SUPPORT IMMIGRANTS

WHEREAS, in the month of May, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted new offensives against immigrant communities in California and throughout the nation.  ICE arrested more than 900 people in California and for the first time is forcing immigrants, like those in Iowa, to spend five months in federal prison before being deported.  In the past year, ICE agents entered Melrose Elementary School in Oakland and arrested a student from her dormitory room in UC Santa Barbara; and

WHEREAS, in its 1998 Plyer v. Doe decision the U.S. Supreme Court found that all immigrant students, including undocumented immigrants, have a right to a free public education and that the denial of this right was in violation of the 14th Amendment; and

WHEREAS, immigrants have been in the vanguard of union organizing since the 19th century; and

WHEREAS, federal immigration authorities including ICE have been conducting brutal raids on workplaces and people’s homes—from the arrest of 1,300 workers at Swift & Co. meatpacking plants in six states on Dec. 12, 2006, to more recent raids in the Bay Area, at the Smithfield hog processing plant in North Carolina and elsewhere—terrorizing and separating families, intimidating the workers and interfering with union organization at the workplaces, in a massive violation of civil and union rights; and

WHEREAS, immigrant workers across the country are waging heroic organizing campaigns to demand opportunities to make a living and live in such communities; and

WHEREAS, free trade agreements like CAFTA and NAFTA have opened the borders to the unfettered movement of corporations in search of profits while simultaneously depriving workers on both sides of the border of opportunities to make a living and increasing poverty, crime and social unrest; and

WHEREAS, unrealistic and restrictive immigration policies combined with the effects of U.S. foreign policy and trade policy have helped create waves of political and economic refugees and a subsequent increase in undocumented workers in the United States; and

WHEREAS, a general atmosphere of racist scapegoating is being used to blame immigrants for joblessness and low wages while corporations plunder the globe causing poverty, unemployment, ecological catastrophes  and wars, which drive immigrants to flee their homelands; and

WHEREAS, the AFT declares that no human being is illegal and looks forward to the day when the people of the world are not divided by borders:

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers publicly call for an end to all ICE raids and deportations, including those based on Social Security no-match letters, and take the following actions: 1) work with immigrant rights groups to expose and stop ICE raids; 2) condemn ICE raids as racist and union busting; 3) help organize protests to demand that immigrants are not punished, exploited or denied labor protections as a result of their undocumented status; 4) actively lobby these issues in the nation’s capital and sponsor education workshops and speakers at AFT events; and 5) participate in immigrant rights marches with parents and students on May 1, International Workers Day; and

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers urge districts to make all public schools sanctuary zones for immigrants and their families and to make clear that all immigrant students and families are welcome in our districts and will find safe haven in schools; and

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers urge all districts to adopt policies that stipulate that staff and resources will not be used in any way to aid ICE investigations or actions to deport students or families; and

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers encourage schools to educate students and staff on district policy regarding the rights of all immigrant students to a public education.  Every school should have a protocol to follow in the case of ICE attempts to enter the premises to defend immigrant students’ rights to remain in school.