Posted on 05/06/2008 8:53:51 PM PDT by SmithL
Oakland -- Immigration arrests at homes in Berkeley and Oakland on Tuesday sent a wave of panic among parents in both cities, as authorities mistakenly believed immigration agents were raiding schools.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were in both cities Tuesday, performing routine fugitive operations, spokeswoman Virginia Kice said. Teams go out virtually every day looking for specific "immigration fugitives," she said.
Officers arrested four family members at a Berkeley home and a woman at an Oakland residence. They were not at schools.
Yet, within the next few hours, rumors of raids circulated throughout the communities.
In Berkeley, school district Superintendent Bill Huyet sent out an automated phone message to all parents notifying them that a Latino family had been picked up and assuring them that the district would "not allow any child to be taken away from the school."
In Oakland, Mayor Ron Dellums and three school board members converged at the end of the school day on Stonehurst Elementary School along with immigration rights advocates, saying they believed ICE agents "would return."
"In my view, that is the ugly side of government," Dellums said. "No way children should ever be treated to that kind of harassment and fear."
He said police officers will be posted at the campus Wednesday to ensure that federal immigration officials don't come onto school grounds.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Gang banging mexican drug runners though are just part of the neighborhood flavor...
Isn’t being involved in a continuing criminal activity cause for loss of parental rights?
I imagine it was those same illegal alien advocates that spread this vicious rumor, knowing, of course, that it would inflame the ignorant non-English speakers.
“Initially, Oakland district officials said federal agents were at Stonehurst and denied entry by school staff. By late afternoon, they rescinded that, saying that an ICE vehicle was seen nearby.”
Unreal.
No it didn't.
Not all of them. Just the illegal ones; and yes, that includes minors whose parents are using them to get away with their crimes.
That is great! How do we get more of that?
Could we get a few of these ICE officials to sign a 1 year deal with the Raiders, we haven't frightened anybody in 6 years.
Don’t those awful police have anything better to do than going around arresting criminals? It frightens children, for Pete’s sake!
And Dellums wants to whine about ICE?
You bet he does...
Dellums endorses Hillary, BTW.
Michael Savage should see this article.
No Lenten table causes rift at Prairie View
(http://www.southtownstar.com/news/935499,050708foodfight.article)
May 7, 2008
ILLINOIS
BY ANGELA CAPUTO Staff writer
When some parents at Prairie View Middle School asked for a separate lunch table for their children during the Ramadan fast, Principal Joel Martin thought the request seemed reasonable.
As long as the gathering of fasting students didn’t disrupt and didn’t cost the district anything, Martin had no qualm with offering the religious accommodation.
But his decision rubbed parent Jennifer Cimaglia the wrong way. And when the school shot down a similar, mid-Lenten request by seventh-grader Ryan Vandewiel and 60 or so of his classmates who signed a petition seeking separate seating for observant Catholics, the Tinley Park mother of three decided “enough is enough.”
“It’s not just about the table,” Cimaglia said. “It appears that there is preferential treatment for the Muslim students.”
The potential for ethnic tension prompted the Kirby School District 140 board to put “cultural diversity” on the agenda for its Thursday night committee meeting.
Board member John Martelli said people are welcome to attend to discuss concerns “in an open forum.” It’s unclear if the board plans to take any action on the topic, Martelli said.
Martin said Tuesday he never intended to set a double standard for students — particularly along religious lines. He only rejected the proposal for Catholic students to have a meat-free lunch table on Fridays because they hadn’t thought out the proposal enough to ask before the Lenten season began.
“Do I want to accommodate those students? Yes,” Martin said. “We’re going to look at accommodations for kids at Lent next year.”
Vandewiel — the 13-year-old who circulated the petition on behalf of Catholic students — said he’s satisfied by the principal’s commitment.
“I’d prefer that instead of having things for one religion or another there shouldn’t be anything for religion in school,” the Tinley Park teen said. “I think it’s wrong.”
The fasting-friendly Ramadan table may have been new at Prairie View, but it’s nothing new in the district, according to Supt. Michael Byrne, who is surprised by the fresh controversy. Parents at several of the schools have requested similar accommodations in years past.
What’s new is that the number of Arabic-speaking students in the Tinley Park district has continued to grow. And this year, the number of English as a Second Language students, mostly native-Arabic speakers, topped 20 at Christa McAuliffe School, which, under state law, required administrators to hire a full-time teacher to lead the students.
The addition of the ESL class bumped the art teacher from a classroom and forced the teacher to conduct class from a portable cart.
“It’s how education goes,” Byrne said. “We have special- education students ... I hope (people aren’t) pointing the finger at those students for using classrooms, too.”
But Cimaglia, who has a fifth-grader enrolled at McAuliffe and a seventh-grader at Prairie View, sees the changes made for Muslim students as a matter of preferential treatment - particularly when it comes to the religious accommodation.
“These are all little things adding up,” she said. “What I’d like to see is the same set of rules for all students. This is a public school.”
Angela Caputo can be reached at acaputo@southtownstar.com or (708) 633-5993.
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