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1 SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION
2 WHEREAS, School districts and the Illinois General
3 Assembly have a responsibility to protect all students
4 regardless of their race, immigration status, religion,
5 ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation and to recognize
6 their contribution to our diverse learning community and will
7 not be impeded or subdued from exercising our collective
8 responsibility; Illinois has an estimated 510,000 undocumented
9 residents, and of that number, which includes those in higher
10 education, roughly 400,000 are students; and
11 WHEREAS, The education, safety, emotional well-being, and
12 family relationships of numerous students are at-risk; whether
13 it is because of their immigration status, race, sexual
14 orientation, or religion, students should be protected and in
15 safe hands when learning; and
16 WHEREAS, School districts and the Illinois General
17 Assembly should be committed to ensuring that schools and
18 school campuses are safe and welcoming places for all students
19 and their families; and
20 WHEREAS, Federal immigration law enforcement activities
21 and stop and frisk practices on or around district property
22 and transportation routes, whether by surveillance, interview,
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1 demand for information, arrest, detention, or any other means,
2 have the potential to harmfully disrupt the learning
3 environment to which all students, regardless of immigration
4 status, race, religion, or sexual orientation, are entitled;
5 and
6 WHEREAS, No federal or state law obligates a public school
7 district to earmark any resources, financial or otherwise, to
8 the enforcement of federal immigration laws or stop and frisk
9 policies; and
10 WHEREAS, Educational personnel are often the primary
11 source of support, resources, and information to assist and
12 support students and student learning, which includes their
13 emotional health; and
14 WHEREAS, School districts and the Illinois General
15 Assembly should have the best interest of the students, staff,
16 families, and school community in mind as they take measures
17 to ensure that disruptions to the educational environment that
18 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions may create
19 will be opposed by any legal means available; and
20 WHEREAS, The 1982 Supreme Court case Plyler v. Doe
21 established that undocumented children have a constitutional
22 right to receive a free public K-12 education in the United
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1 States; therefore, be it
2 RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED FOURTH GENERAL
3 ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE HOUSE OF
4 REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING HEREIN, that we call on school
5 districts and school boards to pass resolutions that:
6 (1) Designate Illinois schools to be a safe haven for
7 all students, school staff, and families threatened by
8 immigration enforcement, discrimination, and stop and
9 frisk policies to the fullest extent permitted by law and
10 communicate safe haven status through correspondence,
11 signage, and other messaging to students, school staff,
12 parents, and community members;
13 (2) Prevent the release of information or assist ICE
14 and/or local law enforcement with identifying and
15 apprehending undocumented students, school staff, parents,
16 or their families;
17 (3) Require agencies with which it holds
18 intergovernmental agreements, such as local law
19 enforcement departments or agencies, to uphold the
20 determinations outlined in this resolution;
21 (4) Abstain from using Illinois school resources for
22 detecting or assisting in the apprehension of persons who
23 may be targeted in immigration enforcement, unless
24 specifically supported by a valid and properly issued
25 criminal warrant;
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1 (5) Deny the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's
2 (DHS) access to school databases, facilities, equipment,
3 personnel, and other resources for purposes of
4 implementing registries based on race, gender, sexual
5 orientation, religion, immigration status, or national or
6 ethnic origin to conduct civil immigration enforcement;
7 (6) Reject any effort to create religious litmus tests
8 or screenings for individuals or families to navigate the
9 immigration process and, most importantly, reject any
10 federal or state effort to create a registry of
11 individuals based on religion or ethnicity; and
12 (7) Oppose any existing or future federal mandates to
13 implement stop and frisk policies in and around schools
14 that have and will continue to contribute to the growth of
15 the school to prison pipeline for African American
16 students and a fast track to deportations for undocumented
17 students; and be it further
18 RESOLVED, That we urge all school districts in the State
19 of Illinois to pass resolutions and implement policies that
20 protect undocumented students, families, staff, and community
21 partners; and be it further
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