UTD president says 1 teacher detained after going to immigration court hearing a week before Trump’s inauguration
MIAMI – The presidents of the Broward Teachers Union and United Teachers of Dade are fighting back against concerns they are hearing from some families about Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“There (have) been no ICE raids at any schools, I want to make that clear,” said United Teachers of Dade President Karla Hernandez-Mats.
“ICE is not storming our schools,” added Broward Teachers Union President Anna Fusco. “There is a protocol, laws governing it, and it has not happened at any school across the country, and certainly hasn’t happened in Broward.”
“I can tell you there was a teacher at one of our schools that went to an (immigration court) hearing and he was detained,” she said. “He is probably going to be deported. He was documented at one point, and we know as laws change, people’s immigration status changes. A school where they now do not have their science teacher and kids are thinking if it can happen to my science teacher, what does it mean about me?”
Hernandez-Mats also stated he was a DACA-recipient who came to the U.S. when he was 13 years old. She said the immigration hearing was held a week before Trump’s inauguration and the teacher has already been deported to Honduras.
Local 10 reached out to the school district for more information about the teacher and the school he works at. A spokesperson for the district released the following statement Friday.
“We have not received any formal notification from the Department of Homeland Security or its immigration enforcement entities of the detention or the status of a Miami-Dade County Public Schools employee or teacher. Without formal confirmation, we cannot comment on an employee’s immigration status.”
The spokesperson also confirmed that “Miami-Dade County Public Schools complies with all federal guidelines regarding work authorization. As such, all employees are authorized to work upon hire.”
Household immigration enforcement remains hemmed in by federal law: The Fourth Amendment, a constitutional right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
“Unless a signed warrant by a federal judge for a specific person, that is the only way they will have access to a person,” said Hernandez-Mats.
“You don’t get to storm a school because we had a particular group of people decide that this is the way we are going to get illegal immigrants out of our country,” said Fusco. “You are safe to come to school.”
Alexandra, a ninth grader at Westland Hialeah Senior High, said it seems natural that some people are worried about headlines of ICE actions.
“A lot of people live in Hialeah and they come from other places like Colombia, Cuba,” she said. “Of course they are going to be scared to go back to the place they escaped with their lives to come here to do better things with their life.”
Miami-Dade School Board member Luisa Santos pointed out that district policy states that if law enforcement did show up at a school site with a warrant, the first step is the district’s legal counsel reviewing it.
“The law has not changed. Every child, regardless of immigration status, has access and right to a free public education,” said Santos. “I think that is the beauty of this country — that we are a democracy. I have been an undocumented student in our Miami-Dade County Public Schools. The fear I felt is that you might come home and a parent may not be there.
“Our schools will continue to be safe places for learning,” Santos continued. “It is not a case here or anywhere in this country that students are allowed to be questioned without process and documentation, so it is important for families to understand that there are protections in place and laws that must be followed every step of the way, and I think that will reassure families.”
“We can’t politicize children,” said Hernandez-Mats.
“We have a protocol,” said Fusco. “If you need to come into our school and speak and see somebody, you don’t just get to say, ‘I have a badge and a gun. I am the end all, be all, Lord Jesus Christ, I am going to storm your school.’ That is not happening.”