Amid ICE Concerns, Teachers Press LAUSD to Defend Students and Families

Hundreds of teachers marched through downtown Los Angeles Saturday to call on LAUSD to do more to protect students from immigration raids.

Educators marched a quarter of a mile through downtown to LAUSD headquarters. They chanted “ICE out of L.A.” and “immigrants are welcome here.”

The marchers challenged LAUSD to do more to keep students of color and their families safe when it comes to immigration enforcement.

“They have waited outside of our campuses,” said Maria Miranda, with United Teachers Los Angeles. “They have tried to enter our schools and they have sought families going to their child’s graduation ceremony.”

UTLA, the union representing the teachers, claims the district’s safety policies don’t go far enough. With less than two weeks until the new school year, students at the rally also raised concerns.

“Fear has spread through our classrooms,” LAUSD student Vanessa Guerrero told the crowd at the rally. “Some students are too scared to come to school.”

The group urged the district to prevent federal agents from coming within a two-block radius of any school, provide food and personal supplies and offer virtual learning for immigrant students. They also called on local and state leaders to help bring back deported students.

One teacher at the rally said one of her students was deported after they were taken into ICE custody with their mother during an immigration appointment.

“Instead of preparing for her senior year, she is hiding from persecution in Guatemala,” the teacher said.

The rally comes just as a federal appeals court upheld a lower court ruling blocking the Trump administration from carrying out indiscriminate immigration arrests.