School takes unusual (and heartbreaking) step to protect illegal immigrant students

If you send your children to a school more focused on “Resisting Trump” than providing them with a well rounded education, this is what you get, folks.

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This very sad story takes place out in Kent School District in Washington state. Various class members were preparing for international school trips which had been in the works for some time, including journeys to Canada and Japan. Then some bad news came in. They wouldn’t be going… not for a lack of funding or any security concerns, but because the faculty was concerned that their illegal immigrant students wouldn’t be able to get back into the country. And if they can’t go, nobody is going. (The Olympian)

The Kent School Board has decided to halt all international field trips, worried that stricter border enforcement could prevent Kent students who are in the United States illegally from returning to the country.

The decision, announced at what was described as an emotional board meeting Wednesday night, resulted in the immediate cancellation of two Kentlake High School trips scheduled for this school year: an education exchange to Osaka, Japan, and a band trip to Victoria, B.C., that has been a school tradition for 18 years.

Chris Loftis, the district’s executive director of communications, said the “sometimes confusing messaging” from President Donald Trump’s administration regarding border enforcement raised questions about whether all of the students slated to go on those trips would be allowed to return to the U.S., especially if they lacked adequate documentation of legal U.S. residency.

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This is truly staggering. It’s difficult to imagine what a lot of these students and their parents must be feeling right about now. All of the fundraising that went into their efforts to prepare for these trips abroad is effectively wasted. An opportunity to travel which is far above and beyond anything we had available when I was in high school has gone up in smoke. And it’s apparently beyond the control of the rest of the families. All so those who are in the country illegally to begin with can remain safe from law enforcement.

It’s not hard to imagine a situation where some students couldn’t afford the contribution for the trip and the rest of the families came up with a way to raise the money. If there was a critically ill student who was unable to make the journey you can even picture the rest of the kids deciding to remain at home in solidarity. But this? The school is funded by taxpayers… presumably those who are in the country legally. And now all of their kids will effectively be punished to protect families who are breaking the law. This is precisely why it’s not enough to win elections at the national level. As I’ve said here in the past, you need to be active in your own state, county and community, right down to getting sane people elected to the local school board. Had that been done in the Kent School District these administrators might be home on unpaid leave (because you still can’t fire the worst teachers… thanks, unions) and the kids might be packing for Canada and Japan.

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Forget making America great again. I’d just settle for “sane” at this point.

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Beege Welborn 5:00 PM | December 24, 2024
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