AFT’s Weingarten on President Trump’s Deportation Plans

WASHINGTON—AFT President Randi Weingarten issued the following statement after the Department of Homeland Security said it would end a policy restricting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from arresting undocumented immigrants at sensitive locations such as hospitals and schools:

“We agree that our immigration system is broken and badly in need of reform. While we’re deeply concerned about the great risk that a mass deportation program poses for American families and our nation’s economic stability, this directive for ICE agents to disregard ‘sensitive’ areas is an immediate threat to the well-being of all our children and our communities.

“This counterproductive change in long-standing federal policy will have far-reaching negative consequences not just for our students from immigrant families but for all children and families in the schools and hospitals where these deportation raids take place.

“We respectfully ask President Trump to reconsider this change of policy. We are sending a letter with our request to the new president today.

“Schools and hospitals are supposed to be safe and welcoming places. A policy that allows law enforcement to destroy that environment will cause irreparable harm, indelibly scarring not only immigrant families, but all families.

“These actions are traumatizing to all children, especially the young ones, and will leave them with fear and worry about whether they’re next to be taken away. They won’t want to go to school, and why would they when it doesn’t feel safe?

“This is cruelty. This is un-American.

“As educators and healthcare workers, we have a responsibility to all our children. We don’t question the immigration status of our students or patients. That’s not our job. Our job is to teach and to heal.

“We will do what we can to fight to protect our students and patients from this administration’s worst impulses. To that end, we are writing to President Trump today, asking him to rescind this new policy.”