State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Issues Statement in Response to Unnecessary Military Deployment and Mass Immigration Raids in Los Angeles

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent Tony Thurmond issued a statement today to President Trump in response to the unnecessary military deployment and mass immigration raids in Los Angeles:

“My message to President Trump is very clear: keep your hands off California’s kids. The President’s unchecked, unnecessary deployment of our nation’s military to the city of Los Angeles is deeply dangerous for our children, for our families, and for our country.

This has already gone too far. In the chaos of widespread raids last week, flash-bang grenades near campus sent a Los Angeles Unified elementary school into lockdown, striking fear in the hearts of our children as they are supposed be in a safe place to learn.  A fourth grader from Torrance Unified was detained and sent to Texas after attending a hearing with his father. Our children deserve to be protected and cared for, not terrified at school or ripped from their families.

Let’s be clear: When the President targets our immigrant families, he harms California’s children. About half of all children in our state have at least one immigrant parent. One in five children in California are in mixed-status families, meaning that they have parents who have different immigration statuses from each other. 93 percent of those children are United States citizens.

Innocent children should never be in handcuffs, and families should never be torn apart by our government.

We must condemn the threat to arrest our state’s lawfully elected Governor and the unnecessary deployment of our nation’s military to our largest city. These actions are a betrayal of our American values and an assault on all Californians. This must end now.”

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Tony Thurmond — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5602, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100