ICE Must Stay Away from Nation’s Schools: AFT’s Weingarten

WASHINGTON-AFT President Randi Weingarten issued the following statement after the murder of Renee Nicole Good and multiple incidents involving ICE agents threatening educators and students in Minnesota:

"Yesterday's killing of Renee Nicole Good was a reckless, heinous act of violence against an American citizen. Then, just hours later, ICE officers proceeded to terrorize schools and communities, pepper spraying students and detaining an educator. ICE must leave our schools and communities immediately-they are making us less, not more, safe. And for what? To indulge the administration's military theater.

"The officer who killed Good must be held accountable. And theDepartment of Homeland Security and the White House must stop lying about the horror that was caught on video. Every law enforcement official I have talked to since yesterday was shocked by the incident-but given the spate of ICE shootings over the last few months, it was perhaps only a matter of time.

"Why can't this administration focus on working with communities to help them thrive, instead of stoking fear, violence and death? Right now, Minneapolis schools are closed and teaching and learning has been halted to keep students and families safe.

"We have thousands of members on the ground in Minneapolis. Emotions are running high, but the protests are nonviolent and the solidarity is palpable. This is a moral moment to come together as Americans around the principle that schools and communities must be safe and welcoming places, not targets for militarized incursions designed to pit us against each other."

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The AFT represents 1.8 million pre-K through 12th-grade teachers; paraprofessionals and other school-related personnel; higher education faculty and professional staff; federal, state and local government employees; nurses and healthcare workers; and early childhood educators.