Morton Students Demand Protection for Undocumented Community in School District
Image description: In the background is a gradient of an orange sky, to different shades of purple to a purple blue sky. In the middle ground is a red brick concrete building of a school with an orange sunset reflecting in the tall windows. There are square patches of grass on the lawn. In white capital letters overlaying the building are the words #MakeMortonSanctuary.
Infographic made by Nayeli Rodriguez for the MakeMortonSanctuary Instagram page.
By Luis Velazquez
With a petition of 1,746 signatures and their signature hashtag #MakeMortonSanctuary, a group of rising sophomores at J.Sterling Morton Freshman Center are demanding that the J.S Morton School District 201 become a sanctuary district.
Students at the Freshman Center launched the campaign as part of a school project. They first began by brainstorming issues that impact their community the most.
A common topic that was brought to the table was immigration. The students then began to connect their main issue with education.
“We started looking into how it affects us and what needs to change, especially within our district,” said Kay, a current Morton East High School student who requested to use a different name.
According to students, this initiative is needed in order to protect Cicero's undocumented community members who attend the district.
Sanctuary districts or schools are institutions that don’t involve themselves with immigration law and vow to protect undocumented students, according to Learning For Justice. Sanctuary schools may ban questioning someone’s immigration status or country of birth, remove police from schools or set up special student counselors with knowledge to support undocumented students.
In 2017, it was estimated that at least 18,000 people living in Cicero are undocumented, according to the Chicago Tribune. It is not uncommon for immigration authorities to make arrests in Cicero. Last month, Antonio Martinez was detained outside of his Cicero home. The Town of Cicero does not have a sanctuary ordinance.
Jai, another student who goes to Morton East and is involved with the campaign, said that although he does not have personal experience dealing with immigration, he fears that his school could experience U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids.
“It's very terrible how the government is right now since they are spreading fear into younger children and the younger children don't know what is going on,” said Jai.
The group of students sent their proposal to the school district administration on June 7, but are waiting for a response back.
Kay said she hopes the proposal will help protect and educate students and staff on how to handle immigration issues.
“I feel like because it isn't a topic that's talked about in our community. Some of us haven't heard of it or don't know exactly what it means to be a sanctuary,” Kay said.
In developing the proposal, students felt it was important to consider the needs of English language learners. According to the Illinois Report Card, the student population of English language learners at J.S. Morton High School District has increased from 13% in 2016 to 19% in 2020.
Marisol, a current Morton student who requested to use a different name, said her fear of government authorities encouraged her to help with this project. Although she is not an undocumented student, she would like to see change in her community.
“When I was younger, I was very confused, because I wasn’t comfortable with the authorities in my school. It was very sad because I didn't understand it. But I was scared for the safety of my family,” Marisol said.
Demands of the students include protecting students’ rights, not cooperating or working with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and supplying undocumented students and their families with resources and information that can provide them a more equitable education, according to their petition.
Luis Velazquez is a contributing reporter for Cicero Independiente.
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