to be inconvenienced? Why would someone in charge of a program comprising 100% immigrant students not be on the side of our students? Of their teachers and staff? (as an aside, one of my colleagues, whose spouse was born overseas, says he takes his U.S. passport with him to take out the trash so that he won’t be arrested). We are living in an era where our government is turning against us.

I am deeply distressed that school leaders have ignored my concerns and are trying to pretend that everything is normal. Even worse, they told me, “You need to be careful. I don’t want you to get in trouble” WTF?! I was pointing out that we need to be aware of pressures our students were facing outside of school that could affect attendance, participation in school events, grades, and social-emotional well-being. Isn’t that important any more?

If this what the school year will look like for 2025-2026, then I’m not sure how I’ll make it through. I will follow school rules and be compliant at work, but outside of the duty day, I will use my teacher voice to exercise my First Amendment rights while I still have them, to speak out in support of immigrants, the people who actually keep our country running.

Even though the Department of Education has quietly rescinded the federal guidelines for students learning English, I will support my students, whatever their immigration status, for as long as I am able. Which may not be very long, at this rate.

Through a confidential source, I learned that the MCPS International Office usually admits close to 1,000 newcomer students every year. Last year, they admitted 850. This year, only 12.

I hope I’ll make it another year. Or at least until a time when choosing the right ICEbreaker activity is my biggest back-to-school concern.

The Upside Down

In just a week, the new presidential administration has sent a wave of fear and shock into every DC area school. I teach at a school that’s 60% Hispanic, with many undocumented students hidden in plain sight. When I quietly handed out MCPS fliers on immigrant rights, printed in Spanish and English, nearly every student grabbed one. 

My students don’t talk about it with me. It’s my first year at a new school, and all my classes are co-taught. So we haven’t developed the kind of mutual trust that I am used to by this time of year. But my colleague who works with newcomer students said they were panicking. 

Violent January 6 criminals are granted blanket pardons while innocent children, many of whom are refugees from political violence, are at risk of deportation. I keep coming back to my mantra from the previous Trump administration: “This is not who we are.” But clearly, I do not understand my fellow Americans. Apparently we are a bigoted, anti-authority, xenophobic country.

We’re living in an upside-down reality, like an episode of Stranger Things.

I will do everything in my power to help my students. But I wish I could change the channel.

Immigration Raids: Why are we deporting law-abiding families?

Happy New Year! Yesterday and today my students were visibly distracted. One girl had her head down and couldn’t work. When I asked her to sit up, I could see that she was crying. “La Migra” is all that students would say. They showed me a video of a raid. A mother had 10 minutes to pack her own and her daughter’s bag for deportation. Students are telling me that ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) police are making raids on homes, stopping cars in traffic and showing up at the mall. “My mother doesn’t have papers,” one girl said. “But my brothers were both born here. What will happen to them if my mother is deported?” Another student told me that her mother is afraid to go to the supermarket because immigration police are there. “We don’t have any food in the house,” she said. I assured her that school is a safe place to be. ICE cannot enter school property and teachers are not required to give out information.

I don’t understand this new policy of tearing families apart. The newspapers report here that El Salvador has become the murder capital of the world. These families are fleeing extreme violence and should be welcomed as refugees. Many students have already lived through warlike trauma. Why are we retraumatizing them? Most are law-abiding participants in the U.S. economy. They work and pay taxes. They perform jobs that many Americans will not take: cleaning houses, construction, retail sales and restaurant work.

We are about to enter TESTING SEASON. My students will have back-to-back tests. The first is a semester exam that includes separate Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing sections administered over two days. The second is the WiDA ACCESS, a state-mandated test for English Language Learners that also includes Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing sections administered across several days. Some seniors will also have to take High School Assessments that will determine if they can graduate in June. On top of that is MAP-R, a computer-adapted Reading test that some students will take. How can they concentrate when so much in their lives is outside of their control?

I wish the politicians could see the effects of their policies in my classroom. So many students are suffering horribly through challenging family situations, yet they come to school and sit through a barrage of (meaningless) tests because we ask them to do so. They want a high school diploma and are very motivated to stay in school. The American Dream is still alive. Why are we making students sag under such a heavy load?