Members of the National Education Union (NEU) hold a rally outside the National Education Union (NEU) in London as strike action is taken by sixth form college teachers, November 28, 2024
TEACHING unions have hit out at “shamefully cruel” far-right attempts to make migrant children feel unwelcome in school.
More than 400 trade unionists slammed bigots for protesting outside of schools that work with the Schools of Sanctuary scheme.
The refugee charity has supported dozens to become welcoming places for all children, including newcomer children.
They have been targeted by the far right following online misinformation over five-year-olds being asked to write Valentine’s cards to asylum-seekers as part of the scheme.
Leading members of the National Education Union (NEU), NASUWT teachers’ union and University and College Union (UCU) are among those who signed the open letter to media editors.
It says: “We reject the divisive and dangerous rhetoric of the far right, and we believe the calls to protest against Schools of Sanctuary are not only wrong but shamefully cruel.
“These protests target some of the most vulnerable children in our society, seeking to make them feel unwelcome in the very places that should offer them hope.
“Such actions do nothing to improve our communities and everything to spread fear and hatred. As educators, we stand united in our commitment to safe, inclusive schools where every child — regardless of origin — can thrive.”
It adds: “In a world where too many children experience loss and trauma, the message that they are safe, valued, and part of our community is not only morally right but educationally vital.
Unaccompanied minors are grouped apart from families waiting to be processed by U.S. Border Patrol agents near the Mexican border on April 10, 2021 in La Joya, Texas. (Photo: John Moore/Getty Images)
The move was denounced by one immigrant rights advocate as “an affront to American values.”
Migrant rights advocates are forcefully denouncing the Trump administration’s move this week to cut off legal services for unaccompanied immigrant children.
Multiple organizations said Tuesday that they had received a “stop-work order” emailed from the U.S. Department of the Interior. Among them was Acacia Center for Justice. CBS News‘ Camilo Montoya-Galvez shared a partly redacted copy on social media.
“Acacia’s Unaccompanied Children Program provides legal representation to over 26,000 children in and released from Office of Refugee Resettlement custody, protecting children from trafficking, abuse, and exploitation, helping immigration courts run smoother, and ensuring a modicum of due process, so that children navigating the immigration system alone understand their rights and legal obligations,” the group’s executive director, Shaina Aber, said in a Tuesday statement.
“This decision flies in the face of ensuring children who have been trafficked or are at risk of trafficking have child-friendly legal representatives protecting their legal rights and interests,” Aber continued. “The administration’s decision to suspend this program undermines due process, disproportionately impacts vulnerable children, and puts children who have already experienced severe trauma at risk for further harm or exploitation.”
Immigrant Defenders Law Center president and CEO Lindsay Toczylowski similarly said Tuesday that “the safety and welfare of children in government custody should be the primary concern of our elected leaders. Today’s decision by the Trump administration to eliminate access to counsel for 26,000 children is an affront to American values. The Trump administration is abandoning children for the sake of politics and leaving kids to fend for themselves against our complex immigration system.”
According to Mother Jones, in addition to causing about 26,000 children to lose their legal representation—absent outside funding—the new order will lead to about 100,000 kids “missing out on programs designed to educate them about their rights.”
President Donald Trump is known globally for forcibly separating migrant children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border during his first term and last year campaigned on various harsh immigration policies, including mass deportations and ending birthright citizenship. Since returning to office last month, the Republican has taken steps to enact his anti-immigrant agenda.
“Trump’s decision to slash a 20-year-old program meant to safeguard the rights of the most vulnerable among us will only cause more chaos in our immigration courts and violates our commitment to children’s safety,” said Toczylowski. “We will continue to fight for their right to legal representation and to uphold our ethical and professional obligations. We urge the government to restore services immediately to protect children’s rights. Our government will be judged by how it treats children in its care. By all standards, this administration is failing them and self-inflicting a black eye as the rest of the world watches.”
National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) executive director Mary Meg McCarthy said Tuesday that “the Trump administration continues to choose politics over the rule of law and cruelty over humane treatment of children.” She also said that “this denial of congressionally appropriated funding violates federal law,” and mirrors Trump’s “mass firings and funding cuts of essential programs and agencies across the U.S. government.”
As McCarthy explained:
Decades ago, Congress passed the bipartisan Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) that recognized the unique vulnerability of children who travel alone to seek protection in the United States. The TVPRA codified the federal government’s obligation to ensure these children have legal representation so they do not face the risk of deportation without due process. Most unaccompanied children are eligible for permanent status in the United States under current laws. Attorneys help them safeguard their rights under U.S. law, connect them to essential services, and shield them from exploitation and trafficking
[…]
Last month, NIJC and other legal service providers successfully sued the Trump administration following the unlawful stoppage of another congressionally funded legal service program. The administration’s failure yet again to uphold its legal and ethical duties does not eliminate NIJC attorneys’ ethical obligations to the hundreds of children we’ve committed to represent. We call on members of Congress to vocally oppose this egregious abuse of power by the executive branch.
The Michigan Immigrant Rights Center wrote in a lengthy email about the order that “MIRC condemns this cruel action from the Trump administration, designed to inflict further suffering on vulnerable children and families,” including victims of labor trafficking and child abuse.
MIRC also noted that “abruptly terminating statutorily mandated services violates the TVPRA, as well as the government’s clear obligations to children that it has otherwise agreed to during litigation, including the Flores Settlement Agreement (FSA) and the relatively recent Ms. L v. ICE settlement designed to prevent family separation, among other critical protections.”
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VULNERABLE children in custody have been forcibly stripped and subjected to inappropriate pain-inducing restraints by staff, “deeply shocked” inspectors found.
A report by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, published today, found during two visits to Wetherby Young Offender Institution that all-male teams of officers were forcibly restraining girls to remove their clothing to prevent them from self-harming.
At the prison, which holds boys and girls as young as 15, 24 children had been strip-searched in the last 12 months, with 12 of those occurring under restraint.
Pain-inducing restraint techniques had been applied nine times in the last 12 months and on every occasion had been deemed inappropriate by the independent review of restraint panel.
Footage of use-of-force incidents was not being reviewed consistently and inspectors found that one restraint, which resulted in a child being injured, had not been referred to senior managers.
Members of the National Education Union (NEU) hold a rally outside the National Education Union (NEU) in London as strike action is taken by sixth form college teachers, November 28, 2024
