Immigrant families in Minnesota are terrified, justifiably so. Other residents have shown amazing courage in the face of very real danger, as evidenced by the murder of 2 U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti. I spent the weekend reading the news and watching videos about what is going on there and I am horrified and furious.
At the end of this post, I’m sharing a resource for educators and anyone looking for practical info about how to support immigrant families and Multilingual Learners wherever they are in the U.S.
What’s Happening to Immigrant Families in Minnesota
The photo of Liam Conejo Ramos, the 5-year-old child used as bait to detain his father, disregarding that both are in the U.S. legally and seeking asylum, is heart-breaking. If you haven’t seen it, this article is about what happened.
Liam is not the only child detained by ICE. A little girl who is two years old was also detained and flown to Texas. She has since been returned to Minnesota, but only after a federal judge’s court order.
Children should not be used as pawns to score political points.
How to Support Immigrant Families in Minnesota and Elsewhere
I want to share with you a comprehensive resource that I found online. Called Creating Safe & Supportive Schools for Immigrant & English Learner (EL) Students, it’s from the Minnesota Education Equity Project. Although it naturally centers Minnesota, the info it contains is applicable everywhere.
The first part of the toolkit is about how to protect students’ rights. These are the titles of the topics it has info and links about:
A. What To Do if ICE Shows Up at Your School
B. Defining and Enforcing Clear Roles for Police and SROs in Schools
C. Addressing Bullying & Discrimination Against Immigrant & EL Students
D. Protecting Students’ Privacy and Confidentiality
E. Protecting and Supporting Students Amid Deportation Threats
The second part of the toolkit is about how to make schools safe during ICE activity. Here are the titles of the topics it has info and links about:
A. Strategies for Building School-Community Anchor Sites
B. How to Provide Safe Transportation for Students & Families
C. How to Ensure Learning Continuity and Attendance Stability
D. Resources for Strengthening Trauma-Informed, Culturally Grounded Supports
E. Communications Strategies to Enforce Student Rights and the Public Obligations of Schools
Then a section called “Ongoing Strategies for Centering Student Safety & Belonging” presents more info about how to create safe schools for immigrant and Multilingual Learner students and their families. At the end, there’s a list of links to organizations that provide legal info, emotional and mental health support, resources about cultural validation, and tools to help families plan for emergencies.
Persecuting Immigrant Families in Minnesota May Be Just the Beginning
Given that ICE was present in California and Illinois and has now moved into Maine, I believe educators everywhere need to be prepared so they can support their Multilingual Learner and immigrant families. I hope this resource gives you the information and tools to help you do that. You can also find more resources in my blog post titled What to Do if ICE Comes to Your School: 19 Resources for Teachers.
