Maui teacher detained in federal immigration raid describes tense, ‘upsetting’ moments

A Maui teacher, who along with other educators was detained by federal law enforcement officers during an early morning raid at a Kahului home Tuesday morning, said agents were looking for a convicted felon.

The female teacher, who is a US citizen, spoke during a Zoom press conference hosted by the Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association on Thursday afternoon. She shared her story of the tense moments that transpired, choosing to speak on condition of anonymity out of concern for her safety.

According to her account, she was detained along with multiple teachers from the Philippines who are in Hawaiʻi on J1 VISAs. About 10-15 of them live in a multi-family dwelling in Kahului, and are here on a program that allows international teachers to live in the US for five years, then go back and share their experience in their home countries as part of a cultural exchange.

“I gently opened the door a crack and asked them if they were ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement), and for identification. They rushed past me, pointing guns, telling me that they were looking for a convicted felon,” the teacher said.

She recalls telling one of the men that she was a US citizen and asked repeatedly if she could show a passport. According to the woman, she told the agent that there are teachers that are here legally, and asked if they could also show their IDs and VISAs as proof.

“I was denied… I noticed that they pointed their guns and ushered the other teachers, including myself, down the stairs,” she said, observing the acronym “ICE” on the back of some of the clothing worn by agents.

When the dwelling was cleared, there were about 10 or 12 teachers with their families and their children outside, according to the anonymous teacher.

She called the scene “overwhelming,” saying there were agents surrounding them. “I was really blown away by the fact of how many agents there were… I think at that moment [I] realized that I really needed to try to de-escalate this quickly because there were just so many of them, and I was worried about that.”

She said she wanted to make sure her fellow teachers and neighbors were okay: “I wanted to be that source of support… and so I wanted to make sure that I was with them—to advocate on their behalf. Because by the time I got to the front, there were people crying, there were people shaking. They were not even properly dressed, half of them.”

“So I asked again gently, if we could show them documentation to prove our identity, and once again I was told no. Then a considerable time had passed, and one of the teachers asked if we could notify our principal because it was getting close to the beginning of the school day, and they would need to get substitute teachers for us,” according to her account.

When she was finally allowed to return to her upstairs unit at 7 a.m., the teacher said 45 minutes had passed. When she showed the agent her passport, ” he was taken aback and looked shocked and apologized to me several times,” the woman explained.

According to her account, the landlord was provided with a search warrant after the fact, and indicated that agents were looking for a Hispanic man that had lived there over a year ago.

“The whole situation was really overwhelming and traumatic for all of us, but I felt the need to speak out because I felt it could have been handled better,” she said. “And I really do not want to see that happen again with teachers who are here to help our children, who are here legally as well.”

The raid comes six weeks after the Hawaiʻi Department of Education released a 10-page Law Enforcement Guidance Policy on March 21. It was prompted by the Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association, which had asked the department for “clear and comprehensive guidance” for its members about federal immigration raids.

“The important point here is that there was no warrant actually shown for these individuals,” said Andrea Eshelman, HSTA deputy director and chief negotiator.

Eshelman notes that there is guidance provided by the HSTA to teachers more specifically related to those having to deal with this in the school systems.

“In this case, this Maui teacher did everything that we would advise… Identify that you’re a US citizen, offer to show that identification. And, she was still held for nearly an hour.”

Maui Now reached out twice by email on Thursday for a comment from ICE, but did not hear back.

Osa Tui, Jr., HSTA president said: “We’ve been in constant communication with Sen. Schatz’s office, Sen. Hirono’s office, and also Rep. Tokuda, and they’re the ones who are taking the lead. They’re trying to hammer out exactly what happened in this situation, what went wrong, and what needs to be fixed.

On Wednesday, US Sen. Brian Schatz called the reported interrogation “a shameful abuse of power.”

US Sen. Mazie Hirono also denounced a recent sweep by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations.  

HSTA representatives say they are worried about not being able to attract future exchange teachers after the incident, at a time where there’s still teacher shortages. “We need to get every teacher we can to fill every single classroom. We don’t want classes with long term substitutes… We want them to have highly qualified educators in every single classroom.” organization leaders said.

“It was a situation that really rattled and shook us up,” the teacher said, “so we’re just trying to recover from it. But I also felt the need to speak out because I wanted to make sure in the future that… maybe ICE would have protocols… so it would not be a traumatic experience.”