U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials told Maryland superintendents in January they wouldn’t enter school buildings. They haven’t.
But, in Southeast Baltimore this month, they’ve been getting closer to campuses, prompting school officials to take extra measures to make families feel safe sending their children to school.
Last week, a Baltimore City Schools police officer was posted outside Hampstead Hill Academy, an elementary-middle school in Canton, during drop-off. He said he was dispatched there after parents and staff members reported seeing dark, unmarked vehicles near the school filled with people wearing green vests and military gear — hallmarks of ICE.
Over a third of Hampstead Hill’s 900 students are Hispanic and nearly 20% are multilingual learners, who are students learning to speak English.
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Since last school year, City Schools has lost 1,200 multilingual learners, a group that used to be one of the fastest growing in the system. The number of Hispanic students who graduated from high school last school year also dipped statewide, a trend education officials blamed on the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Baltimore teachers and city officials said students notice when their friends don’t come back to school, and it disrupts their learning and well-being.
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Lilly said it feels as though the immigrant families in her neighborhood are “trapped” inside by fear of ICE.
“I was concerned for community members, my fellow parents,” she said. “It feels like we’re living in a Third World country.”
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Teacher Kristen Tranberg said escalating fear is nothing new for Highlandtown Elementary/Middle School, where nearly 90% of the 900 students are Hispanic and three-quarters are learning English. She said six kindergartners have left her class this year.
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The post Immigration Enforcement Is Inching Closer to Southeast Baltimore Schools appeared first on American Renaissance.
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