For Our Children, We Must Draw A Line

Children are witnessing violence in their neighborhoods – watching parents being taken away, watching authority figures wield power without consequence – and they are carrying the weight of it into every part of their lives. If you are a child who has seen masked ICE agents on your block, or a parent whose heart races at a knock at the door before sunrise, that fear moves with you. It follows children into classrooms and child care centers, and lingers in the spaces where they are meant to learn and grow. If this is happening where you live, you're already feeling it. School drop-offs are tense. Classrooms feel different. Parents and educators see these tensions, and we see them too. This kind of strain changes how a child sleeps. It changes how they step into school the next morning. What they are carrying is heavy. What is unfolding across the country is not isolated. It is part of a larger pattern that determines whose families are safe and whose are targets, here and beyond our borders. Children see clearly who is shielded from harm and who is not. They notice when those causing that harm face no consequences. Some of this violence is federal. Some of it is local. None of it, however, is inevitable. New York has the power and responsibility to draw a line. Passing the New York for All Act would make clear that our state will not use its institutions to assist federal immigration enforcement. Until then, Governor Hochul and municipal leaders statewide must refuse to deploy state and local resources in cooperation with ICE. And our representatives in Congress must demand accountability and rewrite federal policy that's enabling family separations and unchecked raids. They can strengthen protections. They can act with urgency. So far, it has not been enough. As Nelson Mandela said, "There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children." This is that test. We stand with families. We are organizing with you. And we are calling on the Governor and every elected official across New York with the power to act. Let it be said that we protected our children when it mattered most. In solidarity, Marina Marcou-O'Malley and Zakiyah Shaakir-Ansari Co-Executive Directors, Alliance for Quality Education Sent via ActionNetwork.org. To update your email address, change your name or address, or to stop receiving emails from Alliance for Quality Education, please click here.