On Federal Pol(ICE) Raids Targeting Our Black and Brown Communities: Joint Statement

As union educators of SDEA and CSEA who teach and support the students in San Diego Unified, we are not here to mince words. FEDERAL POL(ICE) are snatching parents and college students off our streets, traumatizing our students, educators, education workers, families, and communities. This is unethical. This is unacceptable. This ends now.

Our members watch children walk into classrooms carrying fear they should never have to carry. They console kids who do not know if their parent will be home tonight. They see young people pulled from college classrooms and campuses, their education and futures interrupted without warning. Our members are being asked to hold communities together while the federal government tears families apart. We see it. We feel it. And we will not pretend this is normal.

This is not a policy debate. These are families being ripped apart in front of their children, their neighbors, and their communities.

Parents. College students. Neighbors. Taken.

SDEA and CSEA demand an immediate end to FEDERAL POL(ICE) operations targeting our communities. We demand strict no-access policies for FEDERAL POL(ICE) on every campus, K–12 and higher education, without a judicial warrant. We demand know-your-rights education and access to legal support for families and students. And we demand real trauma-informed support for the educators and education workers absorbing the impact of this crisis every single day.

We are not asking.

We are standing on business for our students, our families, our communities, and every educator and education worker carrying this weight.

Every campus, from kindergarten through college, must be a safe haven. Every student deserves to learn without wondering whether someone they love will be taken while they are sitting in a classroom. Every educator and education worker deserves to do their job without being expected to absorb the trauma created by fear and instability in our communities.

We will protect our students.

We will stand with our families.

We will stand shoulder to shoulder with our communities.

And we will not back down until safety is the truth for every student and every family in our community.

In solidarity,

Monique Barrett

President, San Diego Education Association (SDEA)

Matthew Schneck

Vice President, San Diego Education Association (SDEA)

Miguel Arellano

President, CSEA San Diego Paraeducators 759

Dawn Basques

President, CSEA San Diego OTBS 788