REBROADCAST: Implications of Accelerated Deportation

“And how are the children?” That traditional Maasai greeting is at the heart of a series of GLR Learning Tuesdays sessions that were hosted by the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading (CGLR) this spring and are being rebroadcast with updates during the month of August.

In the first in this series of updated rebroadcasts, CGLR partners with Brazelton Touchpoints Project to focus on the children of immigrant families who face accelerated detention and deportation. Pronouncements and actions to rescind protections for “sensitive locations” — such as hospitals, schools, and houses of worship — raise legitimate concerns and require additional consideration about how to mitigate adverse academic, emotional, and developmental consequences for the children of immigrants in schools and child care settings. More recently, passage of HR 1, challenges to birthright citizenship, and a new rule from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services regarding immigrant eligibility for programs such as Head Start pose additional challenges for those working to support children’s learning and development.

At the start of the rebroadcast, Wendy Cervantes of the Center for Law and Social Policy offers updates on more recent developments since the initial broadcast of this session. Throughout the conversation, panelists explore the potential implications for the early childhood programs and schools that serve immigrant children and families, calling out the ensuing challenges to successful teaching and learning, student attendance, and family engagement, and, most importantly, the healthy development of the children involved. Panelists also highlight information, strategies, and tools that caring communities can use to mitigate harm to these and all children.