Vermont-NEA’s Position on Immigration and Customs Enforcement presence in our communities

The members of Vermont-NEA strongly condemn the indiscriminate actions of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in communities throughout the nation. As a labor union, we support the rights of immigrants to live peacefully and without fear. As educators, we believe that our schools must be sanctuaries for our students, and that absent a judicial warrant, federal immigration authorities must be prohibited from entering our schools. We all have seen the heartbreaking pictures of families torn asunder when ICE agents use migrants’ children as bait to draw out immigrant parents. This must stop. We call on Governor Phil Scott – who has condemned ICE’s occupation of Minneapolis – to join us in reiterating Vermont’s historic welcoming of migrants and to ensure that our local public schools are off limits to immigration raids. As he said, “Enough.”