https://19thnews.org/2026/02/teachers-students-ice-agents/
"The viral photograph of federal authorities apprehending little Liam Conejo
Ramos in his bunny ear beanie and Spider-Man backpack stunned viewers across
the country, filling them with horror and rage. For the students and staff at
Valley View Elementary in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, Liam’s detention in
January particularly stung: That’s where the 5-year-old attends school.
“When Liam was taken, we had this devastating loss,” Valley View teacher Peg
Nelson said. Although Liam has since been released, “We’ve had other students
in our building also taken in. We realized a fifth grader was also at the
detention center; they had just kind of disappeared.”
Under the guidance of teachers like Nelson, a 33-year education veteran, Valley
View students expressed their emotions about their classmates’ detentions in
letters to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials.
“We wrote letters to process our feelings, to give advice about how they should
treat people differently because we felt like they aren’t treating people the
way we talk about how we should treat others — the Golden Rule,” Nelson said.
Nelson is among the many teachers who have found themselves on the front lines
of an immigration enforcement surge that has turned the simple routine of going
to school into a source of extreme anxiety for students. With the number of
people held in detention up by as much as 75 percent since President Donald
Trump returned to office, educators are not only teaching but also tending to
students’ emotional needs and offering vital support — groceries, car rides,
rent money — to their immigrant families.
They are contending with the daily impact of a decision by the Trump
administration to lift longstanding protections for schools and other so-called
“sensitive locations” against federal law enforcement, which has left them
vulnerable to ICE operations.
Teachers nationwide shared stories with The 19th about the toll that
immigration enforcement is having on students, from chronic absenteeism to
emotional distress that makes learning nearly impossible. All the while, they
are going beyond the classroom to protect their pupils, experiencing exhaustion
and fearing reprisals — for themselves and the students’ families."
Via
Reasons to be Cheerful:
<
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/what-were-reading-why-maga-suddenly-loves-solar/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
