PRESS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Persons:
Angela Sanbrano (323) 371-7305 ~ Red Mx
Armando Vázquez-Ramos (562) 430-5541~ California-México Studies Center
Nativo Lopez (714) 423-4800 – Hermandad Mexicana
LAUSD BOARD OF EDUCATION UNANIMOUSLY APPROVES RESOLUTION TO CALL ON OBAMA TO SUSPEND DEPORTATIONS
Los Angeles, CA – The Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education unanimously approved a board resolution to call on President Barack Obama to initiate “federal administrative action to suspend any further deportations of unauthorized individuals with no serious criminal history to ensure that families are kept together.”
Board Member Bennett Kayser who introduced the resolution declared, “We have a broken immigration system that is harming families and children in this school district. On their behalf, I authored this motion calling on President Obama to immediately cease the deportations that are separating parents from their children.”
Los Angeles City Councilmember, Gil Cedillo, appeared before the board to encourage the members to follow the example of the City of Angeles and recognize that immigration reform legislation this year was not in the cards and therefore “there is no strategic reason to continue deportations or removal of individuals who would otherwise qualify for a legalization program.” He reminded them to “put children first and to protect their interest and the integrity of their families.”
The LAUSD is the second largest school district in the U.S. with 73 percent Mexican and Latino enrollment, and “has witnessed the largest displacement of children from its classrooms as a result of the federal practices and policies of detention and removal,” according to Professor Armando Vazquez-Ramos from the Protect Our Families-Save the Children Campaign, the group that initiated resolutions in multiple jurisdictions beginning with the Los Angeles City Council on December 18, 2013.
Angela Sanbrano, representing CARECEN, the oldest community organization of Central Americans in the U.S., and the Protect Our Families Campaign, pointed out that President Obama’s administration had already deported 2 million persons, and emphasized that “that was 2 million too many.”
“We are now living in the New Repatriation Era under the Obama administration similar to what occurred under the 1930s’ Repatriation Act wherein 365,000 Mexicans and their American-born children were removed from the U.S. soil,” presented Nativo Lopez of Hermandad Mexicana. He concluded that, “More American Citizen minors of Mexican heritage have been de facto removed from their homeland under Obama then all of the deportees of the 1930s.”
Board Member Monica Garcia moved to approve the resolution and was seconded by board member Steve Zimmer. The motion was unanimously approved by the board. Garcia also requested that Superintendent John Deasy make the resolution a teaching moment in the classrooms throughout the district schools.
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LAUSD Keeping Families Together Resolution by Board Member Kayser
Approved April 8, 2014 (Moved by Garcia, seconded by Zimmer)
Whereas, The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is the second largest public school district in the nation with over 650,000 students;
Whereas, According to the Pew Hispanic Center, in 2011, there were 11.1 million unauthorized immigrants living in the United States;
Whereas, California is home to approximately 10.3 million immigrants of which approximately 2.6 million are unauthorized to live in the U.S.;
Whereas, Each year since 2009, record levels of deportations have occurred, averaging nearly 400,00 year;
Whereas, As immigration continues to be at the center of national debate, President Obama and Congress must implement a more humanitarian immigration policy that keeps families together;
Whereas, Separation of children from their parents, irrespective of immigration status, always results in severe consequences for young children who are left with no parental guidance or care and a highly unstable financial situation;
Whereas, it is necessary to expand the protections of our future citizens that were established by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and grant them to the family and neighbors and all those who have made their lives here but are yet fully recognized;
Whereas, the LAUSD Board of Education unanimously passed a resolution in support of DACA eligible students allowing them to timely receive their transcripts so they may obtain work status in California;
Whereas, Los Angeles City Councilmember Gil Cedillo, District 1, presented a resolution to the Los Angeles City Council supporting the federal administrative action to suspend any further deportations of unauthorized individuals with no serious criminal history;
Whereas, The California Legislature has affirmed the resolution presented and passed at the Los Angeles City Council; now therefore be it
Resolved, the Los Angeles Unified Board of Education joins Councilmember Gil Cedillo, the Los Angeles City, Council, the California Legislature, and the millions of supporters of this action to ensure that families are kept together.
