Opinion: Children Deserve Physical and Emotional Safety. In Maine, ICE Threatens That

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I am the mother of two children who attend public school in Lisbon, Maine. I’m also a preschool teacher at a licensed child care center. I love children and my community. That is why this moment is so difficult. 

Over the past six years, my own children and many young people in Maine have experienced  violence, terror and educational disruption. From the COVID pandemic and its aftermath, to the lockdowns after the Lewiston mass shooting and the regular practice of active shooter drills, many in our community are living on edge. 

Some lockdown drills required the entire kindergarten class to crowd together in the bathroom in their classroom and remain still and silent. Five year olds were trained not to respond to a knock on the door, and to only come out when they heard an announcement over the public address system. My son called it “Kansas Clover,” which we later learned meant “campus closure.”

Our children and families are already worried about school safety. In the past few months, Immigration Customs and Enforcement agents have made things so much worse. 

In September, immigration officers in a Portland elementary school’s driveway arrested a parent who had just dropped off his child. This sent shock waves throughout the community. It solidified that we in child care needed to raise our voices to protect children and families. We also realized we needed to provide support for child care providers, educators, hospital and health care workers, and people who work for public institutions. Their physical and emotional safety is at risk. 

Further ICE operations in Maine underscored this need, creating widespread fear in our communities. Local schools saw hundreds of absences in January because of these concerns.

This fear works its way to impact even the youngest in the community. In my own classroom, we have noticed an increase in stress behaviors during the enhanced ICE occupation, as well as in the days and weeks following the murders of Alex Pretti and Renee Good amid the ICE crackdown in Minneapolis. Students who do not normally act out have been yelling, crying and throwing tantrums noticeably more.

From church members to family members to families in our child care center, people are noticing a difference. Parents are making emergency communications plans in case ICE creates a disruption that leaves them unable to pick up their child. Schools and students have noticed their classmates stop showing up to school, and do not know where they are.

All children deserve affordable, accessible, high quality education in physically and emotionally safe environments. This cannot happen when officials are deputized to enter sacred spaces, profile, detain or arrest parents, caregivers and young people. Learning and fear cannot coexist. 

This isn’t surprising.

For decades, federal administrations led by Republicans and Democrats prohibited immigration enforcement at sensitive locations such as schools and hospitals. Policies were built on the premise that everyone should be able to access services supporting life and wellbeing without fear. It was common sense that children needed safe spaces where fear would not find them.

Unfortunately, one of the first actions of the current administration was to reverse these policies. They sought to rationalize their actions by pushing harmful and false narratives linking immigrants with criminality. But no one benefits when one group of people is maligned, targeted and pushed to the margins of society. It only hurts the people in our communities.

We need action at every level to respond to these threats and protect our children. Our elected officials can lead through legislation, such as LD 2106 in Maine which would prohibit ICE from entering public schools, child care centers, libraries and hospitals without a valid judicial warrant signed by a judge. 

Local mutual aid groups are working overtime to make sure that affected communities are able to get food, medicine and baby products delivered when the threat of racial profiling by ICE is too great to leave home, regardless of citizenship status. Members of my own community are getting notarized to help create formal arrangements for children in case anything happens to their parents. This kind of action must continue and expand to protect children from future harm.

There’s a lot that we parents can’t control in the world to keep our children safe. However, we have an opportunity to speak up against ICE terrorizing our schools, child care centers and medical facilities. We should act swiftly to do so. Whether you are an educator, a lawmaker or a parent who cares about your community, speak out against ICE. All of us can contribute to the safety and future of our children and our communities.

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