Cristian Moreno-Rodriguez, executive director of El Pueblo Unido, addresses the Atlantic City Board of Education.
A local group dedicated to helping and advising the immigrant community filled the Atlantic City Board of Education meeting Tuesday to ask for assurances as worry grows over President Trump’s immigration policies.
The new administration has ended a longstanding policy that restricted federal agents from making immigration arrests at sensitive locations like churches, hospitals and schools.
“Now every single school is at risk of becoming a site of fear, where parents are too afraid to send their children and students to school with the constant threat of being torn from their families,” said Cristian Moreno-Rodriguez who heads El Pueblo Unido, a nonprofit immigrant justice organization.
“Schools should be sanctuaries of learning, not battlegrounds,” he told the board. “Every child deserves to walk into their school free from fear, and every family deserves to know that their school district will stand with them.”
Moreno-Rodriguez urged that teachers and staff be trained, and the board make a commitment to protect students.
“Your concerns are our concerns,” Superintendent La’Quetta Small later told the group.
She said she received the guidance issued by the state Department of Education on Thursday.
Dr. La'Quetta Small addresses the immigrant issue concerns.“Friday I reviewed the guidance and I met with my team to discuss — with a sense of urgency — how we are going to safeguard our students,” Small said. “In addition to the protocols that have been set forth by the Department of Education, we also included emotional support for students, for staff, as well as for parents.”
Teachers and other staff do not need training in understanding the legalities and warrants, she stressed.
“In the event that an agent reports to the school, they are only to communicate with the building administrator,” she said.
Earlier she explained that “principals and building administrators have been directed regarding how they should handle school in event that agents report.”
Small said any additional issues will be addressed as they arise.
“We’re all here together,” board member Torres Mayfield told those at the meeting. “If it affects one person, it affects us all. The whole bottom line is, we’ve got to stick together, we’ve got to be together and do the right thing.”
Moreno-Rodriguez said he would work with the district in any way they need.
