Idaho children shouldn’t fear being detained by ICE while at school | Opinion

I have worked as a school counselor in Idaho’s public education system for nearly 30 years, and I am absolutely horrified at the kinds of conversations I have had to have with Hispanic families lately who are panicking about ICE enforcement, whether they are U.S. citizens or not.

The sad truth is, schools used to be understood as a space where young Hispanic children are not conducting widespread organized violent crime, but instead learning how to read and write.

Thanks to recent developments, Hispanic kids in school are subject to becoming targets for immigration enforcement. During school.

Who have we become?

Over the past nine months, I have comforted parents in my office, trying to convince them that their children are safe in our school, knowing that that could change at any moment.

By signing up to be educators and school leaders, we agreed to live by the core tenets of public school education. At the top of the list is protecting the safety and dignity of all students.

This is why I cannot be silent about the actions coming from our elected officials.

Whether it was official policy or not, historically, schools, hospitals, and churches were not targeted by ICE for immigration enforcement. During President Trump’s first administration, he still respected these places — or “sensitive locations” — as somewhat sacred. Children learning in school, people healing from grave injury or sickness, and places of worship have been treated with reverence.

Yet on day one of his presidency, the Trump Administration gave ICE agents the green light to enter these sensitive locations, including schools, for immigration enforcement as long as they use “common sense.”

It’s hard to put to words the sense of dread I felt, thinking about my students at school.

In the months that followed, more news came out about the Department of Homeland Security weaponizing “welfare checks” to target immigrant kids, including here in Idaho. And, more recently, “Operation Freaky Friday” means unaccompanied minors, some as young as 10 years old, can receive vaguely threatening official letters from ICE suggesting they take a stipend and self-deport or face nebulous consequences.

What a place to put someone who isn’t old enough to pay rent.

Allowing immigration enforcement to happen in schools or churches has nothing to do with border security. These children aren’t cartel leaders or criminals. This is about using federal resources to stoke fear and terrorize children based on the color of their skin.

Our government should be working to educate our students, not traumatize them. Parents shouldn’t be scared that the government might kidnap their children after they drop them off at school. Children shouldn’t be filled with anxiety every time they step on school grounds, fearful the government might show up and “disappear” them.

But if school children are under threat of detainment or choose not to attend school because of credible fear, what are we doing to the future of an educated population?

The Idaho Republican Party’s recently adopted platform states it “recognizes that children are a heritage of the Lord.” If Idaho’s government and the party of the current administration truly see children as a divine blessing, does that not mean they are worthy of staying with their families who have not hurt anyone?

Currently, they are not doing that for one specific part of the population of children.

Idaho kids deserve better. All of them. No matter what color they are.

Kim Erwin has served Idaho as a school counselor for decades and is involved in the National Education Association’s Leaders for Just Schools program. She is currently an elementary school counselor and her school’s Belonging Lead, as well as a member of the educators’ union. She also volunteers with a local grassroots group, Stronger Together.