Immigrant and Refugee Children: A Guide for Educators

Posted by Teaching Tolerance on February 6, 2017

Being There for Immigrant and Refugee Students
We support undocumented, unaccompanied and refugee youth. And now, more than ever, they need advocates in schools. Read this guide for educators, school support staff and service providers so that you can be there for these vulnerable students.

http://www.tolerance.org/magazine/number-55-spring-2017/feature/immigrant-and-refugee-children-guide-educators-and-school-su

This guide was created for educators, school support staff and service providers who teach, mentor and help open the doors of opportunity for undocumented youth and unaccompanied and refugee children currently living in the United States. Educators, school support staff and service providers are often the first individuals a student and/or family comes out to as undocumented.

Moreover, they are often the first ones to witness the impact of increased enforcement measures on students and their families.

Schools should be safe havens that embrace all students and families, regardless of citizenship and national origin, and that includes unaccompanied and refugee children. The 1982 U.S. Supreme Court case Plyler v. Doe ruled that undocumented children have a constitutional right to receive a free public K–12 education, which provides the means to becoming a “self-reliant and self-sufficient participant in society,” the court wrote, and instills the “fundamental values necessary to the maintenance of a democratic political system.” However, today’s increased enforcement measures by the Department of Homeland Security and campaign promises made by the incoming administration threaten that right for thousands of undocumented youth and the 4.1 million U.S.-born children who live in mixed-status households with at least one parent or family member who is undocumented.