Good afternoon everyone. My name is Jessica Rodarte, and I am a teacher at Ramon C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts. 

In an era where there is a rise of fear and division in this country that includes the inhumane targeting of immigrants and trans folx, it is crucial that we provide these students, families, and staff with a sense of safety through specific commitments that only the district can do. The district must rise to the challenge as the second-largest district in the nation.  If not us, who? 

There are about 25,000 immigrant students in the district. They and their families comprise almost 45-50% of our school communities and Los Angeles — not just as our students and their families but as our coworkers, spouses, and loved ones. LAUSD cannot exist without these students. We bemoan declining enrollment but what would happen to us as a district without these crucial members of our community? We’re not just talking students and families, we are also talking staff and teachers. There is no us, without them.  

Our students and families are terrified. Some have simply stopped attending school and others have needed our daily reassurance that we are a sanctuary for them and that we will do whatever we need to do to keep them safe. We can in no way support an administration that is considering inhumane measures like housing immigrants at Guantanamo Bay, indefinite detention, and ending birthplace citizenship for the children of immigrants.

During the first Trump presidency, we already experienced family separations, an inadequate system of detention that “lost” children, and the angst of mixed immigration status families leading to dropouts and lowering school enrollments. We are facing a child welfare crisis, and we need to provide immigrant families with child welfare supports to prevent dropouts, declining enrollments, and decreasing graduation rates.

This first month of Trump’s second presidency has seen multiple executive orders and state laws dehumanizing immigrants and normalizing xenophobic and racist tropes to such an extent, that young Jocelynn Rojo Carranza in Texas lost her life because of bullying that included threats and taunts over her family’s mixed immigration status. She was told over and over by fellow classmates that her family would be deported by ICE and that she would end up alone.  Overcome by fear and despair, she died by suicide. We cannot allow our country to be so callous.  

We must be supportive partners to our families and students given that they are contributing members of our communities and this must include tangible and visible actions, such as those listed in these articles. The district must agree to these righteous proposals on immigration. It is the only ethical thing to do.has context menu