Schools
ICCSD Removes Suspected Immigrant Children from Classrooms to Ask Re Immigration Status
ICCSD staff remove suspected immigrant children from classrooms to ask re immigration status. Five-year-old Latino removed from k-garten.
Caption: Supt. Steve Murley, turning around to look at the crowd supporting fired ICCSD homeless liaison, Stephanie Van Housen, on September 6, 2016.
My original source for this piece is running scared. He won’t return my phone calls after allowing me to photograph him, his wife, and his children, including the five-year-old boy and the 10-year-old girl who were removed from their classrooms individually by Iowa City Community School District staff to be questioned regarding their immigration status.
The father in question must feel vulnerable. He was forthcoming and specific when I first spoke to him. The last time I spoke to him he wanted me to keep my blog post general to refer to all children in this situation. I explained to him that personalizing the piece, showing a photograph of the adorable, handsome little five-year-old who was smart enough to know who his father should vote for to keep him safe would make the story specific, credible, and more interesting.
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That was the last time I talked to him. I called him twice. No reply.
If I mentioned the school, Superintendent Steve Murley would blame the principal of that elementary school. Needless to say, I don’t believe that a principal would dare to take such an initiative without the knowledge and consent, nay the directive of top administration, given that the ICCSD has a known “retaliatory” culture, as alleged by the Iowa Department of Education in its special education report.
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The five-year-old Latino boy and the 10-year-old Latina girl told me themselves in person that they were removed from their ICCSD classrooms without parental consent and without a child advocate present to be questioned as to their immigration status.
“Daddy, are you going to vote for Hillary Clinton?” the smart little five-year-old asked his father later in the day.
Sorry I can’t show you how cute the kids are, but I don’t have their parents’ permission to publish them. I only had permission to take the photographs and I don’t think that’s the same as giving permission to publish them.