Fronteras.org

On Tuesday, ICE cars and officers were seen patrolling around Stone Hurst Elementary, an East Oakland school, as students arrived.  The presence of ICE caused fear and confusion for many students.  Parents also caught the fear bug, but they were a lot less confused.  Many in the community saw the officers choice of timing and location as purely an act of intimidation.

On Wednesday, school officials and officers patrolled the school in response, hoping to calm down the concerns of its heavily minority student and parent population.  The timing of the ICE patrols was questioned further, as the school is currently undergoing state-mandatory testing, testing that determines whether or not students are promoted to the next grade, as well as funding for the school.

On Tuesday afternoon many parents called the school to say that they could not pick up their children, out of concern that they too would be picked up by deportation officers.  However, Wednesday’s attendance level did not suffer much.

Principal Charles WIlson  told CBS 5, “We’re in the middle of state testing right now.  It’s very important that we have all of our students in attendance…I think it’s really unfortunate that even the discussion or mention of ICE agents in the neighborhood would have this effect upon parents.”

ICE raids are at an all-time high this year.  ICE officials said that there was nothing out of the ordinary about their presence close to the school, and they did not intend to disrupt the learning process.  ICE said through a spokesperson, “ICE’s Fugitive Operations Teams go out virtually everyday seeking specific ‘immigration fugitives.’

However, local school leaders, parents, and politicians were not buying.  One woman told the news station, “I think the immigration authorities know what they’re doing.  They know when they ride around a school area when people are coming and going to school. When you know that there’s a very high population of people of color and people that are not born in this country, what they do is nothing but pure intimidation.”

Oakland’s Mayor was also at the school.  He said,  “You have children in this school who are already fearful, and that’s inappropriate.  That scars our children…This issue needs to be resolved as a policy matter with intelligence and thoughtfulness, not by harassing human beings.”

Community organizers have said that they are planning a protest set for May 18th.

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