{"id":6891,"date":"2025-03-03T17:21:30","date_gmt":"2025-03-03T17:21:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=6891"},"modified":"2025-03-03T17:21:30","modified_gmt":"2025-03-03T17:21:30","slug":"new-policies-endanger-black-immigrant-students-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=6891","title":{"rendered":"New Policies Endanger Black Immigrant Students\u2019 Security"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>by Quintessa Williams, Special to The Informer via Word in Black<\/p>\n<p><em>This story\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/wordinblack.com\/2025\/02\/new-policies-endanger-black-immigrant-students-security\/\"><em>was originally published online with Word In Black<\/em><\/a><em>, a collaboration of the nation\u2019s leading Black news publishers (of which The Informer is a member).<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Imagine sending your child to school, only to worry that they might not come home \u2014 not because of violence or illness, but because their classroom could become the next target of immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n<p>The Trump administration\u2019s push to end birthright citizenship and expand immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) presence in sensitive locations like schools has sparked a constitutional and moral crisis. A\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/US\/judge-future-trumps-order-blocking-birthright-citizenship\/story?id=118460936&amp;cid=social_twitter_abcn\">federal judge in Maryland has blocked the order<\/a>, but the mere possibility has sown fear in communities and classrooms nationwide.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n<div class=\"newspack_global_ad scaip-1 fixed-height\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-caf9af3267-0\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cThe attempt to end birthright citizenship is a racist attack,\u201d says Amena Elamin, National Youth Organizer for the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/baji.org\/\">Black Alliance for Just Immigration<\/a>\u00a0(BAJI). \u201cIt\u2019s rooted in the same anti-Blackness that has historically denied rights to Black people. This isn\u2019t just about immigration \u2014 it\u2019s about who is seen as belonging in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not just an issue for immigrant students of Mexican, El Salvadoran, or Venezuelan descent, either. Black students also come from immigrant families \u2014 or mixed-status families \u2014 and they\u2019re caught in the crosshairs of policies that threaten to separate families and destabilize communities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur communities are deeply intertwined,\u201d Elamin says. \u201cThere are so many mixed-status families where one parent might be African American and other Sudanese, Jamaican, Haitian \u2014 you name it. These policies don\u2019t just impact immigrants \u2014 they separate Black families, which then disrupts their children\u2019s education. They cause harm that extends beyond immigration status because these communities are already marginalized.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For Black students who are already\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/wordinblack.com\/2024\/10\/report-reveals-black-students-face-84-of-school-policing-assaults\/\">over-policed and disproportionately pushed<\/a>\u00a0into the school-to-prison pipeline, these policies compound existing racial inequities, leading to increased absenteeism, disengagement, and long-term setbacks for an entire generation of students.<\/p>\n<p>President Donald Trump, who pushed such efforts early\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/presidential-actions\/2025\/01\/protecting-the-meaning-and-value-of-american-citizenship\/\">in his second term<\/a>, said the 14th Amendment, often cited in immigration debates, was intended only for the \u201cchildren of slaves\u201d and should not have been interpreted as \u201cextending citizenship universally to everyone born within the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n<div class=\"newspack_global_ad scaip-2 fixed-height\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-2bd992b9b0-0\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<h2 id=\"h-schools-no-longer-just-a-place-of-learning\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Schools No Longer Just a Place of Learning<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Schools, once considered safe havens, are now potential sites of immigration enforcement. In Chicago, federal agents mistakenly believed to be\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/chicago-school-ice-secret-service-773b6e92eb437f1f4dfe06b035757dbf\">ICE officers recently appeared at Hamline Elementary School<\/a>, sparking panic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur attendance was pretty bad across the city. There was like 50 to 80% attendance,\u201d one Chicago Public Schools teacher\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2025\/02\/04\/nx-s1-5277170\/schools-ice-immigration\">told NPR<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Studies from Harvard\u2019s Immigration Initiative show that students from diverse or mixed-status families\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/immigrationinitiative.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/UNDERSTANDING-AND-SUPPORTING-UNDOCUMENTED-MIXED-STATUS-STUDENTS-IN-SCHOOLS_FINAL.pdf\">experience higher levels<\/a>\u00a0of anxiety, depression, and school disengagement. In addition,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wcpo.com\/news\/education\/our-students-are-currently-living-in-fear-tri-state-teachers-on-growing-concerns-over-ice-raids\">WCPO news recently reported<\/a>\u00a0that Tri-State teachers have witnessed a 50% drop in attendance due to the growing fears of immigration raids.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn multiple classes, I am missing half of my students,\u201d Kendra Adamson, a teacher in Ohio, told WCPO 9 News. \u201cOur students are living in fear that they will be deported.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For Black immigrant students, the stakes are especially high: they face multiple threats: racial bullying and harassment in schools, racial profiling by teachers and school security, and deportation, all while trying to get an education.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-3    \">\n<div class=\"newspack_global_ad scaip-3 fixed-height\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-dc2e0e383b-0\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cSchool should be a place of learning, not fear,\u201d Elamin says. \u201cOur students are not only just facing incarceration, but deportation, too. How can students focus on their education when their families could be torn apart at any moment?\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-how-can-we-protect-black-immigrant-students\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>How Can We Protect Black Immigrant Students?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Elamin believes schools must take a stand. She offers several recommendations for educators and administrators:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Refuse to share sensitive information or immigration status with federal authorities. \u201cSchools should not act as an extension of immigration enforcement,\u201d she says.<\/li>\n<li>Provide \u201cKnow Your Rights\u201d training for students, families, and staff so that Black communities understand their legal protections.<\/li>\n<li>Offer or ensure culturally competent mental health support tailored specifically to Black immigrant students who experience compounded stress from both racial and immigration-related trauma.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 id=\"h-liberation-is-collective\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Liberation Is Collective<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Elamin also stresses that while schools have a role to play, parents, community members, and allies must also take action.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLiberation is collective,\u201d she says. \u201cWe can\u2019t fight for justice in silos, and our students deserve schools where they can learn and grow without constantly looking over their shoulders. Education should be a tool for freedom, not another battleground for exclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"jp-relatedposts\" class=\"jp-relatedposts\">\n<div class=\"jp-relatedposts-items jp-relatedposts-items-visual jp-relatedposts-grid \">\n<div class=\"jp-relatedposts-post jp-relatedposts-post0 jp-relatedposts-post-thumbs\" data-post-id=\"84120\" data-post-format=\"false\">Source: Published without changes from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtoninformer.com\/black-immigrant-students-school-threats\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Washington Informer Newspaper<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Quintessa Williams, Special to The Informer via Word in Black This story\u00a0was originally published online with Word<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6892,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[255,232,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-america-under-attack","category-civil-rights","category-regular-column"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6891"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6893,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6891\/revisions\/6893"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}