Gainesville Immigrant Inclusion Initiative Hosts Press Conference on School Board ICE Policy
The Gainesville Immigrant Inclusion Initiative (GINI) hosted a press conference Tuesday afternoon at the Matheson History Museum on the Alachua County Public Schools’ (ACPS) policy on interactions with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ahead of the school board meeting.
Two months ago, ACPS released their policy on interactions with ICE, sparking concerns from the community.
GINI core member Ethan Maia de Needell told GnvInfo that he and other GINI members have spoken out against the policy at past school board meetings but received no response from any of the board members.
Speaking to several members of the media, GINI representative Barbra Reardon-Hughey said, “As a community advocacy alliance [GINI] is working to ensure our community is safer and more inclusive of our growing immigrant population…. The [ACPS] board and legal counsel have declined our offers to meet and discuss their policy allowing ICE and law enforcement to enter schools and detain or question children trying to learn without a warrant or the parent’s notification. That is very disturbing…. Hernando County requires an agent to verify their identity upon entry into the school. Sarasota County requires the agent to confirm their identity or provide a verified court order or subpoena. Polk County has stated that under the current law, ICE agents must have a court order or judicial warrant to access school property.”
Parent Leah Cohen said, “How much more stress and trauma are we going to allow the Alachua County School Board and the superintendent to pile on our students, our parents, our teachers? How much? And for how much longer? The school board members have pretty consistently been concerned about attendance, absenteeism, student test scores as a measure of academic success, and, most recently, losing students to private schools. Research demonstrates that stress and trauma can severely negatively impact a student's ability to learn."
Cohen cited a 2021 joint declaration from the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the Children's Hospital Association that stated children’s mental health is a nationwide crisis that disproportionately affects communities of color.
An 11th grade Gainesville High School student said, “Our schools are more than just buildings with classrooms. They're sanctuaries of learning, growth, and hope. They’re where children come to learn and develop an education. When ICE is allowed to operate in or even around educational spaces, that sanctuary is violated. The very presence of ICE turns a place of hope into a place of fear. Immigrant students will fear what they say because it may cost them their future or their family. American-born students will fear what they say because it may cost them a friend. Teachers will fear what they say because it may cost them their job. I talked to many of my peers about this issue and was majorly met with agreement. ICE has no place in schools, but there were still some who thought ICE was needed. When I asked why, I was given the same two answers.”
The high school student said that some of her peers told her that “taking immigrants out of schools will help the people that actually want to focus on education.” She said, “This was said consistently even though my immigrant peers have led clubs and sports teams with success. Even though many of my immigrant peers came to this country on a visa with the sole purpose of getting an education.”
The high school student said some of her peers told her immigrants “are criminals that need to go back to where they came from.” She said they told her this “without the knowledge of where immigrants go when they're taken by ICE.” She said, “How can children who have committed no crime other than being on American soil be criminals? How can children who haven't yet learned how to add and subtract or sing the ABCs be subject to such a traumatic process that will affect them for the rest of their lives?”
Several members and allies of GINI spoke at the Alachua County School Board meeting immediately following the press conference.
Jack Walden
