PRESS STATEMENT
–For immediate release: September 5, 2017–
BOSTON (SEPT 5) — The Boston Teachers Union issued the following statements today on the decision by President Trump to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program:
Jessica Tang, president of the Boston Teachers Union:
DACA has been an incredibly successful and beneficial program. It reflects our values as a country and has helped 800,000 DREAMers gain new freedom and security, work toward achieving their dreams—including education and college—and contribute to the country they call home. In spite of President Trump’s heartless and inhumane decision today, Boston educators will continue our work to protect and uplift all students, families, and communities. We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with student and community organizations leading the fight for immigrant rights. We call on Congress to immediately pass the Dream Act of 2017 to protect DACA-eligible individuals.
Claudia Martinez, chair of the Boston Teachers Union’s Unafraid Educators:
We are deeply saddened and outraged by the callous decision of this administration to strip 800,000 young people of the relative peace of mind and opportunity that they gained through DACA. These DREAMers are working hard and want nothing more than to continue to contribute to the country they call home. As educators, we steadfastly believe in our shared responsibility to protect and uplift all children. We urge Congress to act. To affected families: we will not abandon you because this administration has decided to; we urge you to visit www.weareheretostay.org for resources and updates. For educators, we have also created an online toolkit available at unafraideducators.org with resources to support our students and families.
###
More than 10,000 teachers and other professionals including nurses, psychologists, paraprofessionals, substitute teachers, and guidance counselors are united through the Boston Teachers Union. More information is available at BTU.org.
The Boston Teachers Union’s Unafraid Educators are a group of volunteer advocates who spearhead efforts to support undocumented and immigrant students in Boston Public Schools, including creating the Unafraid Scholarship in partnership with local immigrant rights organization MIRA, to allow Boston students who do not qualify for federal financial aid due to their immigration status to pursue their dreams of a college education.