Posted on 03/09/2017 10:39:57 AM PST by Drango
On a cold Friday morning, more than 50 people sit in the auditorium of the Benjamin Franklin Health Science Academy in Brooklyn. Many have small children fidgeting on their laps.
The families are here for a "Know Your Rights" forum on immigration hosted by U.S. Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., and the local school district. Given the new, intensified immigration enforcement priorities announced by the Department of Homeland Security in February, the purpose is to help people understand their legal rights with regards to asylum, applications for citizenship and more.
A representative from Mayor Bill de Blasio's office speaks, followed by representatives of legal-assistance and community groups. During the Q&A, one woman broke into tears as she described, in Spanish, her fears of deportation.
There are many tears these days, says the woman who initiated this event, the school's parent coordinator, Christian Rodriguez.
"I have children crying in the classroom, crying in my office," she says. "When I ask them, 'Why are you crying?' They have expressed to me that they don't want their moms to be apprehended and taken away from them. It's something heavy on my heart."
Rodriguez has been the parent coordinator at this pre-K through 8th grade school ever since New York City's Department of Education created the position at schools citywide in 2003. Before that, she worked in Velazquez's office.
Enrollment in this school, on the Williamsburg/Bedford-Stuyvesant border of Brooklyn, is more than 80 percent Hispanic. Rodriguez says the families here come primarily from Mexico, then the Dominican Republic, followed by elsewhere in Central America. "I am from Nicaragua and as an immigrant also, can relate to their suffering and the situation they are going through right now," she says.
Under new directives issued in February by the Trump administration, anyone with deportation orders already issued, and anyone convicted of even a minor crime like a traffic offense, can be targeted for immediate removal. This is a change from the Obama administration's policy, when suspected gang members and felons received the highest priority from law enforcement.
The attorneys and community workers at the event advised attendees to be prepared: Don't drive with burned-out taillights. Don't exceed the speed limit. If you have an attorney, carry his or her business card at all times. If ICE — Immigration and Customs Enforcement — comes to your home or stops you on the street, they are allowed to call themselves "police." But they can't come inside your home or car without a warrant unless you invite them in. You are allowed to ask for a warrant and to make them slip the warrant under the door.
An officer from the New York Police Department told the families that city police won't ask for anyone's immigration status, say if you are the witness to a crime. This pledge forms part of New York City's "sanctuary city" designation.
Similarly, public schools here don't ask for, or keep a record of, anyone's immigration status. And schools have pledged not to "grant unlimited access" to ICE agents. Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina has sent home a letter with all students citywide underlining that point.
Not knowing what the future may bring, Rodriguez says many families have asked her for help creating what are called "parental directives."
These are legal documents designating a caregiver for one's minor children in the event that a parent is deported. Families may be split up if their children are either born in the U.S. and have citizenship, or are allowed to remain under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program.
At the Know Your Rights forum, one mother asked how old a designated caregiver had to be: Was 18 OK? "Twenty-one," was the answer.
Another woman asked what she should do if detained by ICE, since she has no income and no money to post bail. "You can ask that it be reduced, but you don't have the right to be set free without a bond," came the reply from one of the experts.
Rodriguez says she's glad that so many parents and community members showed up to the forum, although she was hoping for even more. In previous years when she's tried to hold immigration workshops, she says, people didn't come because they were afraid.
This time, she says, "When I extended my invitation [to parents,] that was the first thing that I mentioned: that they know me for so many years and that I have their best interests at heart."
They’ll be much happier back in their homeland.
This is how illegals game the system, they quickly pop out a few kids and shove them through the system so they become entrenched hoping that if the parent gets caught they will be spared deportation.
Wow- good man=good Dad!
I wonder why the father’s were not there?
No boo-hoo factor when Daddy’s a gang banger-
Great points
So true
Too bad we don’t have media who responds to this
Children of lawbreakers are crying because mommy might get taken away?
Ohhhhh myyyyyy! \:(
That’s never happened before, has it?
Bump:
Oh, boo hoo. How come there are never articles like this:
A kid was crying because his mommy was hit by an illegal alien drunk driver. A kid was crying because his brother was shot by an illegal alien gang member. A kid was crying because his dad lost his job to an illegal. A kid was crying because he was sick and had to sit in the emergency room for 18 hours.
Or even this...A kid was crying because his parent was deployed overseas and now they have to be separated. Does anyone feel sorry for those kids? No, the children of illegals are the only ones who get sob stories saying that they have the right to never be separated from their parents, and their parents should get away with their crimes.
Send all of them, parents and kids home. They are a drag on America.
This is what happens when we fail to enforce our laws. These families relied heavily on our ongoing negligence, and now they’re hurting. That is why predictable stable law enforcement actually helps those who want to enter our country. Once they are forced to accept that entry can only be done legally, their families can experience more stability.
http://www.fairus.org/issue/examples-of-serious-crimes-by-illegal-aliens
http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2016/11/05/border-patrol-union-honors-agent-killed-illegal-aliens/
Children illegally born in the U.S. are not citizens.
A lot of out of work U.S. citizens with crying children too.
Shall we trot out the pictures of no Christmas tree, no presents, and very little food in their home?
I thought not...
That's OK, little tyke - you can go home with your mom, back to your home country, that is...
I blame the parents - and Zero.
I’ll bet my parents moved seven or eight times when I was a kid without telling me where they went.
Did I sit around and cry?
No!
I just followed the locator I hid in the car.
Oh, they’d pull the curtains and try to hide from me, but I learned something.
Persistence.
“Mom....Dad.....open the door or I’m calling the cops!”
Learned some important life lessons.
Dad tried to say they were just playing Hide And Seek but I think crossing state lines is against the rules in that game.
Crying children?
Sounds like parental abuse to me Somebody should alert CPS.
“During the Q&A, one woman broke into tears as she described, in Spanish, her fears of deportation.”
Yeah well, I don’t how to say it in Spanish but put me in charge and She would be deported just for speaking that gibberish, regardless of whatever else she has done wrong.
Children of drug dealers and gang bangers must feel the same way. If they cry in school should we ignore their parent’s crimes so everyone stays happy? It’s not their fault their parents are criminals here, but it’s the parents they should question and blame-not the fed-up legal citizens of this country.
Big deal.
Moms, take your kids with you.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.