EDMONDS—The Edmonds School District has officially cancelled its controversial “Know Your Rights” session aimed at preparing undocumented immigrants and their allies for potential ICE raids.
The session was to meet at Meadowdale High School on December 17th, but due to controversy online resulting in harassment, the session has been cancelled indefinitely, a district spokesperson told the Lynnwood Times.
“We believe it is in the best interest of families and staff to not hold the event at this time,” said Curtis Campbell, the district’s communications director.
According to the official flyer, the district planned to host the Mexican Consulate to explain to community members “how to prepare for immigration raids and your individual rights when approached, detained or incarcerated by police or immigration agents.”
The event was modeled after a similar event hosted by the Shoreline Police Department, said Campbell. He provided the objectives of the event in detail:
- Presenting information on the rights individuals have if their workplaces or homes are involved in immigration raids/actions,
- Providing guidance on how families can prepare plans in case of arrest or detention, such as planning for the care of their children,
- Answering immigration-related questions relating to school attendance and policies, and
- Offering information and guidance related to immigration documents and processes.
The event quickly garnered controversy online, particularly when X user @LibsofTikTok posted about the event on December 6.
“@MeadowdaleMavs school in Lynnwood, WA reportedly sent a message to families inviting them to a meeting to teach them how to prepare for ‘immigration raids’ and how to deal with ICE agents ahead of Trump’s presidency,” the account posted.
Other X users were quick to question the integrity of the event.
“The Mexican consulate is doing this at the high school? On American taxpayer property? This is outrageous,” wrote one user.
Some became more aggressive. Campbell said some statements have been reported to the social media platform, such as the following:
So far no threats have been directed toward students or staff, Campbell stated.
It is unclear how many students within the Edmonds School District are considered undocumented. By law, school districts are not permitted to ask about a child’s citizenship or immigration status.
In a Sunday interview with Kristen Welker of Meet the Press, President-elect Donald J Trump doubled down his mass deportation of illegal immigrants’ election promise saying that over the next four years he intends to deport everyone who has entered the United States illegally.
“They came in illegally. You know the people that have been treated very unfairly are the people that have been on line for ten years to come into the country,” Trump said.
When asked about the estimated 500,000 DACA recipients or Dreamers—undocumented immigrants who entered the U.S. as children—he said that he is willing to work with Democrats to pass legislation that would ensure Dreamers remain in the country. Trump added that he would not like to separate young children from their families and supports incoming Border Czar Tom Homan’s stance to deport the entire family regardless of a child’s citizenship status.
“Well, I don’t want to be breaking up families, so the only way you don’t break up the family is you keep them together and you have to send them all back,” Trump said.
Trump added, “We need deterrence. Look, ready? When somebody comes here illegally, they’re going out. It’s very simple. When they come here illegally, they’re going out. Now if they come here illegally but their family is here legally, then the family has a choice. The person that came in illegally can go out, or they can all go out together.”
Trump also shared with Welker that he intends to end birthright citizenship which would strip rights from those born in the country to undocumented parents. Trump did state that his first priority will be deporting those undocumented individuals with criminal records, a stance Governor-elect Bob Ferguson supports.
In a Seattle Times interview on December 5, Ferguson said he had “no problem” with deportations of “individuals who are criminals” under existing policies and law but is preparing if Trump pushes the legal envelop of his authority.
Author: Olivia Thiessen
9 Responses
Wow, so my tax money was going to be spent assisting criminals (people who violated immigration laws) from evading law enforcement. Just amazing.
This people pay taxes. Please educate yourself. Thank you.
-Land of immigrants
Randal, you need to do your homework. Not having immigration papers and entering the country with out inspection is a civil infraction, not a criminal one. Go ahead and go out and grow and harvest your own food, see how you like it. Maybe you’ll gain some appreciation for our hardworking immigrant friends and neighbors.
True, we need immigrant workers, but let’s not pretend that even a fraction of the people flooding our country are coming here to pick crops. We need to know who is coming into our country and we should not be allowing any criminals in (most civilized western countries don’t). And it would be nice if they would agree to adopt our principals, like civil liberties, women’s rights, gay rights, etc., but that’s be a task for congress. Anyhow, my 2¢
Not the first time Edmonds school district has not stayed in it’s lane. In 2018 Meadowdale High School had a school day reserved for a kind of “learning” fair called the “Equity Summit”, which was MANDATORY for all students. It was all progressive-ideology themed programs of the super-left. I still have the PDF and some of the options were workshops like “Cardi B and the Respectability of Womxnhood [sic]”, “Two to a Few: Shifting from a Binary Model to a Spectrum Model of Sexuality and Gender”, and this gem: “Awakening The Lion: Disobedience In The Face Of Oppression”. There were about 20 other equally ridiculous options for the kids to choose, oh I mean be forced to pick from. And the school was very quiet about about what was to be going on that day. I had to call the school repeatedly to find out the schedule and I only caught it because in a flyer they said they had an event coming up where Ijeoma Aluya would be the keynote speaker, so I knew something sketchy was happening.
…but they can’t celebrate Halloween there because it might offend a few of the religious folks who fins it demonic. 🤪
sorry, Ijeoma Oluo
Did you really just imply that the title “Disobedience in the face of oppression” was actually a bad message to share with children? Would “Rollover and take it in the face of oppression” be better?
Also, this immigration event was not mandatory for anyone and was meant for the greater community not the kids at the school?
The Halloween thing is ridiculous.
No I didn’t imply that, I was stating that emphatically. Teaching disobedience as an acceptable action to a bunch of high-schoolers who believe that THEY are oppressed is not good.
Our kids are failing at school, it is not the job of the school district to host, at taxpayers’ expense, some immigration program.
“Working class citizen” why not use your name?
cite your sources, please.