ICE Panel Discussion

The ICE panel discussion was led by a member of AMOR (Alliance to mobilize our resistance), a coalition of six organizations, along with a member of PRSM (pronounced “prism;” Providence Youth Student Movement), one of the coalition members.

AMOR takes inspiration from activist groups in the past, The Black Panther Party and The Young Lords, a Puerto Rican activist group in Chicago & New York, particularly from their community service programs.  They provide support line services to connect people to transportation, mental health providers, interpretation services, community response organizations, and legal support services involving either immigration or police violence issues.  AMOR also organizes rallies, letter writing campaigns, and other events to publicize and resolve immigrant detention and family separation crises.  In addition, AMOR lobbies for legislation to prevent immigrant detention and family separation.

PRMS (Providence Youth Student Movement) works to support Cambodian deportees who have been deported to Cambodia through the 2002 Repatriation Agreement.  PRSM lobbies to suspend the repatriation agreement, reports the deportations as human rights violations to the U.N. and calls for the return of immigrants deported to Cambodia.

We learned at this forum that even immigrants with permanent resident status are being detained or deported for minor legal violations from many years ago.  I teach adult immigrants and refugees at Dorcas International Institute of RI.  Members of this community may be subjected to the aggressive detainment and deportation policies of ICE and the current U.S. administration.  No immigrants are safe.  My friend and student A------- just received her permanent resident card, along with her family.  She is so happy.  But the danger still exists that some legal technicality will put her or her family members at risk for deportation.  I haven’t seen any outward anxiety from the students at Dorcas, but many of them already suffer trauma and related medical problems from their experiences in war torn or politically unstable countries.  If detainment and deportation processes should be initiated, I hope that AMOR would step in and protest, bringing attention from the public.  I should make sure that AMOR’s 24-hour service line is posted at Dorcas.  I met an inmate of Cambodian descent at the state prison where I began volunteering last week.  He is native born American, but if his father or older relatives who were born in Cambodia were incarcerated, they might be subjected to the 2002 Repatriation Agreement and sent back to a country where a quarter of the population had been massacred, a country and nightmare they had previously escaped.

I am not aware of much that the organization Dorcas does to respond to the dangers that face our students.  I do remember the posting and handing out of cards that spell out an immigrants’ rights and the cards give suggestions for how to behave if ICE detains or arrests someone.  What should teachers do to acknowledge the fears and anxieties the students may be experiencing?  If the classroom environment has been established as a safe, welcoming community, then students will feel free to express their concerns in safety.  Making the student feel part of the classroom community is an essential goal for teachers of all English language learners and now even more critical.  When students express concern, teachers can address those concerns with assurances that we, our schools, and other organizations will provide support.  We should make sure they have access to legal assistance.  Our schools that serve immigrant communities should have resource listings readily available and in multiple languages.  The teachers and staff at Dorcas are not allowed to question, inquire, or speculate about a student’s immigration status. We respect the privacy of our students.  All students have equal status in our school regardless of their immigration/documentation status.

During the forum’s Q & A session, a teacher attending suggested that schools and teachers can help counter today’s political climate of anti-immigrant sentiment by including into the curriculum the history of immigrants in this country and their contributions. Let all generations learn inclusivity, appreciation, and respect for our immigrant neighbors and friends.  Hopefully the children of tomorrow won’t turn on each other if we educate them now to be tolerate and compassionate, if we teach them how integral to the fabric of American society, our immigrant residents are.

I believe that providing moral and practical support, including access to resources is the short-term responsibility we have to our students.  Delivering a curriculum that includes and values immigrant contributions to the U.S. is our long-term responsibility to our students.