Educators and Activists Urge Hillary Clinton to Stop Student Deportations

By Sameer Rao Apr 07, 2016

Students, teachers and activists in Atlanta, Georgia, and Raleigh, North Carolina, gathered today (April 7) to demand that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton "do everything in her power" to stop the deportation of 10 undocumented immigrant youth who were recently detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. 

"Our children should be in school and not in detention centers," Lourdes Piñenda, whose daughter Kimberly Lizeth Piñeda Chavez was picked up in a raid, said during a rally outside the Democratic Party of Georgia’s office. "We are here to demand that Hillary act on her campaign promises. The time to act on behalf of our youth is now."

Fusion attributes the following quotes—cited by anti-deportation advocacy collective #Not1More, which was a main organizer of today’s actions—to Clinton: 

"I will not deport children. I would not deport children."

"I do not have the same policy as the current administration does. I think it’s important that we move towards comprehensive immigration reform, but at the same time stop the raids, stop the roundups, stop the deporting of people who are living here, doing their lives, doing their jobs."

At the Atlanta rally, Adelina Nicholls of the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights (GLAHR) said that the city’s ICE field office "is responsible for one-third of the 336 people who have been victims of these raids, making it the most aggressive in the country."

At a simultaneous rally outside the North Carolina Democratic Party office, Holly Hardin of the Durham Association of Educators discussed the impact detention has on students. "Many of these youth have already been detained all of third quarter. Worse, ICE’s detention of these youth has caused a far-reaching trauma that dissuades students from attending school and distracts them with the worry of removal." ​Hardin told Colorlines that one of the 10 detained students attended high school in Durham.

In both cities, participants delivered #Not1More petition to officials at the local Democratic party offices. 

Check out the following photos from the Atlanta action:

Learn more about the 10 detained students here.