Jessica (from the Smoke Signal): Do I have permission to record this conversation?
Mr. Leu: Of course.
Jessica: Okay, so thoughts and opinions on the Trump administration, ice, and immigrants.
Mr. Leu: I don’t know if I necessarily want to pin this on the Trump administration or, like you know, his decisions or his mandates and initiatives, but definitely, like Fremont is heavy immigrant population. Actually, this country is, like, founded on the whole idea of like, we came here looking for opportunities. My parents are both immigrants, and my mom is naturalized. My dad is not. Yeah, I think about this all the time. Like last year, I taught at a different school site that had a lot of students who were undocumented, and it was like a real concern. And there were days that social media would say that, Hey, I heard ice is doing raids. They’re doing this, you would see that entire population of students be afraid to come to school, right? And they wouldn’t show up. And these are the kids who like need the most support, right? Their families need the most support. And so I yeah, I don’t want to say it’s like I condone or don’t condone, right? I disagree with the way it’s being handled. I don’t know what the objective is. I don’t know what could possibly make someone or someone’s want to do that. But, yeah, like in the news, when I see people being detained or arrested unlawfully and just being removed from their where they live and where they work, it makes me insanely, like,
Jessica: upset, right?
Mr. Leu: Yeah, I don’t know if they’re being governed. I haven’t read too much into it, so I don’t know who’s in charge, who is giving them the authority to local police or state police? Are they even police or federal? So federal? I do think like California needs to do something about it, right? I know that some our school district has some policies about what is allowed in terms of how Fremont responded to it, I don’t know. I don’t know that that where we live in, like the Mission San Jose area. I don’t know that we’re necessarily being as affected as it, by it, by then other racial groups, right, primarily, like Hispanics and people from South America and Central America, so I don’t know the details on that, but
Jessica: Do you know, like, Northern California is actually one of the regions where there’s been the least amount of ICE raids and deportations, because California federal government does have, like, some things in place so that they won’t be cooperating with the federal government.
Mr. Leu: I see. So, California state government actually has some protections in place, yeah? Like, based on what the school district has told us about what’s I’m not surprised. Yeah, I see the social media though, right, and I feel it right, and I know that I had students who I actually started stay in contact with, and who I deeply cared about, like, who were afraid about school at my last school site, even though we have, like, the fewest deporting, any deportations or ICE raids or enforcement of to me, it’s, it’s, it’s unlawful. Right should be like, it shouldn’t exist.
Jessica: Do you think that because we’re in an area that’s like, more protected and we’re not as in contact with like, whatever is going on, especially like on the East Coast, there’s a lot more ice raids, that it makes us ignorant or makes us less empathetic towards those, especially like the younger generation?
Mr. Leu: Yeah, yeah, maybe ignorance is the wrong word there, but yeah, we definitely aren’t. We don’t feel it as much, right? We don’t have friends and family who’s getting picked up, right? We don’t live in fear. I think that’s like, what you’re trying to say. We don’t live in fear or see it happening. I think it depends on a person. I think it’s up to us to educate everybody what’s going on. But what you’re saying, I feel maybe disconnected. Like, how can I help? Like, what can I do right? If no one in my classes or I don’t know their status of their papers, if no one near me right in my circle that I roam every day is personally affected by this, and what can I do? Right? I can just say, Oh man, the news, it sucks, and we don’t agree. But how can I support I don’t know. So maybe it’s like we feel disconnected, like we feel like we can’t do anything about it, versus ignorance or not affected.
Jessica: There was a protest next to the justice building, like, over the weekend, and we had writers go interview people there. And did you hear about that protest? Like, beforehand?
Mr. Leu: I don’t even know where the Justice building is.
Jessica: It’s like, um, like, after, Lake Elizabeth, near the like, I don’t know the [other] road that’s but it’s by Paseo,
Mr. Leu: okay, yeah, I can kind of imagine where that would be. Yeah, I didn’t know there was a protest. Yeah, I didn’t. I’m not really on social media all that much, just for news and stuff. But yeah, I didn’t even know that was it big about people.
Jessica: I’m not too sure about the details either. But yeah, there was a protest. That’s all I know.
Mr. Leu: But I don’t know. It’s there’s this whole situation that’s been gone. I just feel like everyone is honestly letting it happen, but thoughts and prayers are not, they don’t solve problems, right? I just think that’s like, what’s always in the news in America is like, oh, thoughts and prayers out to this or justice for so and so, right? It’s always like
Jessica: It’s kind of performative?
Mr. Leu: It’s just, it’s performative. What are we actually doing about it? Right? What needs to happen is education. So young people go out and vote right? Like, if they don’t like, to understand, make sure that they say something next election cycle.
Jessica: Yes. Okay, that was a good conversation.