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Portland Observer
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‘City of Roses’
Volume XLV
Number 47
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • November 23, 2016
Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Portland School Board Member Julie Esparza Brown has rallied and won support for a new school
district policy to affirm the protection of civil liberties and the rights of undocumented students.
School
Sanctuaries
photo by M ark W ashington /t he p ortland o bserver
Classes end Friday at Beach School in north Portland. A new reso-
lution by the Portland School Board calls for protecting the phys-
ical safety and emotional well-being of all children in the district
regardless of national origin or immigration status.
Board member rallies support for undocumented
by M ichael l eighton
p ortland o bserver e ditor
The sole representative of col-
or on the Portland School Board
has successfully rallied her col-
leagues behind a new district pol-
icy to make its schools safe and
welcoming places that affirm the
protection of civil liberties and the
rights of all children regardless of
immigration status.
Latina Board Director Julie Es-
parza Brown brought her concerns
to a board meeting the day after
the election of Donald Trump as
president. In his campaign, Trump
vowed to deport millions of undoc-
umented immigrants from Mexico
and ban Muslim refugees from
Syria and other Mideast countries.
He also pledged to dismantle the
Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals, or DACA, a program
from the Obama Administration
that protects children from depor-
tation who were brought illegally
to America.
The heated rhetoric surround-
ing the proposals has brought “a
great deal of worry and concern
about family stability and safe-
ty throughout our community,”
Brown said. “We want to ensure
we have policies and procedures
in place so our families feel safe.”
On Thursday, the school board
voted unanimously for a resolu-
tion sponsored by Brown that clar-
ifies and limits immigration en-
forcement in Portland’s schools,
citing a commitment to providing
for the physical safety and emo-
tional well-being of all children in
school.
A professor at Portland State
University and a third generation
Chicana, Brown said there is a
history of large scale deportation
raids in the city of Portland by fed-
eral officers of Immigration Con-
trol Enforcement (ICE). The pos-
sibility of renewed enforcement
under the law and order pledges
by Trump required a pre-emptive
policy for protecting children, re-
gardless of national origin or im-
migration status, she said.
“We won’t tolerate any ha-
rassment and bullying of our stu-
dents,” Brown told the Portland
Observer. “When families are de-
tained, we need a process of what
to do to keep kids safe.”
On Friday, PSU President Wim
Wiewel, in a message to faculty,
staff and students, also declared
that PSU would respond to con-
cerns about the safety and wellbe-
ing of undocumented students and
those covered by DACA, by de-
claring the university “a sanctuary
campus dedicated to the principles
of equity, diversity and safety.”
c ontinued on p age 4