In February, Las Cruces Public Schools had over 2,300 students miss class after a reported immigration raid in the community.
Dr. Gregory Ewing, Superintendent of Las Cruces Public Schools says that the most important thing is that students come to school. He says that parents who may be concerned about any possible immigration enforcement actions have options in the district when it comes to getting their children to school if they notify the district.
“We will ensure that a bus comes to your residence to pick up your child and bring them to school,” says Ewing.
Ewing says that when it comes that schools in the district are places of learning not places for immigration raids. He says that even Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have schools listed as sensitive locations.
“We firmly believe that schools are places of learning, they are not places where immigration officers will come and sweep up students,” says Ewing.
Ewing says immigration officials with questions on legal status of students or employees of the district have not contacted him or the district since he has been in charge.
“Even if immigration officials where to come into our district and ask me how many undocumented students we have, we don’t have any answer for that…we don’t keep those records,” says Ewing.
Superintendent Ewing says that he teaches students that law enforcement, first responders, and the immigration officers they see should not be feared, because they are federal law enforcement officers that are working to protect the country and students.
“From my perspective, we haven’t seen any activity that’s been derogatory against a student within the school system, and we certainly don’t want students to be fearful of any type of issue or emergency to police or fire personnel,” says Ewing.
Ewing says the district’s board adopted a resolution http://lcps.k12.nm.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Ensuring-Immigrant-Students-Access-to-LCPS-Education-Resolution.pdf that says in the event that immigration officials were to ask permission to conduct a raid the district would state that it would be an interruption of the education process of the school day.
If future immigration raids happen within the Las Cruces area, Ewing says that trained professionals in the district are available to offer information so that students may be able to find the correct resources.
This is the part two of an interview with Dr. Gregory Ewing, Superintendent of Las Cruces Public Schools.
