Miami-Dade Public Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho is speaking out against the Trump administration's decision to end temporary protected status for Haitians, saying it will negatively affect thousands of students in his schools.
Nearly 12,000 children and another 5,700 adults enrolled in the school system are impacted by the TPS decision, Carvalho said at a news conference Tuesday.
"Over my dead body shall anybody remove any child from the sanctity of our classrooms, from the sanctity that schools represent in our community," Carvalho said.
On Monday, it was announced that the benefit would be extended one more time, until July 2019. TPS was granted to Haitians following the 2010 earthquake that devastated the island.
"A nation that chooses to embark on the destruction of community, yanking children from their parents, forcing some to return to conditions not appropriate for their existence, is a nation that has lost its moral compass," Carvalho said.
