WRITTEN TESTIMONY OF

KATHRYN M. GIBNEY

SAN PEDRO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPAL

BEFORE

THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON WORKFORCE PROTECTIONS

OF THE

EDUCATION AND LABOR COMMITTEE

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

WASHINGTON, D.C.

MAY 20, 2008

San Pedro Elementary School

San Rafael City Schools

310 Nova Albion Way

San Rafael, CA 94903

\(415\) 492-3221

In the pre-dawn hours of March 6, 2007, families throughout the Canal
neighborhood of San Rafael, California were just beginning to awaken.
Unknown to them, outside their homes, federal immigration officers had
already pulled up in white vans. Suddenly, while many were still asleep,
agents identifying themselves as "police" began pounding on doors,
attempting to serve 30 warrants for people who had prior deportation
orders. In the process, they swept the neighborhood, taking individuals
for whom they did not have warrants, leaving children and their families
paralyzed with fear, and sending ripples of impact throughout the
community. These raids were part of a campaign titled "Operation Return
to Sender."

**General Circumstances**

The key facts that were initially reported to us on March 6, 2007 were:

-   Early that morning, white vans pulled up in front of three apartment
    complexes at 150, 220 and 400 Canal Street and individuals who
    reported themselves as police knocked on doors looking for people on
    a list of approximately 30 individuals for whom they had orders to
    seize. In some cases, if those individuals were not home, they
    questioned the individuals who answered the door and attempted to
    seize them.  In the process of looking for these individuals, they
    sometimes woke children and shined flashlights in their faces,
    questioning them and frightening the children and their families.

-   Absences for that day included 77 students at Bahia Vista School,
    approximately 40 students at San Pedro School, and approximately 15
    absences at San Rafael High. Smaller numbers of absences were
    reported at Davidson Middle School and Venetia Valley K-8 School,
    although students were clearly anxious about the situation.

-   Known seizures that day included one Laurel Dell male parent, one
    Venetia Valley male parent, two San Pedro male parents, two Bahia
    Vista male parents, and one Coleman male parent and, because the
    Coleman parent was the sole adult in the house with the child and
    would not leave the child alone, both the parent and child were
    taken.

-   The seizures were carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement
    (ICE), which is the largest investigative branch of the Department
    of Homeland Security. The raids, part of a campaign titled
    **"**Operation Return to Sender,**"** apparently began a week and a
    half prior to March 6, 2007, with seizures of adults on the street
    and at their businesses.  On March 6, 2007, the raids increased in
    intensity and targeted people in their homes.  Initial reports from
    individuals in the area were that approximately 70 to 100 San Rafael
    residents were seized, and that the raids were also taking place in
    Novato, the city immediately to the north of San Rafael. 

 

As soon as the school district learned of the situation that morning,
staff took immediate action to determine what was taking place and to
ensure the safety of students.  Specifically:

-   The Bahia Vista Principal made a home visit in the morning to
    determine what actions were taking place and by whom.

-   The district was in contact with the San Rafael Police Department,
    the Canal Alliance, the Human Rights Commission, and the office of
    Marin County Board of Supervisors' President Steve Kinsey to
    determine where individuals who had been seized were being taken and
    what follow-up actions could be taken.

-   School site teachers, staff, and district staff planned to ride
    school buses and stand at school bus stops to ensure that students
    were safely transported to and from school.  In addition, teachers
    planned to stay late and were informing students that, if they were
    uncertain that a parent or guardian was at their home, they should
    return to school.

 

**Media Coverage**

This event immediately became a major community concern, as reported by
local TV and news media.

-   "30 Illegal Immigrants Targeted in Canal Neighborhood Raid," March
    6, 2007 Marin Independent Journal (Attachment #1)

-   "Canal Community Fearful after Immigration Raids," March 8, 2007,
    Marin Independent Journal (#2)

-   "Second Day of Immigration Raids Includes Novato and San Rafael,"
    March 8, 2007, Marin Independent Journal (#3)

-   "Fate of Detained Becomes Clearer," March 8, 2007 Marin Independent
    Journal (#4)

-   "Immigration Raids Handled Poorly," March 9, 2007 Marin Independent
    Journal (#5)

-   "Immigration Raids Draw Dawn Protest," March 9 Independent Journal
    (#6)

-   "March and Rally Draw Hundreds in San Rafael," March 13, 2007 Marin
    Independent Journal (#7)

-   "Marin Officials Rip Immigration Tactics," March 14, 2007 Marin
    Independent Journal (#8)

-   "65 arrested, 23 Deported in Raids, North Bay Congresswoman Says,"
    March 15, 2007 Marin Independent Journal (#9)

-   "Civic Leaders Prepare for Likelihood of Future Raids," April 4,
    2007 Marin Independent Journal (#10)

-   "ACLU Sues Over Seizure of Boy in Immigration Raid," April 26, 2007,
    Marin Independent Journal (#11)

The Marin County school district superintendents co-authored and all
signed a statement for the community, entitled "*Let's Put the Education
of our Children First*." (#12)

**School Board Response**

Members of the San Rafael City Schools Board of Education co-authored a
letter, cited below, describing the impact of the ICE raids on our
schools:

> *"Thank you for your attention to the recent Immigration and Customs
> Enforcement (ICE) program Operation Return to Sender and your interest
> in its impact on our schools and school children. The disruption to
> the educational program was immediate and will have lasting
> consequence.*
>
> *As trustees for San Rafael City Schools our charge is to provide a
> high quality equitable education for every child living in our
> districts without discrimination\--without determining*
>
> *citizenship. Furthermore, we are responsible for the safety of every
> student---from the time they leave school until the time they reach
> their homes.*
>
> *The ICE raids sent our schools into a state of emergency. Teachers,
> support staff, principals, and district administrators were placed on
> buses and at bus stops to make sure children connected safely with
> adults in their homes. Students were given the phone numbers for their
> school in case no adult was at home, and staff stayed late to answer
> phones.*
>
> *Absentee numbers spiked as high as seven times the usual amount in
> one school and four times the normal rate at another school. Parents
> were afraid to walk with their children to and from the bus stops.
> Older siblings skipped sports, work and homework to tend to their
> brothers and sisters. Many students were and remain distracted from
> school work as they worry about their loved ones. Most of these
> children are by and large American-born, full-fledged citizens with a
> right to a quality education and to live in this country for the rest
> of their lives.*
>
> *Consider one family Principal Juan Rodriguez visited during the raids
> when he learned a parent had been taken from their home. As he walked
> into the living room he noticed student work decorating the walls; he
> saw a desk with a light in the room; and he noted the lack of a
> television set. The mother described the family's nighttime routine:
> the children do their homework at a desk in a well-lit, quiet room;
> the father reads with the children every night; and, before they go to
> bed, they discuss the day at school. These are the practices that
> teachers and school staff request of families to promote academic
> achievement. This family follows every suggestion and is suddenly
> without a father. How will these children perform in school now?*
>
> *Success in school depends on a three-way partnership between
> students, schools and families. The current environment strains the
> family partnership for documented and undocumented residents alike as
> the distinctions between the two are blurred by ICE tactics. People
> who look like they should have residency papers are lumped together
> with those who ignore deportation notices. It is hard for our teachers
> to assure children and their parents who are here legally that they
> are safe.*
>
> *We are not in the position to solve the complex issues surrounding
> immigration, but these problems need to be addressed away from
> schools. There must be a better way to execute the federal mandate in
> a more targeted manner. Please explore solutions, continue to shine a
> light on this matter, and ask the tough questions, keeping in mind the
> children---those who are born here, those who will stay here, those
> who will be future workforce and leaders.*
>
> *Sincerely,*

# Board of Education, San Rafael City Schools

# Greg Knell Jenny Callaway Linda Jackson Jon Loberg Natu Tuatagaloa"

The letter from the San Rafael trustees was sent to Mayor Al Boro,
Members of the San Rafael City Council, Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, the
Marin County Board of Supervisors, Assemblyman Jared Huffman, and
Senator Carol Migden. (#13)

**Community Response**

Marin County Superintendent of Schools, Ms. Mary Jane Burke, addressed a
letter to Assistant Secretary Julie Meyers of the U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement Division, calling attention to the impact these
types of actions have on schools and students. (#14)

San Rafael Mayor Albert Boro addressed a letter to Senator Barbara
Boxer, requesting assistance in obtaining information about detainees
and about future raids. (#15)

The issue continued to surface in articles, letters to the editor and
community demonstrations by concerned citizens and members of the clergy
as well as counter-protests by concerned citizens and by the Minutemen.

**Specific School Site Circumstances**

In addition to the general description of the raids and community
reaction to them as detailed above, the following sections detail
specific incidents at school sites in San Rafael.

**San Pedro Elementary School**

Kathryn Gibney, principal San Pedro Elementary School, wrote the
following account of the events of the week:

> When ICE agents banged on doors, they demanded to see papers of
> whoever answered. They entered apartments even if the person for whom
> they had a warrant was not there. They shined bright flashlights in
> the faces of young children who were still asleep. They handcuffed
> parents in front of their children and took them away, threatening
> that they would soon be back for others. They left behind them a trail
> of fear.
>
> Traumatized by the vicious nature of the intrusions and terrified to
> take their children to the bus stop, many families held their children
> at home, in hiding. Other parents, recognizing that school might be
> the safest place, enabled their children to go to school. Still, there
> was much trepidation. One child whose father had just been taken away
> was told by her mother to pack some essentials in her backpack and
> leave it by the door so that if, when she returned from school she
> found no one at home, she could go to her aunt's home in case her
> mother was seized and deported. Imagine this child's frame of mind as
> she left for school that day.
>
> Later that morning, my staff and I first learned of these events as
> clearly shaken and crying students exited from school buses and
> blurted out their stories of what had happened earlier. On a day when
> we were scheduled to administer the State Testing and Reporting or
> STAR Writing Exam, forty students were absent -- seven times the
> normal absentee rate. Throughout the day, muted and trembling voices
> asked teachers if agents would come to school and take them away, what
> would happen to their mommy or daddy or aunt or uncle, and what would
> happen to them.
>
> During the next two weeks, the situation escalated as ICE threatened
> to hold more raids, as parents continued to be afraid to leave their
> homes, even to take their children to and from the bus stop, and as
> this fear took its mental and psychological toll on children, on
> families, and on teachers and staff who worked long hours to ride
> buses and ensure that students were released safely into the care of
> an authorized adult.
>
> The San Rafael community responded with speed and compassion.
> Community leaders including the city mayor, county superintendent of
> schools, and elected state officials launched efforts to discover the
> facts of what had taken place and express opposition to the way in
> which these raids were implemented. In one detailed response to an
> inquiry asking if ICE officials were allowed to enter school campuses,
> ICE leadership in Washington, D.C. responded that although they avoid
> entering schools, places of worship or hospitals, they would do so if
> the situation warranted it.
>
> To this day, federal agents continue to use schools as a venue to help
> them seize immigrants. During the first week in May of this year, ICE
> vans parked adjacent to school campuses in Berkeley and Oakland, where
> they waited to seize parents. And again, in San Rafael, on May 8,
> 2008, agents stopped a father walking his daughter to school at Bahia
> Vista Elementary School. Since agents were not able to communicate
> with the father, the second-grade daughter had to serve as translator
> between her father and the agents, who ultimately took the father
> away.
>
> The impact of these raids has been devastating. Absentee rates have
> soared. Test scores have dropped. Students who do make it to school
> remain distracted as they worry about whether their families will be
> at home when they return. Families lose sleep at night as they worry
> about possible home interrogations. Families whose breadwinners have
> been seized are struggling to survive. Even when family members were
> successful in proving their right to be in this country and were
> allowed to return home, the memories of children remain -- the
> memories of U.S. agents banging on their doors at dawn, shining
> flashlights in their faces and taking their parents away in handcuffs.
> The health, well-being and performance of students have been and
> continue to be severely impacted. Mental health services have been
> substantially increased to address the on-going emotional fragility of
> San Pedro students.
>
> Many of our children are American born, full-fledged citizens, with a
> right to a quality education and the rights guaranteed to all American
> citizens. They are America's children and the nation's future
> workforce.
>
> Undeniably, the issues surrounding immigration are complex and we must
> find ways to address them. On behalf of San Pedro School, however, and
> schools across the country, I implore you to seek more humane ways to
> address them, away from our schools and from our children. These
> emotionally terrifying experiences undermine the trust and confidence
> in adults that teachers and school staff work diligently to establish
> with their students and families.
>
> Success in schools depends on a three-way partnership -- between
> students, schools, and families. The current environment strains the
> family component of this partnership for documented and undocumented
> residents alike, as the distinction between the two is blurred by ICE
> tactics. People who look like they should have residency papers are
> lumped together with those who ignore deportation notices. They are
> treated as guilty before having opportunity to prove their innocence.

**Venetia Valley K-8 School**

Pepe Gonzalez, principal of Venetia Valley K-8 School, wrote the
following account of the events of the week:

> During the week of March 5^th^ through the 9^th^, many students at
> Venetia Valley School were greatly affected by the raids that took
> place in the San Rafael area. The consequential aftermath created a
> heightened level of anxiety and fear among the families, students, and
> staff as a whole. Members of our school community were scared to leave
> their homes, attend jobs, and allow their children to attend school.

As a district and a school site, administrators, teachers and community
liaisons were driving through the neighborhoods telling parents that
their children were safe at school. We were at bus stops, on buses and
anywhere where we felt our children were at risk. The bus stops where
parents once waited in groups to pick up their children were now empty.
Parents were waiting in their homes until the bus arrived, then in a
dash of panic they would run out of their homes to pick up their
children and rush them back into their homes for safety. We felt that we
had to be present in order to ensure that the children were being met
and safely handed over to a responsible adult.

> Stories of families being broken up by immigration agents removing
> mothers and fathers from homes hit the media, increasing the sense of
> panic. What some were witnessing on television, others were actually
> living through the pain of being separated from loved ones.
>
> At Venetia Valley, we had dozens of school community members suffer
> from these consequences. One of our families was directly affected. A
> fifth grade student witnessed her father get handcuffed and taken into
> custody by immigration officers at 7:30 in the morning as she was
> eating breakfast and getting prepared for school. The father was taken
> to a holding facility for several days before being deported to
> Guatemala. The family was left without its main income provider, and a
> young girl without her father.
>
> On the morning of Wednesday, March 6^th^, we received a phone call
> from a man who was whispering over the phone. We were able to identify
> him and learned that he was whispering because immigration officers
> had entered the family's apartment at five in the morning and had
> taken one of their roommates. The father, mother, and son, who all
> slept in the same bedroom, did not want to leave the sleeping quarters
> in fear of being captured by immigration officials. They had spent
> part of the time with all three of them hiding under the bed. Our
> community liaison representative and I traveled to the apartment to
> see how we could help the family. We knocked on the door only to have
> no one answer. We called on the cell phone to assure the family that
> it was really school personnel at the door and not immigration
> officials. When they finally opened the door we were embraced with
> hugs and sighs of relief. We brought the student back to school with
> us, gave him breakfast and placed him into his classroom. The family
> gathered all of their belongings and moved to a different apartment
> complex the very next day. The trauma that the family went through was
> too much to handle.
>
> The calls throughout the week continued to pour in, as parents were
> concerned that the immigration officials would continue to enter homes
> and interrogate and take into custody individuals in our community.
> Throughout the week, school officials continued to be present in the
> neighborhoods to try to ease the tension and bring the community back
> to rest. Home visits were made by community liaisons bringing food to
> homes and personally driving students to and from school.
>
> We cannot expect to hold our students to the same academic rigors when
> their emotional states are hindered. The children and families of the
> San Rafael community suffered through extensive trauma as the fear of
> losing loved ones was present every day in that second week of March.
> They lost sleep in the evenings with concerns of possible home
> interrogations. They were not able to attend jobs and collect income
> to provide for their families. They could not leave their homes to buy
> groceries and essential living utilities. When a family and its
> children are forced to live in isolation, in fear to even open their
> front doors, making it impossible to perform even their daily
> routines, we still asked these students to follow through with the
> state writing tests.
>
> Our community was greatly affected and is still suffering from the
> events that took place.

**Coleman Elementary School**

Ruth Reynolds, principal of Coleman Elementary School, with input from
Martha Noguiera, School Linked Services Coordinator, wrote the following
account of the events of the week:

> On the morning of March 6, 2007, behind one door in the Canal
> neighborhood of San Rafael, six-year-old Kebin Reyes, a first-grade
> student at Coleman Elementary School, was still sleeping when United
> States ICE officers stormed into the apartment where he lived with his
> father Noe Reyes. Noe told officers that Kebin was a U.S. citizen,
> asking permission to call a relative to care for Kebin while Noe was
> detained on suspected immigration violations. They refused. Instead,
> they made Noe wake up Kebin, who watched as officers handcuffed his
> father. Telling Kebin to put his hands behind his back, the officers
> took father and son to the ICE booking station in San Francisco.
> Instead of being in school, Kebin spent 10 hours locked in a room with
> his father, crying and hungry. ICE agents never allowed Noe to call
> someone to pick up Kebin. It was only when a relative heard what
> happened and came to the ICE facility that Kebin was able to leave.
>
> After one day, Kebin, who has excellent school attendance, returned to
> school while living with his aunt. This year, he is in the second
> grade and lives with his father, who was not deported but who was
> detained for 45 days last year in Santa Clara. Kebin saw his father
> once during that detention. The father is going to court this June to
> ask for work permission for two years. Kebin's mother and sister
> remain in Guatemala and they hope to join the family shortly in the
> United States. Kebin started to see a Spanish speaking therapist after
> the raid and continues to see the therapist every two weeks. Kebin's
> father attends all school conferences, parent meetings and workshops.
> He is very supportive of his son doing well in school.
>
> At Coleman School, children were frightened and needed to be reassured
> that they were safe in school. The teachers and I met with them
> privately and in small groups. They asked questions. One seven
> year-old child was afraid to come to school. She feared that when she
> returned home her parents would not be there to meet her at the bus.
> Some of the children asked questions about passports.
>
> Immediately following the ICE raids, parents reported that the entire
> family slept in one bedroom and would not answer the phone or the
> door. They also would do their grocery shopping for one month. They
> were afraid to go out and leave the house.
>
> One year later, parents in the Latino community are still frightened.
> One difference noted by parents this year is that in the past ICE
> would go to an apartment and ask for a specific person but would also
> take anyone in the apartment that could not prove residency. Now
> parents tell us that ICE is more specific. If they ask for someone and
> he/she is not in the apartment they do not take anyone else. This has
> eased some tension.

**Laurel Dell Elementary School**

Bob Marcucci, principal of Laurel Dell wrote the following account of
the events of the week:

> Laurel Dell was affected by the ICE raids much in the same way that
> other San Rafael schools were. There was fear, confusion, anger, and
> sadness written on the faces of many students. Because many of our
> students are bussed from the Canal area, we dealt with the fear and
> uncertainty of student and parent safety while at the stops in the
> morning and afternoon. Teachers rode the buses to make students feel
> more secure. We provided hours of counseling to students who just
> needed someone to talk to. There were students who stayed at home
> because their parents were afraid to leave the house to bring them to
> school. I personally picked up a number of students and brought them
> to school myself so that they wouldn't miss out on projects and
> assessments happening at the time. During the raid, two families at
> Laurel Dell were affected in a major way. In each family, one of the
> parents was detained and deported. The students spent months worried
> about the safety of their mother or father. Staff wrote letters of
> support for each family in the hopes of convincing authorities that
> these were positive members of the community. The students were
> provided with counseling.

**Bahia Vista Elementary School**

Juan Rodriguez, principal of Bahia Vista School wrote the following
account of the events of the week:

> When the raids took place, we asked teachers to let us know about
> their students and how they were reacting. Within a few days I began
> receiving reports from teachers about their students' fears. One
> second grade girl was sleeping with her clothes on and her backpack
> with her. She also insisted on sleeping under her sister's bed. She
> told her mother she wanted to be ready to go with her if the police
> took her away in the night. She also kept her backpack on all day at
> school. This student continues to suffer from symptoms of trauma. She
> regularly wets her pants, has trouble concentrating on simple tasks,
> and is far below grade level in reading and math.
>
> Another boy, also in second grade, was terrified to be away from his
> mother. He began to have severe reactions to the trauma of his uncle
> being taken by the ICE police. This boy would see faces in the windows
> when there was no one there. He continues to have severe anxiety and
> symptoms of the trauma one year later. He is suffering from nightmares
> and anxiety on a daily basis.
>
> Children were afraid to come to school, not knowing if their parents
> would be at home when they returned. Two young students in
> kindergarten have had severe behavior problems throughout this past
> year because their mothers were sent back to Guatemala. These young
> boys don't have the language to be able to talk about their fears or
> separation anxiety, but they are acting it out every day in school and
> are not able to learn what they need to in class.
>
> The other reaction we saw from most of the students in the school was
> a fear of the police in general. They didn't understand the difference
> between the ICE police and the regular San Rafael police. They saw
> them all as wanting to take their parents or other family members
> away. Some children also thought that if someone was taken by ICE,
> they would be killed. Many families were not able to leave their
> houses for several weeks, kept lights off at night, and lived in
> hiding and fear. The general feeling was that the community was under
> attack.

**Partner Community Agency Response**

Balandra Fregoso, coordinator of San Rafael School Linked Services,
wrote the following regarding the response of community agencies, who
work closely with San Rafael City Schools:

> The Marin Community Foundation convened and supported the development
> of an Immigration Task Force after the March 2007 raids, with the
> specific intent for community agencies to support families in crisis.
> Prior to this convening, the communities throughout Marin County
> worked independently from one another, providing many resources to the
> immigrant community including academic supports, basic need support,
> ESL classes, parent education, etc.
>
> With the advent of the raids, it was discovered that there was no
> central place for information sharing and that resources were
> inadequate to the task at hand. After many meetings, it was decided to
> make sure the schools, faith community, county resources, legal
> community, and community based organizations were connected in some
> way so all resources of the County could be used to the best
> advantage, on behalf of families.
>
> Consequently three subcommittees were created:

-   A Tool Kit Committee collected and organized pertinent materials and
    documents, such as how to apply for citizenship, how to provide for
    guardianship of children whose parents are detained, etc. The
    members of this committee then provided trainings for support
    providers, including school administrators, school office staff,
    family advocates, and organizations throughout the county.

-   A Community Education Committee began trainings for parents as well
    as youth. They were designed to bring families out of hiding and to
    learn how to best conduct themselves in these times.

-   A Public Policy Committee brought the legal community and faith
    based community together with others to have direct conversation
    with law enforcement officials, the County Board of Supervisors, and
    state and federal representatives to both understand their stands on
    the raids and to make clear that there is a group watching how
    people are being treated.

> Through this Task Force, many groups are kept abreast of what is
> happening across the county. ICE raids are still happening, on a
> smaller scale, during the early morning hours, and they continue to
> effect families in Marin County regularly. The Task Force is working
> to separate fact from fiction and to keep everyone aware of current
> activities as they occur. Some themes are consistently reported to the
> Task Force:

-   Families that once shared housing are less willing to do so for fear
    that their roommates are undocumented and will draw attention to
    ICE.

-   Children are learning that if they are documented, they are "better"
    than their friends and family that are not documented. Families are
    being physically separated because of the ICE raids. They are being
    separated on a social/emotional level as well.

-   Teachers, coordinators, counselors, and others who work with
    families and children who are affected by the ICE raids are
    suffering, too. Not only is there a feeling of hopelessness, but
    many of these service providers are immigrants themselves and
    working with the immigrant population may bring up the trauma and
    stress that they suffered around their own immigration.

**Additional Activity around Schools**

ICE raids continue in the San Francisco Bay Area. On Tuesday, May 6,
just a little more than one year after the first raids in San Rafael,
similar ICE activity took place in Berkeley and Oakland. Two days later,
ICE agents returned to San Rafael and are known to have approached and
taken at least two Bahia Vista parents when they were walking their
children to school. In one case, because the ICE agents and father were
not able to communicate, the child -- a second-grader -- was put in the
position of have to translate and negotiate with ICE agents. The father
was taken away in front of the child.

This issue continues to be one that affects schools and families. Below
is an article from the San Francisco Chronicle describing the raids in
Berkeley and Oakland.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008 (SF Chronicle)

*ICE Raids on Homes Panic Schools, Politicians*

Jill Tucker, Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writers

> (05-06) 19:24 PDT Oakland \-- Immigration arrests at homes in Berkeley
> and Oakland on Tuesday sent a wave of panic among parents in both
> cities, as authorities mistakenly believed immigration agents were
> raiding schools.  
>
> U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were in both cities
> Tuesday, performing routine fugitive operations, spokeswoman Virginia
> Kice said. Teams go out virtually every day looking for specific
> \"immigration fugitives,\" she said.
>
> Officers arrested four family members at a Berkeley home and a woman
> at an Oakland residence. They were not at schools.
>
> Yet, within the next few hours, rumors of raids circulated throughout
> the communities.
>
> In Berkeley, school district Superintendent Bill Huyet sent out an
> automated phone message to all parents notifying them that a Latino
> family had been picked up and assuring them that the district would
> \"not allow any child to be taken away from the school.\"
>
> In Oakland, Mayor Ron Dellums and three school board members converged
> at the end of the school day on Stonehurst Elementary School along
> with immigration rights advocates, saying they believed ICE agents
> \"would return.\"
>
> \"In my view, that is the ugly side of government,\" Dellums said.
> \"No way children should ever be treated to that kind of harassment
> and fear.\"    He said police officers will be posted at the campus
> Wednesday to ensure that federal immigration officials don\'t come
> onto school grounds. He added that federal officials have assured him
> they will not be at schools.    Initially, Oakland district officials
> said federal agents were at Stonehurst and denied entry by school
> staff. By late afternoon, they rescinded that, saying that an ICE
> vehicle was seen nearby. Berkeley officials also said no agents were
> at local schools.
>
> Still, state Senator Don Perata, D-Oakland, got involved.
>
> \"There should be an immediate freeze on ICE raids directed at school
> children while legislation aiming to fix immigration is considered,\"
> he said in a statement.
>
> Later, immigration advocates said they believed ICE vans were circling
> schools and intimidating the community, noting that ICE officers
> accompanied a mother onto an Oakland school campus in December before
> questioning her in a workplace investigation.
>
> Kice said Tuesday\'s rumors took on a life of their own.
>
> In most cases, ICE fugitive operations take place at residences or
> sometimes at places of employment, she said. \"A school is not a place
> we would routinely conduct an enforcement operation for a variety of
> reasons,\" Kice said.
>
> The fear across the communities, however, was real.
>
> \"People are terrified,\" said Berkeley Unified spokesman Mark Coplan.
> \"There is a lot of speculation.\"
>
> Larry Bensky\'s fifth-grade daughter came home from Berkeley\'s
> LeConte Elementary School on Tuesday saying she had no homework
> because it was \"ICE week,\" which meant \"they\" were going after the
> families of the Latino children.
>
> \"She doesn\'t know what ICE is,\" Bensky said. \"She doesn\'t know
> what targeted is. You can imagine it\'s very disturbing for children
> that from one day to the next that a child they sit next to could be
> kidnapped, arrested and deported.\" Copyright 2008 SF Chronicle

The information provided in this narrative demonstrates the emotional
climate of the town, the school, and particularly of students and their
families. Students were crying, fearful, distraught and/or totally
preoccupied with worry and anxiety, which we believe this had and
continues to have an impact of student academic performance.

**A Call for Protection of America's Children**

Undeniably, the issues surrounding immigration are complex and we must
find ways to address them. Nevertheless, we ask that ways be found to
address them away from schools and away from children.

These children are, for the most part, American-born citizens with a
right to a quality education and the rights guaranteed to all American
citizens. They are America's children and the nation's future workforce.

Even when family members are successful in proving their right to be in
this country and return home, the memories of children remain -- the
memories of U.S. agents banging on the their doors at dawn, shining
flashlights in their faces, and taking their parents away in handcuffs.

There must be a better way to execute a federal mandate in a more
targeted manner. On behalf of America's children, the San Rafael City
Schools asks you to explore solutions, continue to shine a light on this
matter, ask the tough questions, keeping in mind the children -- those
who are born here, those who will stay here, those who will be our
future workforce and leaders.