Throughout the school year, MORE has been doing important work on the UFT Executive Board, in the Delegate Assembly, and in the schools, advocating for our union to defend immigrant students in the era of Trump.
One concrete result was the UFT passing a resolution affirming support for immigrant students, committing the union to “mobilize its members in support of our immigrant and Muslim students, members and families in conjunction with our public school proud campaign.”
A day of action in February pressured the PEP, Chancellor Fariña, and Mayor DiBlasio to be clear that immigration authorities would be blocked from entering schools without a warrant, and also pushed on the demand for immigrant liaison in every school with immigrant students. The UFT has been advocating, as a result of MORE’s pressure, that the DOE create this position, which would be a staff member trained to welcome immigrant families in schools, support those families, and help them advocate for their rights.
Another result was the organizing of a UFT immigration forum this Monday, moderated by Juan Gonzalez and featuring a number of prominent speakers, including representatives of the Mayor’s office and our national AFT president, Randi Weingarten.
Please consider attending this forum! It is an important opportunity to continue building pressure for the city to create the immigrant liaison position and also to heed calls to maintain free legal defense of all immigrants facing deportation proceedings.
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