Teachers and educators from across New Jersey call on legislative leadership to increase protection for immigrant families and communities and move the Immigrant Trust Act (S3672/A4987) forward.
Montclair, NJ – As New Jerseyans continue to experience increased ICE raids and operations in their communities, teachers and educators from across the state are calling on Assembly Speaker Coughlin and Senate President Scutari to take action to increase protections for families and students by passing the Immigrant Trust Act (ITA).
Over 40% of students in New Jersey live with an immigrant family member, and over 10% of students have an undocumented parent. New Jersey’s communities are experiencing a near 100% increase in ICE activity, with over 5,500 people arrested by ICE since the beginning of this year as compared to 2,800 last year, according to the Immigration Enforcement Dashboard. Still, legislative leaders have not acted to increase significant protections for immigrant communities under the Immigrant Trust Act. The bill would increase protections for immigrant communities by protecting personal information at public agencies so immigration-status related information is not collected or shared whenever possible, require sensitive locations like schools, libraries, and health facilities create model policies to help people feel safer, and limit the circumstances in which state and local law enforcement work with federal immigration authorities.
Over a hundred educators, from grade school teachers and school counselors to college and university professors, signed on to a letter calling on Assembly Speaker Coughlin and Senate President Scutari to prioritize moving the Immigrant Trust Act forward in this lame duck legislative session.
Liam Paiva-Acosta, High School Bilingual Social Studies Teacher, East Orange, NJ:
“When my students hear that ICE is in the area, they can’t concentrate on their work. Some of them will skip school in fear of being caught up in it, even though they all have legal status in the United States. They fear being racially profiled and treated with brutality. I want to see the ITA passed so that students can feel safe in school again.”
Melissa Tomlinson, Special Education Teacher in Atlantic County:
“The Immigrant Trust Act must be passed now to give our students a sense of safety so that they can focus on building their future instead of living with the thought that a family member could be detained at any moment in time.”
Terry Fitzgibbons, High School History teacher at the Passaic Academy for Science and Engineering:
“When I speak to students, they share that they are feeling more vulnerable than they appear. Things are not normal. Several families have been affected by deportations in our school and district more broadly. Some students are missing weeks of course work because of what their families are experiencing. New Jersey lawmakers need to do everything in their power to increase state and local protections that help ease the fears and concerns for immigrant families by passing the Immigrant Trust Act.”
Sue Kenney, 12th grade teacher, college preparatory high school, New Jersey:
“I teach at a private high school in northern New Jersey, in a community where many families enjoy relative financial and social stability. Yet even here, students feel the impact of ICE raids. Some of them have parents who have lived and worked legally in this country for decades, yet they still worry that one day those parents, or their friends’ parents, could be taken. No young person should have to live with that fear. When students see ICE raids on their social media feeds and hear government-funded messages that say “we will hunt you down,” it creates a climate of anxiety and trauma that undermines their health, learning, and sense of safety. Passing the Immigrant Trust Act is essential to protecting our students and their communities.”
Kimberly Valle, Director of Partnerships and Programs at ImmSchools:
“We see firsthand the emotional toll that fear and uncertainty place on our immigrant students throughout our school partnerships in the state of New Jersey. When children worry about their families being separated, learning takes a back seat to survival. The Immigrant Trust Act is a critical step toward restoring trust, protecting all families, and safeguarding every child’s right to an education free from fear.”
Andy Urban, Associate Professor, American Studies & History, Rutgers University, New Brunswick:
“ICE and the federal government under Trump have abandoned fundamental rule-of-law procedures when it comes to the administration of immigrant detention and removal policies. Accordingly, it is crucial that New Jersey steps up and makes permanent the successful provisions of the Immigrant Trust Directive, to provide clear rules protecting residents – immigrants and citizens alike. At Rutgers, where the guidelines about how university police should respond to ICE on campus and what protections students and other university community members are entitled to have not always been entirely clear, the Immigrant Trust Act would be a major step in helping to fix this.”
Jennifer, a college professor in New Jersey:
“Education spaces, be they K-12 or higher ed, need to be safe harbors for student learning and community building. I’ve heard students from my university, and others in the area, tell me about their calculus to even leave their home- even if they have some form of documentation. Before leaving their homespaces to go to work or school, they look to social media to see if there are any potential ICE sightings in the area. They leave work or classes early to pick up their siblings from school so that their vulnerable family members don’t have to. They worry about their parents going to work in neighborhoods where immigration enforcement has been seen. They consider just taking online classes or skipping beneficial in-person programs to avoid potential interactions with ICE. They may even feel forced to turn down opportunities like going to conferences or applying for scholarships or internships they may be eligible for because families are concerned that the information they submit may be used against them. It’s heartbreaking to witness and absolutely does not have to be this way. The students are full of life, hope, and passion for their studies. Passing something like the ITA is at minimum what we should do in New Jersey to be that safe harbor for students who give so much of themselves to the university community.”
Mary Rizzo, Associate Professor, Rutgers University-Newark:
“Trump’s war on immigrants is making it harder to be an educator and a student, even in New Jersey. When students ask me what would happen if ICE showed up at Rutgers University-Newark where I teach, I assure them that they’ll be safe, but I don’t know that for sure. My colleagues and I have spent time planning for a potential ICE raid when what we’d rather do is prepare for class. The fear is just one part of it. Many of our Rutgers-Newark students are undocumented or have undocumented family members. I regularly hear from them that they have to miss class so they can go or accompany a relative to an immigration hearing or other immigration appointment. The stress of possibly having their families torn apart compounds the fact that they have to miss classes that they’re paying for, making it harder for them to graduate on time and putting them deeper in debt. Passing the ITA will help alleviate these fears and show our undocumented and immigrant students and their families that New Jersey has their back.”
David M. Tress, Adjunct Professor, New Jersey Institute of Technology:
“In my classrooms I see a diverse mixture of backgrounds, cultures and creeds, all supporting one another in their academic endeavors. In my communities I see support and mutual aid, but also fear and panic when masked, gun-wielding thugs kidnap men, women and children in broad daylight. I see that fear and panic and think, “what if that man being taken away is the parent of one of my students?” And my heart breaks a little bit more for the state of this country.”
Sudip Bhattacharya, doctoral candidate & part-time lecturer at Rutgers University in Political Science & American Studies:
“Immigrants, especially immigrants of color, are being attacked by ICE, as part of its racist and white supremacist designs. All people deserve security and real safety, and dignity most of all. We must pass the ITA to cut ties from ICE and those forces that are clearly antidemocratic and anti-dignity for our people. Legislators have a clear choice here: either they support democracy by cutting ties with ICE or they believe in our country becoming far more insular and deadly for most communities of color.”
Diane Lagattuta, retired English as a Second Language teacher:
“After serving this country as a Peace Corps volunteer, I spent my career convincing traumatized and confused new immigrant teenagers that the American dream could be theirs. With excitement and dedication to their studies, they believed me, yet Congress has not addressed how to give Dreamers, TPS recipients, and DACA candidates their citizenship. Having a work permit and paying taxes qualify all immigrants to be respected as legal participants in our society. The current administration is undermining my dedication to their success and their desire to be accepted as Americans in the country where they were raised. This disgraceful agenda of deporting immigrants who are loyal to America without due process is un-American.”
Directly impacted students bravely shared their statement in support. Their names are kept anonymous or changed due to the potential repercussions of speaking up in this anti-immigrant political climate.
Anonymous, a college student from Hudson County, NJ:
“Every human being deserves to live without fear. For so long, New Jersey has been a sanctuary for immigrant communities. As an immigrant and college student, I truly believe that the passage of the Immigrant Trust Act will be essential to protecting our communities amidst all the political turmoil on the federal level. We need our residents to feel safe in the areas where they live, to walk freely without fear of being separated from their loved ones, and, most importantly, trust in their local governments when they need assistance. I cannot imagine a New Jersey without immigrants… From Italians and Germans to Filipinos and Latinos, we have all contributed to make this state beautiful and culturally rich — and we deserve to feel safe!”
Day, an immigrant student who refuses to be erased:
“I am a living, breathing, striving immigrant student, someone who refuses to let the opportunities before me go to waste. While you try to silence my voice, diminish my presence, and strip me of my dignity. I will continue to educate myself. One day when I graduate I will have the power to heal the wounds your policies and violence inflict. I will become a nurse who cares for every single person who walks through a hospital door. I will never question someone’s worth, because every human being deserves compassion, respect, and care. That is the standard I will uphold, one you have failed to meet.
I am an immigrant student, and I am ashamed and deeply disappointed by those elected to serve this state and country. Because I am a citizen of this community, whether by birth or by choice. I am here to work, to contribute, and to help build a world that is humane, just, and livable. You may try to make me feel small, but I am here. I am learning. I am rising. And I will use my education, my resilience, and my voice to undo the harm you create and to bring healing where you sow division.”
The Immigrant Trust Act (S3672/A4987) was introduced last year in both houses and is referred to the Assembly Oversight, Reform and Federal Relations Committee in the Assembly and the Senate Judiciary Committee in the Senate. The bill currently has 17 sponsors in the Senate and 36 in the Assembly.
