Louise Ngido, a middle school teacher in the Cape Henlopen School District who also participated, spoke passionately about the impact of mass deportations on students and families. As someone who works at a school where almost half of the student body is either immigrants or the children of immigrants, she’s seen the fear gripping her community.

“I’m really concerned with the possibility of schools becoming places where [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] can enter and detain children. I find that very terrifying,” Ngido said. “Children should never be used as pawns … the school is not the place, [it] is not the venue. It is meant to terrorize parents and to terrorize children, but to terrorize parents even more through their children, I think is inhumane,”

It’s already hard assimilating to a new country, she said. She also drew attention to the importance of legislation protecting sensitive locations, such as schools, churches and hospitals, from immigration enforcement.

“My understanding is that no location will be off-limits anymore,” she said. “There used to be kind of safe havens — places you couldn’t touch, like a hospital, a school, [or] a church. Places that were sacred. That if ICE wanted to detain a person, they couldn’t do it at those locations. And I agree with that. I think there are certain sacred places, if you’re sick, you should be able to go to a hospital. My husband works at a hospital. That should be a safe space. You should be able to go and have a baby at a hospital and not worry about ICE taking you away or separating you from your child.”

The training sessions provided Vincent and Ngido a sense of solidarity and actionable resources.

“There are people very knowledgeable about these issues,” Ngido said. “The program helped me understand the rights of our children, our staff and what our roles can be. It’s a huge learning curve, but I’m committed to sharing what I’ve learned with my colleagues.”

Vincent, who had never approached a legislator before, admitted that stepping into advocacy was outside her comfort zone.

“Face to face is a lot harder for me,” she said. “But I’m willing to do it because it’s that important. If I can be a part of the thing that happens, I want to be.”