“They left behind them a trail of fear”
http://wvwnews.net/story.php?id=4585
Zachary Coile, Chronicle Washington Bureau
When federal agents raided a San Rafael apartment complex in the early morning hours of March 6, 2007, searching for 30 undocumented immigrants, they left behind a lot of terrified children, Kathryn Gibney, the principal at nearby San Pedro Elementary http://wvwnews.net/story.php?id=4499, said.
The agents shone flashlights in the children’s faces. Several parents were handcuffed in front of their kids. The next day 40 of the school’s 400 students were too frightened to http://wvwnews.net/story.php?id=4219, and others arrived in tears. A year later, Gibney said the effects continue with higher absenteeism, lower test scores and increased counseling for her students.
“They left behind them a trail of http://wvwnews.net/story.php?id=4093," Gibney told lawmakers Tuesday in a hearing before a House Education and Labor subcommittee.Petaluma Democratic Rep. Lynn Woolsey called the hearing in response to growing anxiety among immigrants and the schools, churches and social service agencies that serve them, that stepped-up raids by the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency are coming at a high cost to children. Woolsey said she is considering legislation that would require the agency to follow guidelines to protect children.
Earlier this month, the Oakland Unified School District sent uniformed officers into an elementary school in East Oakland to reassure parents and students after reports of ICE vans in the area. The agency insisted it was not targeting the school, but seeking adults in the area who had been named in arrest warrants.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/21/MN9510PLTR.DTL