Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of SJR0011

SJ0011 LRB104 11137 MST 21219 r

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, School districts and the Illinois General Assembly have a responsibility to protect all students regardless of their race, immigration status, religion, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation and to recognize their contribution to our diverse learning community and will not be impeded or subdued from exercising our collective responsibility; Illinois has an estimated 510,000 undocumented residents, and of that number, which includes those in higher education, roughly 400,000 are students; and

WHEREAS, The education, safety, emotional well-being, and family relationships of numerous students are at-risk; whether it is because of their immigration status, race, sexual orientation, or religion, students should be protected and in safe hands when learning; and

WHEREAS, School districts and the Illinois General Assembly should be committed to ensuring that schools and school campuses are safe and welcoming places for all students and their families; and

WHEREAS, Federal immigration law enforcement activities and stop and frisk practices on or around district property and transportation routes, whether by surveillance, interview, demand for information, arrest, detention, or any other means, have the potential to harmfully disrupt the learning environment to which all students, regardless of immigration status, race, religion, or sexual orientation, are entitled; and

WHEREAS, No federal or state law obligates a public school district to earmark any resources, financial or otherwise, to the enforcement of federal immigration laws or stop and frisk policies; and

WHEREAS, Educational personnel are often the primary source of support, resources, and information to assist and support students and student learning, which includes their emotional health; and

WHEREAS, School districts and the Illinois General Assembly should have the best interest of the students, staff, families, and school community in mind as they take measures to ensure that disruptions to the educational environment that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions may create will be opposed by any legal means available; and

WHEREAS, The 1982 Supreme Court case Plyler v. Doe established that undocumented children have a constitutional right to receive a free public K-12 education in the United States; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING HEREIN, that we call on school districts and school boards to pass resolutions that:

(1) Designate Illinois schools to be a safe haven for all students, school staff, and families threatened by immigration enforcement, discrimination, and stop and frisk policies to the fullest extent permitted by law and communicate safe haven status through correspondence, signage, and other messaging to students, school staff, parents, and community members;

(2) Prevent the release of information or assist ICE and/or local law enforcement with identifying and apprehending undocumented students, school staff, parents, or their families;

(3) Require agencies with which it holds intergovernmental agreements, such as local law enforcement departments or agencies, to uphold the determinations outlined in this resolution;

(4) Abstain from using Illinois school resources for detecting or assisting in the apprehension of persons who may be targeted in immigration enforcement, unless specifically supported by a valid and properly issued criminal warrant;

(5) Deny the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) access to school databases, facilities, equipment, personnel, and other resources for purposes of implementing registries based on race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, immigration status, or national or ethnic origin to conduct civil immigration enforcement;

(6) Reject any effort to create religious litmus tests or screenings for individuals or families to navigate the immigration process and, most importantly, reject any federal or state effort to create a registry of individuals based on religion or ethnicity; and

(7) Oppose any existing or future federal mandates to implement stop and frisk policies in and around schools that have and will continue to contribute to the growth of the school to prison pipeline for African American students and a fast track to deportations for undocumented students; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we urge all school districts in the State of Illinois to pass resolutions and implement policies that protect undocumented students, families, staff, and community partners; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be provided to the Illinois State Board of Education to be distributed to every school district in the State of Illinois.