ESOL Students Anxious about Stricter Enforcement

by Danielle Katz ‘18

Travel bans, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) policies, and deportations are topics plastered across national television and newspapers. Despite appearing far away and impersonal, their local effects can be found within the Sherwood community.

New policies surrounding immigration have struck fear and brought a sense of uncertainty to populations within the school, and these effects are magnified in the ESOL department.

ESOL resource teacher Laura Bernard-Sanchez has seen worry stir in her students since the presidential election, and the distress has only intensified.

“In every class, students express fear and trepidation,” said Bernard-Sanchez. “The kids are already trying to feel confident enough to become friends with American kids, but it is discouraging when their first interaction is having ‘build the wall!’ yelled at them.”

Concerns have echoed throughout the school, bouncing off dialogue, landing particularly in the ESOL department. After school, Bernard-Sanchez finishes up her work by answering e-mails, helping students with their work, and responding to questions from her students about the new policies.

As she explains, students interject with anecdotes about how the immigration bans blocked people from their home countries coming into the country, and, as Bernard-Sanchez summed up, “it was clear these policies were not our friends.” The students’ stories are short in length, but immense in power. Their voices, however, are soft and anonymous, stemming from fear.

Some of the policies she referenced include President Trump’s ban from six Muslim-majority countries (which is temporarily blocked by the courts) and Homeland Security’s memos that grant ICE much more latitude in deporting undocumented immigrants.

According to multiple media reports, ICE agents have become increasingly aggressive with im- migration policy enforcement. The Los Angeles Times has reported that ICE has raided workplaces and parents have been taken away from their families and deported right in front of their childrens’ eyes.

MCPS has informed the schools that they should continue to “follow established procedures to ensure that our schools are safe places for all our students to learn, regardless of immigration status,” as stated in a county guidance report regarding immigration enforcement which was sent to principals on February 23.

ICE is not allowed to enter schools, as schools have served as a type of haven for students throughout American history, and school staff do not hold any obligation to report an undocumented student to ICE.

Sherwood will continue to serve as a sanctuary under many federal precedents, like Plyler v. Doe, which ensures that students will maintain access to education regardless of immigration status.

Bernard-Sanchez estimates that around 30 or 40 of the ESOL department’s students are undocumented, and some of these students work full time or close to full time to pay back the exorbitant fees “coyotes” charged their families to get across the border, and other fees once they arrive.

The ESOL department has not received any of official resources from the county to relay to students, but she and her department researched many different hand-outs from organizations like Gilchrist, Casa de Maryland, and Esperanza and distributed them to students.

Other resources immigrants were distributed include which rights to plead if stopped by police, especially their right to an attorney, found in “know your rights” brochures. A few detailed guides sometimes include wallet-sized cards that immigrants, if stopped by a police officer, can pull out and read.

This situation for students under similar circumstances is difficult to understand, noted Bernard-Sanchez, and it will take compassion and understanding to mend this distress. “If I could tell them [the American kids] one thing, it would be to put themselves in their shoes,” said Bernard-Sanchez. “I would ask for compassion.”