Good evening everybody. This is one of the first webinars that we have done since the new Trump administration was inaugurated on January 20th. This will not be the last. What we saw during COVID, when we essentially did webinar or tell a town hall every week, was that there was a real appetite for information and for knowledge and for being a community. And that is what we intend to do right now. There's a real appetite for knowledge, for being a community. And no better a way to do that than to start by talking about how we protect our kids. I'm Randi Weingarten, I'm the president of the AFT. We have chock full of, and we have chock full hour tonight about how to do that, particularly around the issues of immigration and the rescission of the long standing rule that you do not deport children or people from hospitals, schools or churches. But before we start with all of that, as educators, as parents, as community activists, as healthcare people and personnel, I really want to start and I am very close to the scene of what happened at Reagan National Airport last night. I really want to start with a moment of silence for the 67 people who died in the waters of the Potomac in a terrible, tragic accident, the first major accident, air accident on American shores since pretty much 2009 and the worst since 2001. These souls, the steam fitters, the flight attendants, the pilots, the Army pilots, the other passengers, the skaters, all of them from Wichita and from all over the world, their memories are a blessing. So let's just take a moment to pray for themselves, them, and their families. A moment to basically honor their memories. In my religion, we say sicrona libera. Their memories are a blessing. And I start this way because I don't want anybody taking my religion away from me, taking our freedoms away from anyone. And I don't want anyone saying that their ideology or their culture is better than anybody else's. We are America, we are about the land of the free opportunity for all, dignity for all. And so today what we want to do is really kind of hone in on something that is hugely anxiety producing for literally everyone I represented. That's about 1.8 million people and countless parents, countless teachers, everyone saying, wait a second there, you know, new administration may have a different view on immigration than not. My personal view maybe, but clearly don't do something that hurts every single child in every single family in every single school. And so there's two things we're going to try to do today. One is to really talk about, you know, what's the, what's people's rights, how, you know, do we protect our kids and our schools? And the second is to actually have a campaign about protecting our kids and first and foremost, getting a rescission of of the order that says that schools and healthcare institutions and churches are no longer sacrosanct, are no longer safe and welcoming places that should be away from ICE deportations. So let me just start because there's so much more than what was on our agenda today. The early days of the Trump administration does feel like a contest between chaos and cruelty and confusion. And indeed, that's probably a feature, not a bug. And it does feel like whiplash in the first few days. Take just yesterday where, you know, Monday night there was a order that said all federal aid had been frozen. And by yesterday afternoon, all federal aid was not frozen. And there were two lawsuits. And there was lots of, you know, pushback, including by us. It means something when people basically say stop it. That's not what we voted for. So we have seen lots of confusion. We have seen lots of questioning about what's still available and not available. And that's part of the reason why we are trying to do more and more of these webinars, to take what we know to be true or what we know to be factual and make sure we get it out to people. That's part of the education that we do. So number one, virtually all of the federal funding that we had a week ago, we still have all the grant programs, all that federal funding, it should still all be intact. And there are two federal lawsuits that basically have tried to make that so. And we will keep on making sure that people know what is intact and what isn't. The things that we think are not intact came from two additional executive orders in the last two days. And there may be a new one today that says goodbye to the Department of Education. We have no idea. But you know, the the new president loves signing executive orders with his Sharpie and his Ben. But the two from yesterday were essentially what Christopher Ruffo had told us a year or two ago, which is essentially they will try to create a universal voucher program by trying to create universal public school distrust. So one basically said all the discretionary programs that the Department of Education does, like Community Schools, and there are several others, that they're going to pull back that money and they're going to give that money all to vouchers. And the second was, and this one was even more nefarious. The second basically said that all of us, all of us who teach, we hate America and we hate Americans and in order to actually stop that from happening and make us love our country, which is patently false. I love my country. Hundreds and thousands of the people I am honored to represent. We love our country, we love America, and we fight to change it to make it better. But what they've said is because they presume we hate America, they're going to impose a new curriculum about America. And then they're going to actually try to stop us from meeting the needs of our kids. And what we say is we're going to do everything we can to meet the needs of our kids, to teach honest history, and to actually try to get the support that we need so that all children can thrive. And so the point we're doing tonight is about how we help all kids thrive #1 we are trying to do everything in our power to get this order rescinding the Special Areas designation lifted. I wrote to Donald Trump myself last week and I said, Mr. President, I don't mind begging. I said please. You are actually creating trauma and cruelty for every family in America, immigrant and non immigrant alike. Don't lift this policy. It was there in your first administration. It's been there in a long standing way. Let schools be safe and welcoming places. We know that there's a lot of fear and anxiety now that follow families and children. And we know our schools need to be safe and not be targeted in any kinds of rates. So what we want to do tonight is you're going to hear about how we're going to try to protect our kids. You're going to hear first from Jessica Tang AFT, Massachusetts President and the head of our new Broad Resistance Committee, a committee that's thinking about not only how to resist and say no, but how to actually bring Americans together so that we are about opportunity and dignity for all. And that this kind of fear that's happening right now and chaos and division never happens again. And then you're going to hear from Gabi Keko Keko, I'm sorry, Gabi, who is the president and CEO of the of Dream US, Dream United States. And then we're going to have a panel of people who are talking about what we're doing right now to try to have know your rights and, and, and what, what, what people need to do right now. One is Stacey Davis Gates, the president of CTU of the Chicago Teachers Union. Who's going to talk about what they're doing in Chicago? When is Dan McNeil, our general counsel from the AFT? Who's going to talk about the do's and don'ts? 1 is our beloved, beloved colleague, Kristen Rowe Finkbeiner, who is the executive director and CEO of Moms Rising, talking about what parents are doing and the trauma that is happening. And the last is Nicholas Esperito, who is the deputy director of the National Immigration Center, National Immigration Law Center. So they're going to talk about the kind of know your rights, what to do right now, if we have rights, if we don't have rights and, and and a kind of a how to. And then the rest of it is going to be your questions and then closing remarks. So without further ado, let me just say this as I introduced Jessica, we are going to do everything in our power to make every single school in the United States of America, every public school, a place where parents want to send their kids, educators want to be, and kids thrive. That is our goal. That is our duty. That is our aspiration, and that is who the educators of the United States of America are. And I don't care who is president of the United States. That is our sacrosanct duty. And we're going to do that for the kids of America, for the parents of America. That's who the educators of America are. And I am proud to represent them. Jessica. Thank you, Randy, and thank you for your leadership during these uncertain times. I want to start by acknowledging the deep pain that and fear that I know so many of our students, families, and educators are feeling right now and the anxiety that the chaos overall is causing. The mass deportation threats we are witnessing alone have had a chilling effect that extends far beyond those directly targeted, and they send a message of exclusion, fear and instability into our schools and communities that harm everyone. That is the goal, to scare us all into silence. And we cannot be silent. As a state federation president and former leader of the Boston Teachers Union, where educators created an Unafraid Educators Committee, I've seen first hand how critical it is for schools to be sanctuaries, places where students, regardless of their immigration status, feel safe, valued and supported. And in 2017, the Unafraid Educators Committee members started a scholarship fund for undocumented students who are not eligible for FAFSA grants or in state tuition, and they've since given out over $460,000 to 170 students. The BT also worked closely with families and students throughout Everyone Is Welcome Here campaign to ensure that every school was a welcoming space, offering resources, legal support through partners, and most importantly, a sense of belonging. And that work is more important than ever today. And as the chair of the AF TS Asian American Pacific Islander Task Force, I need to first say happy Lunar New Year, but also highlight how this crisis is particularly devastating for AAPI communities as well, making a very unhappy New Year for many. The AAPI community is often left out of the immigration conversation. But over 1/4 of the undocumented students in higher Ed are AAPI. That means 10s of thousands of young people in our community are living with constant uncertainty. Their future is hanging in the balance, and these threats impact every racial group and community. It also includes undocumented educators who are facing uncertainties over the future of DACA and what will happen to them. And as educators and as a union, we have a responsibility to stand with our educators, students and families and to protect them from harm. But this is not just about them. It destabilizes communities when schools and hospitals are no longer considered sensitive sites and students don't feel safe going to school or patients are afraid to seek medical care. And we must fight for humane solutions and push back against policies rooted in xenophobia and continue to ensure our schools and hospitals and places of worship are safe and welcoming. It means using our collective power, collective actions, to demand justice and dignity for every student, every patient, every family, and every educator who calls this country home. And so I'm proud of my union for hosting this important conversation tonight. And I'm proud to be a part of the growing resistance to policies that are harming everyday working people while enriching billionaires who are benefiting from the current chaos. And we will not fall for the distraction of blaming immigrants for problems that are being caused by billionaires and corporate greed. And we will continue to stay focused on fixing the real problems, like stagnant poverty wages, a lack of affordable housing, and access to health care. We will not be silent in the face of threats. We must stand together. We will stand together, We will organize and we will fight, because that is what solidarity and democracy look like. And we are building the organized resistance. And while we may not always have all the answers to everything right now, each one of us coming together here tonight are absolutely part of the answer. And we will continue to come back together to be the answer in the fight for dignity and respect for all. And so it is truly an honor for me to work with all of you and continue to organize for the resistance because we are them. Thank you so much, Jess, and thank you not only for your passion. And yes, we need to celebrate Lunar New Year. This is the year of the Snake, isn't it? That's right. We need to celebrate. We need part of being a community is to be banding together and celebrating. As my wife often says, joy is an act of political and spiritual resistance. And one of the people who has been so much a part of every single one of these not only fights, but the the aspiration of America is Gabby Pacheco. Pacheco. I'm sorry, Gabby, the president and the CIEO of the dream United States. Gabby. Thank you so much, Randy. It's it's an honor to be here. On behalf of the dream that US and all of us, thank you. Today, I want to talk to you about a truth that cannot wait, a truth that calls upon every single one of us to act. Now more than ever, our immigrant children need defenders. They need friends. They need protectors and allies. These children are among the most vulnerable in our society and their voices, their fears are crying out for us to stand with them. The stress of these children are facing is unimaginable. With the constant threat of raids and the cruel scare tactics being used, their young lives are being consumed by fear. We've heard horrifying words from the Trump administration, words that claim there is no mercy for them. Even children who are U.S. citizen to mixed status families born in this country are being told to just leave with their families. This is a message that is not just a rejection, but if also inhumanity. We've seen what this administration did during the first term. We saw children being ripped from their parents arms, their cries echoing across this nation. And now they want us to forget that that pain existed. But we can't forget, and we won't forget. And these scars remain edged in the lives of these families and the conscious of this country. As teachers, as educators, and as human beings, we have a moral obligation, a sacred duty to protect each other, but especially children. And they're looking for us for safety, for hope, and for love. I know this myself because I was one of those children. I came to the United States when I was eight years old. My parents worked long hours, six days a week, trying to create a better future for us. And it was my teachers, the people who spend more time with me than my own family. They are the ones that nurture me. They were the ones who saw my potential when I couldn't see it myself. They gave me the courage to believe in my dreams, even when, as an undocumented student, all the odds were stacked against me. They raised me alongside my parents, and I wouldn't be here today without my teachers. Now we have a new generation of children who need us to rise to the occasion and to that same calling. And let me be clear, we cannot let fear for ourselves hold us back. This is not the moment for our hearts to be timid. All of the immigrant children and their families have rights. And I'm going to repeat that. Every single child and every single immigrant family in our country have rights. As MLK said, injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. There's no binary here. We do not have to choose between our gay children, our transgender child, the Muslim child, the child with disabilities, the black child, the immigrant child, the houseless child. The most marginalized children in America often belongs to communities facing systemic discrimination, economic hardships and social exclusion. And I want to state the obvious, that an Asian, white, Indigenous, Black, Latino child, a child, and they are all deserving of protection, love and dignity. And yet I know and see the game they will play, the divide and conquer. They will tell us we can only stand for some children, not all. We're going to take away some of your funding. If you protect the other children, they will pin US against one another, hoping we will lose sight of what's right. But when it comes to immigrants, I have seen it. We are always the bargaining chip, always the last at the table and the priority, the last priority of the deal. For many politicians, immigrants are the easiest group to blame, the last ones to help and the first to be discarded. We've seen it time and time again. And yet our children, our immigrant children continue to dream, continue to have hope. So to all of you today, I just want to ask you to plea with you. I also Randy, do not mind begging and pleading and asking folks to please join me in rejecting their divide and conquer strategy to believing the lies of protection of criminals of trying to pin us and make us the US versus the other. We need to stand up again for every single one of our children to protect them and specially speak up for those who at this moment cannot speak because if we don't, who will? If not us, then who? These children and not just them, but their families are part of our country and our future. I want to just also thank you. And and lastly, just really quickly to my fellow educators, thank you a million times. As a former dreamer who became a citizen not too long ago, took 30 years. Our families are counting on us. Thank you. Thank you so much, Gabby. And this is, And so part of what we all have to do, as Gabby just said, is the as educators, we're going to have to stand in the stead of a whole bunch of people. And I know we didn't go into education for this, but this is the role that we have. And that's why we're doing this as a community for protecting all our kids. Because every time that ICE goes into any of our schools, it hurts immigrant and non immigrant families alike. And we need to make this issue about all of us now, as Gobby just said, and this is what we're going to do in the panel right now that there's. And I see the questions rolling in because we're going to talk tonight about the ways to respond, getting the word out when interacting with ICE. People have guarantees by the Constitution, no matter what one's immigrant status is. Sorry to put the legal hat on for a second, but believe it or not, people have rights. Undocumented children have rights guaranteed by the US Constitution and by cases that have interpreted it. Plyler versus Doe in particular, all children living in the United States, regardless of their immigration status, have the right to equal access to education. That the lawyers will tell you this again. Plyler says that all children, regardless of immigration status, have the right to equal access to education. And through the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, it can't be taken away. But we know that different people and are at different jurisdictions. They're 16,000 different school districts and some jurisdictions are sanctuary cities and some are not. And some have a contract like in in Chicago that say you must have a warrant before you go into a school and some do not. So that's why I'm going to ask the panel. I've introduced all of you already. So I'm going to ask the panel, starting with Nicholas, then Stacy, then Dan, then Kristen to talk about the different kinds of things so that we can, you know, so that people on this webinar hopefully will have some of their answers, you know, some of their answers or some of their questions answered. So Nicholas is going to do, you know, know your rights training briefly and Stacy's going to talk about the impact of schools in Chicago and what they have done. Dan is going to talk about the guidance that you know we are giving to locals and what you could ask your school boards and local leaders to do. And Kristen is going to talk about the trauma about all of this. Then we're going to kind of make sure that we have questions, some time for questions and then a call to action, including this push, just like we said, stop the freeze in the last few days, this push to say rescind this, this, this order that allows you to go into schools. So Nicholas first. Thank you very much. I'm very happy to be here with you all right now. AFT has been one of our most important partners here at the National Immigration Law Center in ensuring the rights of all students continue to be protected. And so today I'm just very going to very quickly, I'm going to go over some key aspects of what the rights of students, parents and teachers and schools are both in and out of school. I can't be comprehensive here in the time in the time that we have all together. And there's going to be questions that go even beyond what we're saying. But one of the things that we're doing here at Milk is trying to provide resources that are digestible and shareable. And I have an amazing team here at Milk who continues to be responsive. Many of them are here. And as they see the questions roll in, we are going to attempt to build out this framework even more. And so. First of all, I want to reiterate, Randy is absolutely right. Every person in the United States, citizen, non citizen, documented, undocumented, like has certain rights. And so with that, can we turn to the first slide please? Thank you so much. So everyone here in the United States has certain rights and one of those core rights is the right to remain silent. You do not have to answer questions from law enforcement officials, immigration officials, or anyone asking questions about asking questions about immigration status. That is a right that you are guaranteed and that can't be used against you. You don't have to and you shouldn't say anything about how you came to the country where you are born or how you entered the United States. That kind of information can be used against you later. So this is not information that you should you, you should feel that you have to share with individuals. Second basic right is you have the right to speak to a lawyer. That is what you can say and probably the most effective thing you can say when you encounter law enforcement officers. I need to speak to a lawyer. And this, this includes even when you encounter ICE officers. Next, before you say anything, talk to a lawyer. You might be made promises, you might be made threats, but don't let this intimidation stop you from for requesting and enforcing your right to speak with a lawyer. And finally, one thing for those of you who are immigrants who have some kind of immigration documentation, whether it's a valid work permit, green card or whatever, carry it with you at all times. It's very important. It can minimize your interactions with ICE officers. For those of you who don't have that, one of the resources that we have available, and it's a longer version of some of what I've written here, is a card that says those those these basic things. I don't want to talk. I'm I'm maintaining my right to, to remain silent. I want to talk to a lawyer and that's what you can hand those folks and we have those resources available. A second major question that I have seen in the chat and in other places is what happens if ICE comes to comes to the school. Now, this isn't a general overview that is applicable whether ICE comes to a school or a private home or any other place that is not a public setting. And this involves what they need to do in if they are going to get entrance. And so I've seen questions in the chat about whether or not ICE has to be let into school grounds. No school should implement policies to keep students safe, and that means making sure that individuals who are not authorized don't come on to the schoolhouse, come through the schoolhouse doors and enter campus. However, often times when immigration comes to some some some building, whether it be a school or a house, they might try to present a warrant. Not all warrants are created equal. You'll be hearing a lot of folks talk about the differences between what are called judicial and administrative warrants. A judicial warrant will be signed by by a court, by a judge, either a federal state could be a Magistrate Judge. These are the type that have to be complied with that individuals have to allow immigration officials in. But many times immigration officers will come with what's called an administrative warrant. These are issued by some federal agency, Department of Homeland Security, USCIS, ICE, CBP. It might be signed by an immigration judge or an immigration court that you do not have to comply and allow individuals entry in those instances. I've seen questions in the chat about what happens if if they're let in to the school by school administrators. That's a much more complicated question, and it's all the more reason why school should be setting policies in place to know how to deal with these to ensure the protection of all students. Next slide, please. Finally, Randy mentioned one of the most important decisions in the last 50 years and by the Supreme Court, and that's the case Plyler Vito decided over 40 years ago. It ruled that all children have a constitutional right to equal access to education regardless of immigration status. In this case, it recognized the supreme importance of education to build children's ability to grow and thrive and for our democracy to succeed. Plyler remains the law of the land. Plyler has also been interpreted by courts and by administration's were for over a decade now and even longer to go to issues that that to protect from substantial chilling of educational rights such as request for immigration status information from school officials to children and parents. This is the type of questions that can show access and frighten parents and children from being able to participate in schools. It's important that these rights continue to be protected and it's important that you are working with your students to understand their rights so that they feel that they can continue to participate in school life. And we'll continue to be working with AFT, who is one of our really important partners in protecting these rights in the coming years. I know there's going to be a ton of additional questions. We provided some additional resources that further in in in the slides that further explain and build upon the discussions here. And I would like to thank all the the participants for for, for, for being here so that we can all learn together how we can best serve children. Thank you, Nicholas, and we will also for everybody who's listening, we're going to put, you know, we will work with Kelly and share my lesson to put the slides up in an appropriate way. But that was a really amazing overview. Nicholas. Thank you so, so much, Stacy. So many, no matter how many times you know that unmute, you don't unmute. Good evening. Thank you, President Weingarten, and thank you, Nicholas. Very valuable training. Thank you, Randy, for convening. This is very necessary. In 1985, the city of Chicago became a sanctuary city under the first black mayor of the city of Chicago, the late great Mayor Harold Washington. And we saw the the importance of that designation during the 45 term in which people were afraid, parents were afraid to send their children to school, families next walking their children to school. Consequently, we saw impact with the overall joy that's in the school day because children weren't coming to school, attendance was compromised. What does that mean? It means that people who work with young people, care professionals, teachers, clinicians, they try to figure out how to be a better help. And so during that time, we made very solid bonds with the immigration rights community. We hosted Know Your Rights training. We created spaces for our members who were experiencing this to engage that dovetailing to us creating contract language. As many of you already know, here in Chicago we believe in common good bargaining, a bargaining which brings other people into the negotiation room to create a community good. We negotiated in 2019 on the picket line, sanctuary language that creates a force field, if you will, inside of our school communities for our students, their families, and the people who work for the Chicago Public Schools. Consequently, we are the only school district in our entire state, which, by the way, is also a sanctuary state, but we are the only school district in the state that has any policy protocol regarding sanctuary to date. And that's because our union, the people who are working with people, the people who value human beings, put that first on the negotiating table. And so here we are, and here we are now in a world where we have to broaden sanctuary. We're going to have to broaden sanctuary for our queer and transgender students. The marginalization of Title 9 is going to be a definitive issue. We are also leveraging that this time at the negotiating table #2 we're going to have to leverage the fact that our school communities have to be diverse. We know that when there's a black teacher teaching our young people, that everyone gets a better education, and that we have to protect being able to teach the truth. These are all things that fall under the sanctuary umbrella. We. Here in Chicago, want to make sure that we are leveraging our collective bargaining agreement, building a force building around our district so we do have a public school system not decimated by the whims of what is happening politically in our space. So I want to reiterate #1 our educators, our members, they experienced the 45 and they took those experiences and they created contract proposals in conjunction with our community based partners in the immigrants rights community #2 we went on strike in 2019 for sanctuary. We leveraged the power that we had on that picket line to create a force field protection support for the young people that we engage with. And then finally, those protections and others came into play when one of the alphabet boys visited our Southside elementary school last Friday. It was a combined effort because there was a sanctuary team there. There were two school counselors that were able to keep the peace and all of the classrooms because they were going door to door checking on people's spirit. These are things that we can do through our solidarity, and I encourage leaders in this moment to take a deep breath and to audit and assess the tools that we already have in our box and our power of negotiation, the impact negotiation, the ways in which. We. Take other people to the table. Being able to do that created an environment last Friday at that school where those people were not allowed entry. And it was the workers, it was the security guard in the school clerk. That combined the first layer. It was the administrative team, it was the counselors, it was teachers and the family, and then all of the community groups that surrounded that place at dismissal time and made sure that families felt safe walking their children home. So it works when you work it. The power of solidarity is both liberating and protective. Thank you, President Weingarten. Thank you so much as Stacy, and thank you so much for all the work that you and CTU have done both today historically and what you will do. Really thank you. OK, I hear from another lawyer about because we have places like Chicago, but then there's a lot of places that are not like Chicago and you know, what do we do in some of these other places as well? And so Dan will give us some of these kind of the kind of guidance and the kind of how to and what to do going forward. And let me just also say that all the slides you see now, I've already been told they are on Share My Lesson. And so you can get them right now on Share My Lesson. Thank you, Dan. Thank you, Randy. And I want to thank Nico for his primer and know your rights. And I'm just going to build on that information. And as Stacy mentioned, some, some of you are have the benefit of living in in states with progressive policies where information is being distributed. The Attorney General is giving guidance on how schools should react if there's an ICE agent or there are immigration raids at schools, at higher Ed institutions or at workplaces. But many of you may live in places where either those policies haven't been passed yet or where you're going to have a hostile environment. And so I want you to know your rights and I'm going to talk about schools, but I'm also going to talk about healthcare facilities because we have members that that work in healthcare facilities And the sensitive locations memo was, was was revoked, rescinded by Trump. And so now there's the possibility that immigration rates could take place in healthcare facilities. So for the educators out there, one of one of your protections, it protects you and it also protects the students. So as you may know, FERPA is about your your educational records and the educational records of the student. And so FERPA protects those records from being turned over to third parties. This also means that educators cannot turn over to third parties educational records of their students. The educational record should not contain anything about immigration status, but you can also use it as a shield to say I am not allowed to turn over personally identifiable information about this student in the event that you encounter an agent looking for such information. It also prohibits schools from sharing a student's file with federal immigration agents and and with others. And even if they are undocumented in the healthcare situation, the protections that are there for patients as well As for those who are administering or in care is is known as HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. This protects a patient's immigration status because it is considered private health information. Private health information cannot be disclosed without the consent of the of the patient. So it protects the information and not the person. And again, if you are a healthcare provider, you can use this as a shield from disclosing the immigration status of a patient by just merely saying I am not allowed to disclose that. That is protected by HIPAA. So what can healthcare providers do? They can avoid asking patients about their immigration status. They can avoid including, if they do know the immigration status from the patient's record. They can train staff to decline to answer questions about an immigration status unless they are authorized to do so. And importantly, talking about policies, it's important for employers, whether it's a a school district or a hospital or any other employer, to designate a member of management to handle contacts with law enforcement. So how can unions protect members? Again, by notifying both their members and members of the community of their rights. As Randy said. The materials from this are available on Share My Lesson, but also at aft.org/immigration. There are Know Your Rights materials for students and a list of of tips for how educators can help undocumented students. The union can insist that the employer have a policy for dealing with DHS or ICE. If if if you're represented by a union and a union represents the employees in a bargaining unit, the unit can be in the union can be involved in developing that policy and process. Educators and healthcare workers should not be in a position of enforcing immigration policy and and States and employers should not be directing frontline workers from enforcing immigration law. As the union, you should notify your members of their rights under under HIPAA and FERPA so that they know that they should not disclose immigration status or any other protected information to ICE or DHS officials. And then importantly, remain calm and reassure your students. So in advocating for a policy, it's it's important that members of management are the ones that deal with ICE agent if and and so I would advocate, I'm sorry, I'm trying to keep this this slide up number six. Thank you. Only the Superintendent or district legal council should be authorized to permit access to the to this school location. If an immigration agent shows up and you are not an administrator, school personnel should refer that agent to the principal or to the administration. School personnel should then contact the Superintendent or the school District Attorney. Again, these are things that you would want the school board policy to adopt and for these instructions to be disseminated. If an ICE agent shows up and they are directed to the to administration, administration. She had asked for an immigration officer's credentials and contact info. They should make copies of this information. They should also ask if they have any paperwork authorizing access to the school. This might be where the issue of a warrant comes up. If they have an ICE warrant that does not permit a search on school premises, it is an administrative warrant. The only warrant that authorizes a search or for somebody to be detained is a judicial warrant. And so if if there is a judicial warrant that's issued, that is something that you would have to comply with. But all but the policy can make clear that only that the judicial warrant has to be reviewed by legal counsel in order for them to grant access. And then importantly, if ICE shows up and they are asking about a particular student, school administration should contact the parents or guardians to let them know that the agents were there. When should access be granted? So in the absence of a warrant, the only time that an officer should be an ICE officer, immigration officer should be allowed access if they are declare that there are exigent circumstances and demands immediate access. These are first situations where public safety is involved and compliance should be. You should comply in those situations but then immediately alert the Superintendent and legal counsel. Again, a judicial warrant authorizes the search and seizure or an arrest and it requires prompt compliance. But again, it this should be reviewed by council before it's complied with. And an ICE warrant or an administrative warrant does not require immediate access. I saw lots of comments about what if an ICE warrant shows up on on a school campus, they should be referred to administration also as it as a, as a teacher, you know, you have the right to also say remain silent. You should not disclose the immigration status of your student or even let them know if an, if a student that they asked about is, is on campus. And we'll take more questions later. Thank you so much, Dan. And so Kristen, last but certainly not least, and for those of you who don't know Kristen, Mom's rising. And what Kristen has built here is such a powerful, remarkable group of moms across the country doing so much work in everything about well-being for children and families. It's an honor for you to be with us tonight. Thank you so much. It's a tremendous honor for me to be here with all of you this evening. I want to thank you, President Randi Weingarten, and the entire American Federation of Teachers for leading our nation forward in such important ways. America's moms, and we hear from them a lot, are enormously grateful for the work you do teaching and caring for our kids. Thank you. You give kids a safe place to go when they are in trouble and so they have a sense of belonging. You give kids confidence and hope. You give kids the knowledge and skills, importantly, that set them up to succeed. Now, as we've heard tonight and as we're seeing in the news, the Trump administration is jeopardizing these important roles that teachers are playing everyday, educating our children and being there as they've rolled out this series of extremely dangerous executive orders that we're hearing how to deal with today on this video conference call. These executive orders are harming students, entire classrooms and teachers across America. They're harming parents and communities, too. They're making it harder to learn and to teach. And moms are outraged. My text this week, and many of yours too, I'm sure, have been full of concerned and outraged moms, teachers, parents who have witnessed unfair separations of kids from parents, heard from kids who are fearful of ICE potentially coming into their classrooms, as well as from people and moms and kids and students and teachers who are absolutely, absolutely, I don't even have a word for it, devastated by the unfair treatment of immigrant children, moms and families in our communities. And make no mistake, the Trump administration is creating that devastating humanitarian crisis in our country. And it's hurting not just kids, teachers and parents and family members, but also businesses in the economy, too. We're hearing from people that many children are terrified that if they go to school, their parents won't be there when they come home. That's no way to learn. We're hearing from people that many students, indeed whole classrooms, are terrified that their close friends who are students won't be at their desks tomorrow. None of this is OK. The Trump administration is quite simply terrorizing every child and teacher and the schools that they're circling, every person in the hospitals that they're entering, and every mom and parent in our communities. And I can tell you one thing for sure, America's moms do not want this and will not stand for this. They want every child to be able to go to school, to feel safe at home, and to feel safe on the way to school and honestly, to absolutely feel safe at school. And we want our public schools and educators to be supported, strong and thriving, too. And moms are rising. At Moms Rising, our organization has over 1,099,000 active members. That's one in 300 people in America active with Moms Rising. And we've been working with parents, the immigrant community and for immigrant justice for many years. Moms Rising has a Spanish language arm, Mamas Compader, that works on the ground on a range of migrant, asylum and related issues. And we are already seeing the immediate effect of trauma on the physical and mental health of our children. Immigrant families are telling us that they will not leave the house in family units as a whole and are planning to have one parent stay behind with children in case they get arrested and are deported. This is not OK in America. No mother should have to fear that dropping off a child or picking a child up at school will result in family separation. This is not the America that our children deserve, our moms want, or we should have. We believe, and we know you do too, that every child should be able to thrive. So we are rising to defend the basic human rights of immigrant moms, children's and families. Knowing our power, all of our power, teachers and moms too, is needed more than ever. Knowing that together we can defeat the crush of disinformation that's fueling some of this harm and overtime turn the entire situation around. We know that together, moms and teachers can insist that no child be terrorized, no classroom or teacher be traumatized, and that those who have been harmed get the trauma informed support they need. We together will remind people that a terrified child in a classroom full of fearful children can't learn or thrive, and that creating a climate of fear at schools harms every child. We will demand that our government acts humanely and with compassion. And that brings us back to our power. We have real power together. Teachers are powerful, moms are powerful, moms are everywhere, and teachers are in every neighborhood. The past shows us that we can make a difference in the future. Together. We've successfully worked with teachers to defeat book bans and local jurisdictions across the country and to protect your right to teach civil rights, women's rights, LGBTQIA rights, and accurate education. And we will work together to protect the young people and ensure our schools, our faith communities, and our hospitals our safe places in the future. Moms will be by your side until we stop the horrors our students, teachers, families, and communities are experiencing now. And make no mistake in closing moms, don't give up. There's a narrative out there that moms are depressed and disengaged. Yes, we're upset, but we're not disengaged. That's not what we're seeing. Since the election at Moms Rising, we've been seeing a very high engagement level from our members, including just last week over 5000 who signed up for a Zoom organizing meeting. And we're seeing 10s of thousands of more taking action all the time. Moms are poised and ready to continue the fight against disinformation, to help heal division, and to protect our kids and our teachers and all our kids. We're ready to take action and build that power by your side in the weeks and months ahead, knowing that together we can and must restore sanity and compassion to our classrooms and to our country. So thank you again for having me. Thank you for all that you do. And I'm just absolutely honored to be in this fight with you. Thank you. Thank you so much, Kristen. And I want for everyone who has has been listening for this hour, we're going to do about 15 minutes of questions and then we're going to do a wrap up. So we're going to go till 8:15. But for everybody who's listening, you just heard, Kristen, you, for those of you who have been with us, sorry, I'm going to take my glasses off of this. For those of you who have fought these fights in the last two years, look what we did to turn around the culture wars. Look at how in school district after school district, in so many school board elections, the pro public education people won. Look at what happened in terms of the voucher fights in Nebraska and in Colorado and in Kentucky. So the key is that we need to have each other's back and have real information and be able to actually act with dignity for all and opportunity for all and the fight for a better life, which is what we're trying to do as educators and what our community partners are doing with us. The legal partners you just heard from and our our parent partners, the moms, the partners and community organizations. If you hear anything from me tonight, no, you are not alone. And that is what our community is trying to do together. Moms, educators from cities to small communities. Now there's a lot of questions and I'm going to curate a few of them and ask our panel of four folks to answer some of them. Now the question about Plyler versus DOE, you do not have to be a lawyer to understand. Do the if ICE shows up. Well, let me ask Nicholas this, I know you went through it in the slide and I talked about it as well. What rights do undocumented students and their families have under Plyler and why is that so critical now? And that is whether you're in a red state, a blue state, a purple state. Plyler is the law of the land. Nicholas. Sorry, you're on mute. Kelly. Can we help, Nick? Nick, try to speak again. You might be, you might be on mute or maybe we want to go to the Dan to answer this and then. I'll OK, let me see if I can have Dan and then if Nick can come on. Nick will get on. OK, Yeah. So Kyler is the law of the land. It's a Supreme Court case where the Texas was charging tuition to students. The the Supreme Court ruled that that was obstructed their right to education, which is a fundamental right under the US Constitution. So whether you're in a red state or a blue state, you have the right for K through 12 through education. I've seen in the comments. Does this apply to to college and higher education? Plyler is limited to K12 but is still a right to be able to go to school and and to not have your immigration status be a bar to an education or to be collected by the school itself. And we will for those of, for those who are on from higher Ed or from healthcare or any other place, this is only the first, remember what I said, this is the first of many that we will do in terms of webinars, in terms of town halls. We did this all throughout COVID. We stopped afterwards because there wasn't people got busy with their lives, but we will when there's an appetite. We will do this routinely to make sure that we as a communicate community are educating our members and our allies and our bigger community. Whether you're a parent or whether you're a paraprofessional, a bus driver, a teacher, or just happened on to this, that's part of who we are as a union. There's one other question that I saw a lot in the chat on the on legal protections. I just want to make sure that I ask this of either of our legal eagles, which is what should an educator or an administrator do if ICE officers claim they have existent exigent, exigent, excuse me, circumstances and demand entry, and my apologies everyone for my cold. So what should an educator or administrator do if an ICE officer says we're coming on in regardless, we have exigent circumstances? Nico, do you have volume? OK, I'll take it. This is one of those circumstances where you have to comply, right? You should still demand to see whatever paperwork that they have. So get their badge number, get their name. If they have a, a, a warrant, make a copy of that. If they say that it's exigent circumstances, then it's then you should comply immediately. Notify the Superintendent as what or, and, or legal counsel. That's the best way to approach it. Randy, there's another question that's been in here is can teachers share information with students? And I and I, even without guidance from the school district, information about know your rights and about immigration status and immigration rates, This is a matter of public concern. And so this is not instruction, This is not curriculum. You were speaking as a public citizen in those circumstances, and it's my opinion that you can share information with students, including know your rights information about immigration. This is a public and we are taking the position, as are others, that this is a matter of public concern and people have a right to know. And we've been asked a lot of questions about this all over the country, which is why we're sharing it and which is why we're sharing it on our websites and which is why we believe that this is shareable information. But that's also let's let's distinguish between the, you know, the FERPA and HIPAA and specific information about children versus this general information. How do you draw the line, Nico or or Dan? And then I'm going to and then I'm going to Stacy, Jessica and and Kristen. Nico. I wish I could read lips, I mean. So FERPA protects education records. So it, you know, that includes such things as as enrollment. There's a lot of guidance from good AGS and good state departments of that that school should not be collecting immigration status. But if they have collected it, that is something that would be part of their education record and would be covered by FERPA and should not be disclosed. Information about know your rights, that's just general information. Whether or not you know if somebody's undocumented or not, you can still provide them know your rights information. They may have neighbors who are undocumented, their parents might be undocumented. It is a matter of public concern and it can be shared. So this is going to be the question I think a lot of people I've seen, I've seen this version of this question in the chat a lot, which is if a district is not Chicago, which has set up a proactive, been proactive Boston, Chicago in setting up these rapid response plans. If we're not Chicago, what what advice Stacy and Jessica, what advice would we give other district and and Dan, what advice would we give other locals to do to do this to, you know, to, to try and create what Nico said about you don't come in unless there's a judicial warrant. What advice do we give people any of you, Jess, Stacy, Kristen, Dan, anybody? What advice? So I mean, I can, I can start. I'm happy to just say one thing I think is that you need to know who the community partners and nonprofits are in your local community. Because even if you're getting pressure from your district or your Superintendent or your principal is not on board, you can connect your families to the community nonprofits that have a lot of these resources already. And, and there are, there is actually a spreadsheet that we have by state with all of the different organizations by state that we can also share out, but they are holding know your rights workshops in the community. And so that's one way to do it. But I think, again, you know, as we're figuring out the resistance in this moment of time, we do have to get creative and getting on community threads, and I'm going to say signal protected threads too. If you're planning some of these things and figuring out who has already been doing some of this work and connecting with them, it is a important first step. Great. You know, one of the things that I think is within the bailiwicks of most of our, you know, state federations and local unions that we get to impact, bargain, we get to bargain impact and certainly everything that we are experiencing has impact. This gives us an opportunity to create the policies that we want to engage with that helps to fill in the blank, protect students, create protocol rules of engagement, empower our tables to be more collaborative with the community partners. I just could just tick off all of these things are within the the bailiwicks of all of our locals and I and I would like really encourage our locals to exercise the ability of their collective bargaining agreements to be altered to respond to the moments that we are in right now. Our solidarity is the most powerful tool. Thank you, Stacy. I'm going to ask two more questions because I know we have promised we're going to end by 8:15. I have ton more and there are 10 more here. But I know the question for for workers, and I'm going to say, ask this of Dan or Nico if he's still here, which is educators saying, can they be fired or disciplined for refusing to cooperate with ICE? What legal protections do they have? So. Then you get. Yeah, this is, I mean, this is a tougher 1, right? This is a tougher 1 because you get you, you should be following your school board policy. And that sort of answers the the previous question as well. Unions and teachers and community can push their school board to adopt A policy that provides clear guidance in the absence of, of clear guidance, You know, if you're remaining in your in your classroom with the with the students, if they're a warrant hasn't been presented, you can deny access. But you know, where there is guidance, there are going to be places in this country where the schools are going to cooperate with these immigration orders. And that presents a much tougher situation because you're, you're, you're probably not in a collective bargaining state. And you know, are, are the advice is that you, you comply, but you cannot turn over a student to an individual who is not the authorized guardian of that student. So I think you're fully within your rights to say no, you're not taking the student out of my classroom unless they have a judicial warrant. So that's why we're all very much focused on a judicial warrant. We're not, we're, we're, we're being respectful. We understand the authorities, but we also had in locos parentis and without a judicial warrant. You know, we're, I mean, we're, we, we, we are in a parent stead when we're in schools. And I think that's also really important in terms of understanding what our responsibilities are, which leads me to my last question, which I know everyone in the panel can answer on this. But you know, you saw here today educator parent partnerships who have been pushing back on a ton of different harmful policies. So whether it's Kristen or Gabby or Stacy or Jessica, how do we work together to help create a safe and welcoming environment locally? And also how do we work together to try to get this policy rescinded that schools and hospitals are not safe designees anymore? How do how what what would you recommend all of you is the next steps that anybody on this zoom could take to their localities right now or what we should be doing publicly all together. Any of you Stacy, Jess, Gabby or Kristen and he goes back on yay. Can I add this is a totally non lawyer thing to add but it's one of the things which in doing work on on issues regarding. Students, even lawyers, can act like non lawyers every time. I mean, one of the things that we know is the best, one of the best spokespeople for the rights of students, for what it means to create a healthy learning environment and the importance of educating all students. One of the best messengers are frontline educators. You know what's happening in the classroom. You can talk about the importance of a learning environment and you are some of the most credible individuals when it comes to the needs of students and what we want. So I've seen a lot of questions about, you know, different strategies about, you know, how to how to get that, how to move different political actors. You all are extremely savvy folks who know how to move your school boards. But I just want to say that you all much more than us lawyers are the best advocates when it comes to the needs of students. So I'm really counting on you all to be in this fight, for all of us to be in this fight together and for you all to be really leading the charge on this. We will be there to have your backs, but you are going to be the most important people when it comes to demonstrating the needs of students. Thank you, Nico. Anybody else? This is Gabby, sorry. So this is Gabby, if I can share an anecdote that we all remember. So in the first Trump administration, we had the Muslim man, and I remember how attorneys and community members all went to the airports and protested. And that's the level of protest and the voice that we have. And Randy, you said it together. We need to band together, use our voices. We need to be calling people from our elected officials, our local elected officials, our state representatives. If we do not use our voice and show the outrage that we have, they're going to continue to do this. So we all have to come together, post on our social media, send letters, make those calls, and do it together because intersectionality helps and works. And we got this. As a community, as Americans, as citizens, we will protect our immigrant community. Thank you. And I was going to say something very similar, which is that, again, we cannot be silent. We need millions of people speaking up and saying this is not OK. What we are experiencing is not OK, Not following the law is not OK. And having courage and everybody can do something and channel Michelle Obama a little bit right here. But we, everyone really can do something. And that's also, you know, getting engaged in your local community, not your unions, of course, you know, your labor councils, but your community organizations and, and joining those coalitions. Now is the time where coalitions are so important and organizing is all about building relationships. And so just having the conversations, building the relationships, building the community, those little things that we do actually add up very quickly. And when we're all speaking up and all raising the alarms, that's how we continue to build power and give each other courage. Just continue speaking up. Thank you, Jess. I'm plus one to everything that everybody has said and want to just double down on the importance of sharing your story. Share what you're seeing, share what you're hearing locally and nationally, and don't give up. The stories of what's happening right now are devastating, heartbreaking, and are so powerful and changing policy. So thank you so much again. So I want to I want to kind of get to our last speaker who is the indomitable indefatigable. I hope those are all multi syllabic SAT words, Executive Vice President Evelyn de Jesus, who will get us to our call to action. But as people said, there's a lot of questions still in the chat about all of this. One, let me just say dads are really important too. There's a lot of dads on this call. We have Moms Rising who was one of our speakers. I know we have a lot of females who are speaking today, but we did have two, two dads who are speaking today as well. This is about families and we want to make sure that dads are involved as well. That was one of the questions and, and look, and this is a very hard thing for me to say. We are not going to be able to prevent all the harms. We, we went through an election, Donald Trump at, you know, paid for by his billionaire friends were elected. Part of what we're doing now is we're championing humanity. We're championing dignity, we're championing opportunity. We're championing a better life for all. But there are going to be times we're not going to be able to prevent an ICE raid in a school. There will be a judicial warrant that you are now armed with some more information. But we have to tell the stories of all of this. And one of the reasons that we are fighting so hard to actually get back the policy that says don't do these raids in schools or in hospitals or in churches is because of the trauma that it creates for everyone. And so that is part of why we have a campaign going on right now. It is. It is pinned to our Blue Sky account and our Twitter account. It's going to be on Facebook either today or tomorrow. And this is the letters to protect our children. You can be part of that. In terms of really, I, as I said, I've written to the president, he ignored my letter. But if we do it all together to try to get out and to say we send this policy, we need schools to be sacrosanct, that that's one of the things that we can do. But I want Evelyn who has been doing this work. Immigration clinics, so much else to lift up our communities, our immigrant communities, our non immigrant communities, lift up students over and over and over again. I want Evelyn to take us home today. Evelyn de Jesus. Thank you, Randy Buenas Noches, thank you so much for the insights that you all have shared with us. And to my familia in Zoom, thank you so much for taking the time to discuss how to protect our children, our patients, and our communities because that's is what we are. We take care of each other. We protect our children, our students, our patients, and all our members. That is what we're doing now. This is a worship of schools become filled with fear of all places in our communities. They must be safe spaces. We care, we fight, we show up, especially when our communities are being attacked. Remember throughout all of this that you are not alone. Your union is standing shoulder to shoulder with community and with all of you. We have resources for you with practical guidance, NILC class and united we please please take advantage of all that of the immigration section at the AFT has set up on the website. We will put the link in the chat. It's ww.aft.org back slash immigration in English and in Spanish that are easy to distribute to your communities, but at the coma Nidales available in Chinese, Korean, Tagalog and Haitian Creole. This includes things like a Know Your Rights card small enough to law enforcement you're exercising your right to remain silent and your right to an attorney. A full size Know Your Rights handout that lists everything to do to prepare for an unfortunate encounter with ICE. A guide to making a plan in case of an emergency raid, and a list of 15 things educators and communities can do to get children. And a deportation defense toolkit. And plenty of other resources from Colorin Colorado And share my lesson on how to talk to your students about this. We are also working to create much more resources that address how this is impacting all of our divisions and all of our members. Because this is a crisis. But your union has your back. We are in this together. Hunt those and we will take care of each other. I'll leave you with this. During one of my school visits, a young man came to me and he said I may not have the right papers, but I have the right values. That is what this is about, having the right values and treating people with dignity. And remember what the Lord has said. When somebody told her they couldn't stand up for their rights, she said they said for them. Yes, we can. Yes, we can stand up for our students, for our patients, and for all our members and community. We can keep our places of worship and our schools and our hospitals safe. And it's because of all of you. And yes, we can protect our communities and our neighbors. Yes, we can. And we will never stop. Thank you for being here with us tonight. Thank you for caring so much. Buenas notes Gracias. Thank you, Evie, and thank you everyone who was with us tonight. Thank you to all of our presenters and thank you to all of the participants. We are in this together for our communities, for our students, for our families, for ourselves. We will build a better nation because of all of you. Thank you everyone. Good night. _1739815131621