Denver: immigrant teachers threatened with deportation if they join strikes

Denver public school system sent teachers letters warning if they went went on strike, their visas could be jeopardized

Mike Elk and Christine Bolaños
Wed 20 Feb 2019 11.00 GMT

Immigrant educators are being threatened with deportation if they attempt to join the wave of teachers’ strikes hitting the US.

In an attempt to dissuade its recent strike, the Denver public school system sent letters to teachers in January warning immigrant teachers that if they went on strike, their visas could be jeopardized.

Since many types of visas require that workers be employed in order to stay in the country, the district warned that participating in the strike could jeopardize how the federal government views their work status.

“In the event that you have teachers who have H or J visas [two types of visas for foreign students and teachers and foreign workers] and that choose to strike, they are allowed to do so, but we need to be informed as soon as possible so that we can report that to immigration and the US Department of State. If they have a pending case and they choose to strike, this could impact the decision on the case,” wrote Taylor Tanick, a human resources professional, in a letter to teachers in the school district obtained by the Guardian.

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