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The LA Teachers Union and its allies held a rally on Saturday in the district calling for the district to fight more aggressively for immigrant families, including demanding that the federal government be taken into custody and that students have been transferred to Los Angeles.
School district officials in both statements and meetings said they disregard the union’s conflicted tone and unite with various constituent groups in supporting immigrant families.
Saturday’s rally took place outside the district’s headquarters and included a march to downtown. Approximately 500 loud participants gathered, many wearing bright red shirts related to Los Angeles, a United teacher representing around 38,000 teachers, counselors, social workers, nurses and librarians.
“It’s not deportation,” they chanted.
And: “Speak out! Be clear! Immigrants are welcome here!”
Speakers at the rally included Rising of Senior Vanessa Guerrero, attending the nearby Miguel Contreras Learning Complex. She spoke about her classmates who were seized and deported.
“She was going to be a senior this year,” Vanessa said. “She is known for coming to school every day and working hard, and she was an honor student. She served in the school community and was an incredible person.”
Her classmates and the girl’s mother were seized when she attended the appointment of immigrants, Vanessa and others said.
“To be honest, everyone is scary,” Vanessa said.
The union called for a direct and confronting approach with the Trump administration, including involvement in lawsuits to protect immigrant rights. The school system is currently not involved in lawsuits with the Trump administration, officials said, but district leaders have been strongly criticising the action.
The demand for certain unions includes establishing a two-block boundary around schools where immigration is not permitted.
It is not clear that district officials and staff have jurisdiction beyond the school grounds.
Kindergarten teacher Esther Calderon joins hundreds of other educators at a gathering on Saturday to seek better protection and support for immigrant students and families.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
The union also sought a “formal campaign” to work with families to update their emergency cards and add trustworthy adults to their family contact lists, for example, in the event that students’ parents are in custody.
LA Schools Supt. Alberto Carvalho said outreach is ongoing for this purpose.
The union is also asking counselors to be paid to return to work before the first day of school to ensure that immigration enforcement is affected or potentially affected.
It is not clear how many students or families have been detained or deported. The district does not collect information about the immigration status. Several cases have attracted attention and have been widely reported. However, in other instances, both district policy and privacy protections limit what the school system discloses.
Union leaders also said they wanted to provide the district with food and personal care items “to undocumented families evacuated at home,” and would like to provide virtual learning options for students who are “fearing to attend school in person due to immigrant raids.”
They then asked the district to develop a “path” for students who have been deported to win LAUSD diplomas through virtual completion of all the high school units they need, and become “leaders” who provide legal assistance to all those affected by the immigrant raid.
The inspectors did not respond immediately to certain requests, but school board president Scott Schmerelson said the district would consider measures to protect and support families.
Schmerelson attended Saturday’s rally as an audience member.
“Some of these ideas seem very viable,” Schmerelson said. “The supervisor is working on safe passages,” he said, referring to the concept of safety boundaries.
In their chant, members vowed to close the school system if they did not meet their demands – despite their hostility being more clearly directed towards the federal government.
“This violence affects us all,” Utla President Cecily Myart-Cruz said. “The immigrant students are black, they are brown and Asian. And the trauma they are inflicted on these communities affects everything they do. When students are torn from their families or terrified, their classmates feel it.”
She added: “The mental well-being of the entire classroom is at risk. So LAUSD is joining educators, calling on local and state leaders to immediately return of all students deported or detained so that they can resume education.”
In a statement in response to the union assembly, the school system highlighted its shared goals.
“It is clear that Los Angeles Unity and Labour partners are united in a deep commitment to protecting all students, including immigrant children,” the statement said. “Together we will continue to take all necessary steps to ensure that every child in Los Angeles is safe, supported and educated – rights guaranteed by the US Constitution.”
His traditional school address – class starts on August 13th – Carvalho paid tribute to the two principals who, along with staff, drove immigration agents on the two primary school campuses.
An agent who stopped by the school on the same morning in April said he was conducting welfare checks on certain students but did not provide documentation to support the claim.
The principal pulled them apart.
“You will become a shield, protect your innocent lives at age 7, 8, 10, and protect them from fears of fear that they will never know,” Carvalho said in his remarks. “Yes, you followed the protocol, but more importantly, you followed your conscience. Because of your beliefs… a day that was unimaginable has not become an unthinkable tragedy.”
District officials are promoting a list of measures taken to protect students and families and characterize campuses as a safe environment where federal immigration agents are excluded to the fullest extent of the law.
The union is involved in contract negotiations with Los Angeles Unification, the country’s second largest school system. At this stage of negotiations, it is standard practice for unions to bring together members as part of contract requests and put pressure on the school system, but Saturday’s rally focused almost entirely on supporting those affected by the immigrant sweeps targeting the LA area under the Trump administration.
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