Some, freshly pressed passports in hand, end up in their parents鈥� country of origin 鈥� even when it鈥檚 not their own.

Others are sent to live with family or friends while an unlucky number are placed in foster care, their parents鈥� rights in jeopardy and reunification precarious. 

The teenagers among them are sometimes thrust into a parenting role themselves: This overnight push into adulthood can leave them managing mortgages while their peers are picking prom dresses in the first of many sacrifices, immigrant advocates told 社区黑料. 

鈥淎 lot of these older siblings are forgoing college plans and looking for work, trying to figure out how to be mom and dad for their siblings,鈥� said Wendy D. Cervantes, director of immigration and immigrant families for The Center for Law and Social Policy.  

An 18-year-old Texas resident was left without parents or his U.S.-born siblings more than a year ago when his entire family was stopped by federal agents as they were driving to get medical care for his seriously ill sister. All ended up being sent to Mexico. Using the pseudonym Fernando Hern谩ndez Garc铆a, the young man testified before a House and Senate hearing last week that he was forced to give up college in order to work full time to try and keep the family home.

There are measures in place to help families with this unwanted transition. In 2013, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued the , a federal guideline meant to ensure 鈥渋mmigration enforcement activities do not unnecessarily disrupt鈥� parental rights. 

It allowed ICE to consider whether it needed to hold these immigrants. And if they were detained, the directive encouraged the agency to house them near their families so they could participate in child placement hearings. 

The agency was also advised to arrange transportation to and from court or otherwise allow parents or legal guardians to participate in such proceedings by phone or video.

鈥淚t required some sort of cooperation between ICE and local child welfare agencies,鈥� Cervantes said. 

But this directive has been under attack for years. It was weakened during the first Trump administration, bolstered in the Biden era and diminished once again when Trump took office for the second time 鈥� and launched a mass deportation campaign.

found that the parents of at least 11,000 U.S. citizen children were arrested and detained in the first seven months of Trump鈥檚 second term. The news site also determined the Trump administration is per day as did the Biden administration. 

That 11,000 number will have ProPublica reported, if arrests and detentions continued at the same pace in the ensuing months.

The data obtained by ProPublica covers a period up to mid-August 2025. Some of the Trump administration鈥檚 most aggressive immigration enforcement sweeps occurred after that in targeted cities, including Chicago, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Minneapolis.  

鈥淚 do fear in the months ahead that we could see more instances where kids unnecessarily end up in the child welfare system because of the way ICE has been conducting its raids,鈥� Cervantes said, adding its tactics have been carried out 鈥渋n a way that really doesn’t give us any assurances they are abiding by their own policy to allow parents to make decisions about what happens to their kids at the time of arrest.鈥�

Families too afraid to reach out

Added to this anxiety, the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the execution of these and other directives, is in flux. The DHS is now in the second month of a partial government shutdown as congressional Democrats push to rein in the actions of federal immigrant agents and make them more publicly accountable. 

The department is also in the midst of a leadership change: Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin will replace former Secretary Kristi Noem, who was

Despite concerns about his temperament 鈥� a former cage fighter, Mullin once tried to coax a union leader into a physical altercation during a Senate committee hearing 鈥� his nomination was .

It’s unclear how Mullin, a 2020 election denier, would wield his authority. But he has said he and recently defended the killing of two Minneapolis residents who protested the government鈥檚 immigration enforcement efforts, calling victim Alex Pretti 鈥渄eranged.鈥� He later said he should not have made the comment, but declined to apologize for it. 

Parents considering their family鈥檚 future in the current environment are sure to wonder what comes next as they contemplate the limited tools available to them, including , which allows people subject to immigration enforcement in some states to designate a caretaker for their kids. 

It鈥檚 a valuable lever, said Julie Babayeva, supervising attorney with the New York Legal Assistance Group: It goes into effect the moment someone is detained. But many families are reluctant to apply for it, she said. 

鈥淲e have been talking to PTAs, schools and community organizations in heavily immigrant communities,鈥� Babayeva said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just difficult for people to trust this. They think, 鈥榃hat if I tell you my phone number and that leads to ICE coming to my house?鈥� People don’t understand that we’re not giving this information out to anyone, that it is confidential.鈥�

shows 19 million children in the U.S. have at least one immigrant parent and that 1 in 6 鈥� or 9 million school-aged children 鈥� live in a household with at least one noncitizen adult. An overwhelming majority of these kids are U.S. citizens. 

A Los Angeles teacher, who asked to remain anonymous because of her own citizenship status, recalled the case of two elementary school-aged children 鈥� and a toddler 鈥� left with their nearly 80-year-old grandmother, who had to return to work to support them after their parents were taken by ICE. 

Such disruptions inflict enormous psychological and emotional damage on children, she said. 

鈥淭hey鈥檝e heard the rhetoric of Trump saying he鈥檚 going after criminals and though they know that鈥檚 not true, they still don鈥檛 understand why their parents would be targeted,鈥� she said. 

Roughly were deported in Trump’s first year in office and of the in ICE detention as of February, more than 73% had no criminal convictions. 

Eric Marquez, a teacher at New York City鈥檚 ELLIS Preparatory Academy, which serves older, immigrant students, said that from a classroom perspective, what stands out most is that these newcomers often present as remarkably composed. 

鈥淭hey tend to put on a brave face, adapt quickly on the surface and rarely bring up in conversation the people in their lives who may have been detained or deported,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 often an understatedness to it.鈥�

At the same time, teachers can sometimes see the impact indirectly, including shifts in focus, attendance and energy, he said. 

Ellis Prep鈥檚 own Dylan Contreras was among the first high school students to be detained by ICE when he was arrested after a May 2025 court appearance. Held in a Pennsylvania detention center for 10 months, he was and returned to school for the first time March 24.

Immigrant families are not the only ones puzzled and angry over the administration鈥檚 tactics. Residents in Springfield, Ohio, worried their Haitian neighbors will be deported because their Temporary Protective Status is in jeopardy, have stepped up to do something about it 鈥� in this case, house their children. 

One woman, who asked not to be identified for fear of attracting stirred up by Trump, secured emergency foster care credentials to support kids who might need somewhere safe to stay while they wait for a more permanent placement. The process took eight weeks to complete, she told 社区黑料.

“I am ready for 0 to 18,” she said of the age of children she could take in at a moment’s notice. “I want to keep siblings together.鈥�

A sudden rush of unhoused kids felt imminent earlier this year when Haitians鈥� protective status was set to expire and word spread that federal immigration agents would soon arrive in Springfield to deport them. After some 600,000 Venezuelans lost their last year, a lawyer representing the group said 鈥渉undreds and potentially thousands of Venezuelan nationals (had)

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court prohibited the Trump administration from ending Haitian deportation protections and in the case in late April. 

Separation not easily undone 

Once separated, family reunification can be difficult, notes Gabrielle Oliveira, an associate professor at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education who has studied immigration for years. Bureaucratic hurdles mean it can take months for a U.S. citizen child to get a passport to join their parents in a foreign country. 

Oliveira said, too, some of the children who enter foster care have family eager to shelter them but they won鈥檛 step forward because they are too afraid to interact with the government.

These new forms of family separation are among many fears undocumented immigrants face. But it鈥檚 not the worst of them, Oliveira and other advocates said: Detention is by far the most frightening prospect. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 been harder and harder to get in touch with people who are detained,鈥� Oliveira said. 鈥淪ometimes months go by and (federal authorities) don’t even tell you where they are. So, parents are even more worried about that than the actual deportation.鈥�

And, she said, limited communication with family makes it challenging to come to a conclusion on child care. 

鈥淵ou can’t make decisions,鈥� Oliveira said. 鈥淵ou can’t make phone calls. You can’t figure out what the plan is.鈥�

Already, Cervantes said, her office has seen the fallout. 

鈥淲e’ve heard about 15- and 16-year-olds living by themselves for several weeks because their parents were detained and they had no idea where they were,鈥� she said. 鈥淚CE was not checking to make sure they were OK. These are U.S. citizen kids.鈥�

And there are other, practical issues that make it hard to reunite in a foreign country, Oliveira said, recalling one family trying to meet up in South America. 

鈥淭he dad got deported and the mom was here with the kids, and then she was trying to leave and go back to Brazil 鈥� but she was nervous that if she went to the airport, she would be arrested,鈥� Oliveira said. 

When children are left with undocumented relatives, it鈥檚 nearly impossible for them to leave the United States to deliver the kids to their parents, said Shaina Simenas, co-director for the Young Center鈥檚 Technical Assistance Program.

鈥淚f you have a young child that is left with another relative who has their own immigration needs, how would you get them to the country of origin?鈥� she said. 鈥淲e’re working with a lot of families who are from Venezuela, and there are so many challenges even getting Venezuelan passports 鈥� or getting flights to Venezuela. And, of course, there is the financial toll of buying international flights and paying for passports and travel documents.鈥�

Simenas believes poor record-keeping on the part of the government means a lack of accountability. 

鈥淚CE doesn’t consistently and reliably identify whether adults are caregivers for children and so that alone makes it harder to track what might have happened to their children after a parent was taken,鈥� she said. 

Many families separated during Trump鈥檚 first term have not seen justice, she noted. Nearly 1,000 children were still waiting to reunite with their parents in 2023, according to . 

鈥淔or families being separated now,鈥� she said, 鈥淚 think there are even fewer ways to track them, to be able to support and ensure they have access to reunify.鈥�

That鈥檚 how children 鈥� all U.S. citizens 鈥� and their parents described their treatment by federal immigration agents in accounts delivered in Washington, D.C., Tuesday at a joint House and Senate hearing. 

The teens told lawmakers these encounters have left them unable to sleep, concentrate on school, plan for their future or feel safe in any setting.

鈥淲henever I hear sirens or I see an officer, my heart starts racing,鈥� said Arnoldo Bazan, 16, who described a violent incident with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on Oct. 23, 2025. 鈥淚 don’t even know when I’ll see my father again. This is not the America I know.鈥�

Neither ICE nor the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the agency, replied to requests for comment. A Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said they would need more time to respond.

Bazan said he was assaulted by ICE agents on his way to school with his father last fall when they stopped at a McDonald鈥檚 to celebrate him making a varsity team. Just then, Bazan said, a car with tinted windows and flashing lights pulled them over. 

Soon, multiple unmarked vehicles approached. 

鈥淎rmed men with masks jumped out and started banging on the windows,鈥� Bazan said. 鈥�They never identified themselves or explained why we were stopped. We didn’t know who these men were. I started recording on my phone. One of the unmarked cars rammed into our car multiple times. I even felt our car lift.鈥�

Agents grabbed his father and Bazan ran to help. 

鈥淥ne officer put me in a choke hold and told me, 鈥榊ou’re done,鈥欌�� the boy said, taking short breaks to compose himself. 鈥淗is grip was so tight, I wondered if I would even make it out alive. With all of my strength, I screamed that I was underage and from the United States. When the officers finally stopped, I began telling everybody who could hear me that these officers had tried to flip our car, and that I had proof of my phone.鈥�

Federal agents confiscated his cell, he testified. 

鈥淭he officer put me and my dad in the car,鈥� Bazan said. 鈥淭hey mocked us. They told me that I was gay for crying, an illegal, an illegal idiot, a border hopper, and other demeaning words.鈥�

Bazan said the officers drove them to his house where he and his father, who was subsequently deported to Mexico, 鈥減rayed for one last time. I tried to hug him, but he couldn’t hug me back because he was handcuffed.鈥�

He said his backpack was returned but not his phone and when he traced it, it turned up inside a kiosk that sells electronics. Bazan said local police told him they couldn鈥檛 take any action against federal officers.

Bazan, who suffered a neck injury, was taken to the hospital that day and given morphine for his pain, he said. He told the committee his body ached after the incident, that he couldn鈥檛 sleep and missed school.

He was one of three teens who spoke at the forum called by Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal, ranking member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, and U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia, the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. 

鈥淥ur efforts to document and elevate the stories of this regime’s heartless actions against children will continue, and we know that there are thousands more stories to be told,鈥� Blumenthal said at the start, thanking the students and their parents for speaking and remarking on their bravery.  

The lawmakers released a minority staff report Tuesday entitled , saying it documents the cases of “128 children who have been injured, left unattended, or otherwise put at direct risk of harm due to operations of the Department of Homeland Security.”

Their action comes amid Democrats鈥� ongoing campaign to curtail federal immigration agents. They’re refusing to fund DHS, which is now in the second month of a partial government shutdown, until reforms and greater public accountability are put in place.

An 18-year-old, who used the pseudonym Fernando Hern谩ndez Garc铆a, said he has been living on his own for more than a year after his parents were deported to Mexico 鈥斅爐aking his medically fragile U.S.-born sister with them. The girl cannot access treatment there because she is not a Mexican citizen, her brother said.聽

Garcia, recalling their apprehension, said it all began when the little girl woke up and said her head hurt. 

鈥淢y parents took this very seriously because the year before, she had an emergency surgery to remove a tumor,鈥� Garcia said. 鈥淢y parents and my five siblings got in the car and drove from South Texas to Houston so she could see a specialist at Texas Children’s Hospital. On the way, government officials stopped them at a checkpoint and deported everyone 鈥� even though my parents told them about my sister’s condition, even though my siblings are U.S. citizens.鈥�

Garcia wasn鈥檛 with them, but his family had made this same trip many times before President Donald Trump took office for the second time and had no problems, he said: They鈥檇 present the girl鈥檚 proof of citizenship and a letter from the hospital explaining her medical needs and would be on their way. 

鈥淲hen I heard the news I couldn’t breathe,鈥� the teen said. 鈥淚 didn’t know what I was going to do. My mom worried about me returning to our home in South Texas alone, but I had to finish high school and I wanted to make sure I could do everything in my power to stay on top of the bills and keep the home my mom and dad had sacrificed so much for.鈥�

Garcia had planned to attend college but instead spends all of his time working.

鈥淚 can’t think about the things my peers are doing because I honestly can’t relate,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he situation is a nightmare that I can’t wake up from.鈥�

His family already missed his high school graduation, a milestone he thought they鈥檇 share.  

鈥淚f my parents were still here, they would have pushed me to go to college, to dream big, and they would have helped me to make it happen,鈥� he said. 

Michelle Ramirez Sanan, 18 and from Chelsea, Massachusetts, plans to attend college in the fall, but said Tuesday that memories of her family鈥檚 ICE encounter have left her shaken and distracted. 

Sanan was restrained by federal agents after her mother and autistic 13-year-old brother, also a U.S. citizen, were dragged from their car while in their neighborhood and detained Sept. 26, 2025. 

Officers arrested Sanan鈥檚 50-year old mother, who has legal status and has lived in the U.S. for more than 20 years. The teen, in her emotional testimony, recalled coming upon the scene. 

鈥淢y brother was crying next to my mom who was being pushed against the fence in handcuffs,鈥� she said. 鈥淢ost ICE officers were wearing masks. I could see they had guns.鈥�

Sanan said she tried to run to them but was stopped by a federal agent. 

鈥淢y brother doesn’t speak very much because of his disability,鈥� she said. 鈥淗e doesn’t know how to explain that he’s an American citizen. I tried to protect him by yelling out, 鈥楳y brother has autism鈥�, but instead of helping him, the ICE officer kept blocking me and told me to shut up.鈥�

Sanan, who has asthma, said she had trouble breathing. 

鈥淪ince that day, I have had a harder time focusing in school, taking care of myself, and managing my anxiety,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 have had trouble sleeping and headaches. I was so excited to enjoy my senior year before starting a new chapter in college. But now I spend so much of my time wondering why this happened to us.鈥�

Educators recognize students鈥� pain. Zena Stenvik is the superintendent of Columbia Heights Public Schools, which serves 3,400 children just north of Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

Among her charges is 5-year-old , who galvanized national opposition to Trump鈥檚 immigration crackdown after he was photographed in a blue bunny hat, wearing a Spiderman backpack, being detained by federal agents in January with his father.  

Liam languished in Texas鈥檚 for more than a week before he was released. He and his family, who hail from Ecuador, had their asylum claims denied this month and are now on a . 

The impact of DHS鈥檚 Operation Metro Surge on her students has been profound, Stenvik said: Seven have been detained, including at Dilley, and all six who have returned came back sick 鈥� and emotionally frayed. 

鈥淲e are seeing increased separation anxiety with students struggling to be apart from their parents during the school day,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e’re seeing heightened difficulty with transitions: One student who was detained in Texas now experiences distress when leaving the classroom to go to art or gym class. He reported that separation from their trusted teacher and classroom removes a sense of safety. We’re also seeing increased stress responses, such as fight, flight, freeze among students who experienced direct or indirect trauma.鈥�

Some of the impacted children, one parent said, are very young. Anabel Romero, a mother of four who was born and raised in Idaho, described a shocking attack on Hispanic residents in Wilder, Idaho, on . 

Romero, her stepson and her three children, ages 14, 8 and 6, were among hundreds of people watching horse races that Sunday when they spotted a helicopter in the sky. A medical worker, Romero thought someone had been injured and it was there to help. 

鈥淏ut then I saw people running and screaming, terrified,鈥� she said. 鈥淢en in military style gear stormed in with weapons at the ready. The first thing I did was call my daughter and tell her not to get out of the truck and to take care of her brother and sister. I ran and hid in one of the horse stalls.鈥� 

Armed men grabbed and beat Romero, she said, punching her in the head and kicking her. 

鈥淥ne of them threatened to blow my head off,鈥� she testified. 鈥淚 couldn’t breathe, and they zip tied me in the back. After that, they brought me up and I told them I needed to get to my children. One of them actually laughed and said they were taking better care of them than I was.鈥�

Her eldest daughter was also thrown on the ground, zip tied and suffered bruises all along her sides. Her two youngest were taken from the truck at gunpoint, she said. 

鈥淭hey were alone and terrified,鈥� Romero said. 鈥淲hen my children were with me, I couldn’t comfort them. They were crying and I was still zip tied in the back with no answers for why I was being detained.鈥�

Her oldest daughter started having a panic attack, she said. 

鈥淚 feared she might hurt herself if she fainted,鈥� Romero said. 鈥淚 asked them to zip tie her in the front. They did, but she was still having a panic attack. We waited like that zip tied and scared for three hours鈥� They herded us like cattle and tied us up so that ICE could check everyone’s immigration status. Hundreds of people were at this family event 鈥� grandparents, infants.鈥�

Her children are still suffering, Romero said.  

鈥淭hat day completely changed our lives,鈥� she said. 鈥淥ur sense of safety and security was demolished.鈥�

The committee heard, too, from Adreina Mejia from Arleta, California. She and her special needs 15-year-old son were separated, held at gunpoint and handcuffed by immigration agents outside of a local high school.

The agents had mistaken her boy for another child, she said. 

鈥淭he person who was with me just told my son, 鈥極h, we just confused you with somebody else, but look at the bright side, you’re gonna have an exciting story to tell your friends when you go back to school,鈥欌�� she said. 

The incident has not left her son, Mejia said. 

鈥淗e will wake up crying,鈥� his mother said. 鈥淗e sees cars with tinted windows and he’s scared. He told me, 鈥楳om, is it them?鈥欌�� 

In the lead up to her son鈥檚 birth, Jacqueline made plans to call 911 for an ambulance to pick her up from her North Florida home and transport her to a hospital about an hour away.

The second-time mom and Guatemalan immigrant, who has lived in the country for a decade, would have relied on her husband to drive her to the hospital. But a few months ago he was deported, leaving Jacqueline and her daughter without the family鈥檚 primary source of income, transportation and support.

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One morning in March, Jacqueline said, her partner was pulled over on his way to work when law enforcement officials discovered he didn鈥檛 have a valid driver鈥檚 license. Jacqueline鈥檚 pregnancy was in its early stages. Her husband fought his case from detention for three months before U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) removed him to Guatemala.

鈥淗e was deported and I was left behind, thinking, 鈥榃hat am I going to do?鈥欌�� said Jacqueline, who requested that her last name not be published because she lacks permanent legal status. The couple shares an 8-year-old daughter who was born in, and is a citizen of, the United States.

This summer, as she entered the later stages of this pregnancy amid the Trump administration鈥檚 turbocharged immigration enforcement, Jacqueline found herself so fearful of being detained that she avoided leaving her home. Her husband鈥檚 car sits in the driveway, but there are no signs of him in the small room Jacqueline shares with her daughter. His belongings 鈥� tools, clothes, even personal photos 鈥� are with him in Guatemala. The only family pictures Jacqueline has are on her phone.

Her partner was the family鈥檚 main provider, rotating between picking strawberries or watermelon and packing pine needles for mulch, depending on the season.

Jacqueline struggled to get the most basic items to welcome a baby: Someone gifted her a used carseat and crib, which sit in the packed room along with onesies and other clothing items she鈥檚 collected inside a large plastic bag. She鈥檚 hoping that a federal assistance program will cover the cost of formula. A baby tub is still on her list.

Medical care in her rural area has been possible only because a small nonprofit organization nearby that provides prenatal care services offered to pay for Ubers so she could continue regular check-ups. Even if she wasn鈥檛 behind the wheel, Jacqueline says that just the act of leaving her home feels risky since her husband鈥檚 deportation.

鈥淭hings got really complicated. He paid our rent 鈥� he paid for everything,鈥� she said. 鈥淣ow, I鈥檓 always worried.鈥�

Medical care and support essential to a healthy pregnancy have become harder for people like Jacqueline to obtain following President Donald Trump鈥檚 inauguration. Many patients 鈥� nervous about encountering immigration officials if they leave their homes, drive on public roads or visit a medical clinic 鈥� are skipping virtually all of their pregnancy-related health care. Some are opting to give birth at home with the help of midwives because of the possible presence of ICE at hospitals.

Across the country, medical providers who serve immigrant communities said fewer patients are coming in for prenatal or other pregnancy-related care. As a result, patients are experiencing dangerous complications, advocates and health care providers told The 19th.

鈥淔ear of ICE is pushing my patients and their families away from the very systems meant to protect their health and their pregnancies,鈥� said Dr. Josie Urbina, an OB-GYN in San Francisco.

In January, Trump rescinded a federal policy that protected designated areas including hospitals, health clinics and doctors鈥� offices from immigration raids. ICE has recently targeted patients in and on their way home from .

A majority of Americans believe ICE should not be carrying out immigration enforcement at health centers. A new poll from The 19th and SurveyMonkey conducted in mid-September found that most Americans don鈥檛 think ICE should be allowed to detain immigrants at hospitals, their workplace, domestic violence shelters, schools or churches.

Women are more likely to oppose enforcement in these spaces than men. More than two-thirds of women said ICE shouldn鈥檛 be allowed to detain immigrants in hospital settings.

Enforcement is only expected to grow as the administration works to meet its ambitious deportation goals. The federal government is pouring more than $170 billion over the next four years into expanding immigration enforcement, the result of Trump鈥檚 signature tax-and-spending bill. About $45 billion has been directed to expanding detention facilities; $29.9 billion is to increase ICE activity.

That expansion could put even more births at risk. Approximately to immigrants without permanent legal status. Already, research has shown these immigrants, who have higher uninsured rates, are less likely to seek prenatal care and are at risk of worse birth outcomes.

Major medical groups, including the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists, World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend regular prenatal and postpartum care as a key tool to combat pregnancy-related death and infant mortality.

According to the federal, infants born to parents who received no prenatal care are three times more likely to have a low birth weight and five times more likely to die than those born to parents who received regular care.

A published last year found infant mortality rates went up the later families began prenatal care: 4.54 deaths per 100,000 live births for families whose prenatal care began in the first trimester, compared with 10.75 in families whose prenatal care began in the third trimester or who did not receive any at all.

鈥淎 lot of patients aren’t going to get help,鈥� said Yenny James, the founder and CEO of Paradigm Doulas in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro.

James said she鈥檚 seeing an increasing number of emergency cesarean sections聽 because of untreated gestational diabetes, or 鈥� a deadly pregnancy complication 鈥� that went unnoticed because of lacking prenatal care.

In Denver, OB-GYN Dr. Rebecca Cohen has delivered multiple babies this year for women who have told her that, because they fear endangering themselves or their families, they have received no prenatal care. Several have given birth to babies with fatal fetal anomalies that were never diagnosed because the women did not receive prenatal ultrasounds.

鈥淭hey were willing to forgo care 鈥� their own health care 鈥� but to find out that something was devastatingly wrong with their child is when they feel like maybe they should have risked it,鈥� Cohen said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a sound of a mother鈥檚 wail that anybody who has worked labor and delivery has known, and it will haunt you for the rest of your life. To hear that when it could have been prevented, it is just absolutely devastating.鈥�

Early in her pregnancy, Jacqueline received free care at a local clinic. Shortly after her husband鈥檚 detention, she called the office to let them know she likely wouldn鈥檛 make her next appointment.

鈥淚 told them that I probably wouldn鈥檛 be able to make my appointments anymore, well, because I鈥檓 really afraid given what happened to my husband. And they offered to help,鈥� she said.

Jacqueline and the nonprofit clinic worked out an arrangement: The day of her appointments, someone at the clinic called an Uber to her home, paid for by the clinic, and let her know when it would arrive so she could be ready.

Many people in her small town have come to rely on a single person who does have a valid driver鈥檚 license for transportation. That driver recently brought Jacqueline to an appointment with the local office that manages the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), which she is relying on for baby formula and food. There were no guarantees that this driver would be available to take her in whenever she goes into labor.

The Biden administration not to detain, arrest or take into custody pregnant, postpartum or breastfeeding people simply for breaking immigration laws, except under 鈥渆xceptional circumstances.鈥� The Trump administration has not formally reversed that policy. But despite the directive, reports from across the country confirm that ICE has detained numerous pregnant immigrants since Trump took office.

James said that until the Biden guidance is formally rescinded, she will continue to encourage pregnant immigrants to print it out and carry it with them.

鈥淚 told my doulas 鈥� have them print out this ICE directive, have them keep it with them, so that they know and these agents know that we know our rights, our clients know their rights,鈥� James said.

It鈥檚 unclear exactly how many pregnant immigrants are being detained by ICE, or have been arrested by the agency. from the office of Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin found 14 pregnant women in a single Louisiana detention facility at the time of staff鈥檚 visit.

Another out of the office of Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff published in late July found 14 credible reports of mistreatment of pregnant women in immigrant detention. The report cited an anonymous agency official who said they saw pregnant women sleeping on floors in overcrowded intake cells. The partner of a pregnant woman in federal custody said that she bled for days before she was taken to a hospital, where she miscarried alone. A pregnant detainee who spoke to Ossoff鈥檚 office said she repeatedly asked for medical attention and was told to 鈥渏ust drink water.鈥� The office received several reports of clients waiting weeks to see a doctor, and that sometimes scheduled appointments were canceled. ICE has the report.

鈥淧regnant women receive regular prenatal visits, mental health services, nutritional support, and accommodations aligned with community standards of care. Detention of pregnant women is rare and has elevated oversight and review. No pregnant woman has been forced to sleep on the floor,鈥� ICE said in a statement posted on their website.

ICE did not respond to a request for comment.

Fear of being detained is a major contributor of stress for pregnant immigrants. Research shows that even when pregnant patients do receive medical care, prenatal stress puts many at greater risk of complicated births and poor outcomes, including premature birth and low infant birth weight. Babies born are at a 24 percent higher risk of low birth weight, according to one study.

Monica, 38, is expecting her fourth child in November. The Tucson resident, who requested that her last name not be published out of fear of being detained, has lived in the United States for two decades but has no legal immigration status.

This pregnancy has been unlike the others, she said: While Monica has continued with her prenatal care appointments, her anxiety levels about her immigration situation have colored her experience. Her other children, who are in their teens, are U.S. citizens but grappling with the stress of their parents鈥� situation. Her husband also doesn鈥檛 have authorization to live in the country.

鈥淲e try to be out and about much less, and to take precautions,鈥� she said. 鈥淲henever we do leave the house, we have it in the back of our minds.鈥�

Monica said she has seen reports of ICE being allowed inside hospitals, and she is worried about facing immigration officers while or following her birth. Her plan is to have her partner and a group of friends at the hospital to make sure she鈥檚 never alone.

鈥淢y biggest fear is going to the hospital,鈥� she said.

Stress like Monica鈥檚 makes pregnancy more dangerous.

鈥淚n our hospital, every doctor I鈥檝e talked to 鈥� and these are doctors that have been there 20 years 鈥� all are saying these past six months they鈥檝e seen worse obstetrics outcomes than ever in their career,鈥� Dr. Parker Duncan Diaz, a family physician in Santa Rosa, California, whose clinic mostly cares for Latinx patients. That鈥檚 included more preterm labor and more pregnant patients with severe hypertension.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 causing it, but my bias is that it is the impact of this horribly toxic stress environment,鈥� he added, specifically noting the stress caused by the threat of immigration enforcement.

In recent months, Dr. Caitlin Bernard, an Indiana-based OB-GYN, has seen a number of pregnant patients seeking emergency attention who have not received any prenatal health care. One was 31 weeks, approaching the end of her pregnancy. Another was more than 20 weeks pregnant when she came to Bernard鈥檚 office, having developed complications from a molar pregnancy 鈥斅燼 rare condition that means a healthy birth is impossible and that without early treatment can result in vaginal bleeding, thyroid problems and even cancer.

鈥淎nytime you鈥檙e not able to access that early prenatal care, we do see complications with that,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd many of these things can absolutely be life-threatening for both the moms and the babies.鈥�

Dr. Daisy Leon-Martinez, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist in San Francisco, said she now regularly cares for patients in her labor and delivery ward who have been transferred to her hospital because of newly developed pregnancy complications. These are often their first doctors鈥� visits since becoming pregnant. Many of those patients have told her that they did not want to seek prenatal care for fear of encountering immigration officials.

During regular visits, she added, she has advised people with pregnancy complications that they would be best served by a hospital stay 鈥� only to be told that her patients no longer feel safe going to the hospital.

The current enforcement environment is challenging immigrant advocates, who are continuing to encourage immigrants to seek appropriate medical care while acknowledging that doing so is increasingly risky.

Lupe Rodr铆guez, the executive director of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, said her organization is urging pregnant immigrants to seek the health care that they need, and to be proactive about making plans for themselves and their families in the event that they are detained.

鈥淲e can’t know for certain about any given [health care center] whether or not it’s going to be safe. One of the things that we’ve been seeing is leadership at some of these health centers 鈥� big hospitals and clinics 鈥� have said that they will provide the kind of protection that folks need, that they don’t want folks to be afraid of care,鈥� Rodriguez said.

While those statements signal the intentions of a hospital鈥檚 leadership, Rodriguez said, 鈥渨e still know that there are individuals within some of those care centers that are part of the reporting mechanism or are intimidating people.鈥�

Jacqueline approached the last days of her pregnancy hopeful that the place she had chosen 鈥� a large university hospital that workers at her local clinic recommended 鈥� would be a safe place for her to give birth.

One night at the end of September, when labor pains grew too intense, she called for an ambulance and made it to the hospital. When she got there, she asked her providers if there were any ICE agents near the building. She had heard of a man at a local hospital being detained after having surgery. They told her there were none they were aware of.

She went on to deliver her baby under general anesthesia after a long, difficult labor. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 even hear him cry when they pulled him out,鈥� she said. Her only relative left in the area was taking care of her daughter, so she recovered alone at the hospital for five days before heading home in an Uber that a social worker procured for her and her son.

鈥淚f my husband was here, he would have been there with me at the hospital,鈥� Jacqueline said while recovering at home. 鈥淗e would be here taking care of me, of us. I wouldn鈥檛 be worried about the things I still want to get for the baby.鈥�

was originally reported by Mel Leonor Barclay and Shefali Luthra of . Meet and and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy.

Des Moines Public Schools superintendent Ian Roberts has resigned from his position effective immediately, lawyers representing him said Tuesday.

Roberts, who was , had been by the Des Moines School Board Monday after the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners revoked his license. ICE agents had arrested the superintendent, who was born in Guyana, during a 鈥渢argeted enforcement operation鈥� Friday, and he allegedly evaded arrest. According to an ICE news release, Roberts鈥� vehicle contained a handgun, hunting knife and $3,000 in cash.

ICE stated Roberts had been given a 鈥渇inal order of removal by an immigration judge鈥� in May 2024. The federal agency stated Roberts was in the country unlawfully, having first come to the U.S. in 1999 on a student visa.

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Attorney Alfredo Parrish, representing Roberts, confirmed that Roberts was a citizen of Guyana and served in the country鈥檚 military, but said his office was trying to work on getting more information on the immigration case proceedings that led to his arrest by ICE. In April 2025, a Texas immigration judge had decided not to reopen Roberts鈥� case in absentia.

Parrish said Roberts had received a letter from the prior attorney for his immigration case in Texas which said 鈥渉is case had been closed successfully, and he was under the impression that it had been.鈥� Parrish said his firm is in the process of filing a motion to reopen Roberts鈥� immigration case.

The attorney said it was a 鈥渃omplex case.鈥�

鈥淭here are several jurisdictions that are involved, there are several law enforcement entities that are involved,鈥� Parrish said. 鈥溾�� There (are) so many entities involved that we have touched bases with to try to work through this, through the consulate in New York for Guyana, through all the many other entities we鈥檝e been trying to work through this case with. We want you to know that Dr. Roberts鈥� greatest concern is about his students who he actually loves, and the students who love him back, and his staff.鈥�

While Roberts is resigning from the superintendent position, Parrish said his law firm has filed a request for stay on behalf of Roberts in the Omaha, Nebraska, federal immigration court. Roberts is currently being held at the Woodbury County Jail in Sioux City. Parrish said two of his staff drove to Omaha to file the motion Monday, and that earlier Tuesday, the law firm was in communication with Roberts.

鈥淗e understands that he has the support (of the community), and it really gives him inspiration,鈥� Parrish said. 鈥淗is spirits are high. He was very well-engaged in all our discussions this morning, for about the last two hours.鈥�

District鈥檚 hiring procedures questioned

Some of the questions surrounding the case are focused on the Des Moines school district鈥檚 vetting process for hiring Roberts. DMPS officials have said Roberts completed the I-9 employment eligibility verification form and submitted the required documentation showing his employment eligibility when hired.

The National School Board Coalition, a conservative K-12 advocacy organization, claimed in a news release the consultant Baker-Eubanks, one of the entities hired by DMPS to perform third-party background checks during Roberts鈥� hiring process, 鈥渁dmitted that it did not perform a basic I-9 verification.鈥�

This claim is referring to a statement made by聽Baker-Eubanks CEO Kim Cockerham . Cockerham said the criminal background check performed does not confirm a person鈥檚 ability to legally work in the U.S., saying 鈥渢hat鈥檚 not even a service that we offer.鈥� Cockerham said, according to the Register.

Laura Zorc, chair of the National School Board Coalition, said Roberts鈥� hiring process 鈥渞eveals a critical oversight鈥� in schools boards hiring search firms to fill school administration positions.

鈥淚f advising the Des Moines school board, NSBC would recommend working with their board attorney to review their contract agreement with consultants JQ Consultants and Baker-Eubanks for potential recourse, including seeking a full refund, legal, staff time, and covering the costs of rehiring a new superintendent if the contract was breached,鈥� Zorc said in the release.

Board President Jackie Norris said Monday that the board asked Roberts鈥� attorney to provide documentation and verification of his citizenship status by 12 p.m. Tuesday, with plans to meet at 7:30 p.m. that day to discuss ending Roberts鈥� employment contract. Parrish said the letter of resignation was being sent to school officials Tuesday.

U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn said late Monday the U.S. Department of Justice confirmed with the U.S. Department of Justice through a Freedom of Information Act and formal inquiry that Roberts was subject to a final removal order under the Immigration and Nationality Act. He also said in a statement it was 鈥渦nacceptable that someone under a final order of deportation and without legal work authorization was allowed to lead Iowa鈥檚 largest public school system.鈥�

鈥淓very parent should be able to trust that school leaders are fully vetted, legally employed, and held to the highest standards of accountability,鈥� Nunn said. 鈥淚 want to thank our federal agencies for their timely response and commitment to transparency as we work to protect our communities.鈥�

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: info@iowacapitaldispatch.com.

Saugus鈥檚 policy change goes against a torrent of federal and state initiatives aimed at limiting educational access to newcomers, particularly those in the country illegally. The Trump administration has detained and deported K-12 students and recently barred undocumented preschoolers from Head Start and older students from career, technical and adult education. In many states, those federal directives have been put on hold pending a Sept. 3 hearing.

The Saugus school registration requirement was challenged in court last year by Lawyers for Civil Rights, Massachusetts Advocates for Children and Anderson & Kreiger LLP. The state attorney general鈥檚 office also aided in the effort. 

鈥淲e are ecstatic,鈥� said Erika Richmond Walton, an attorney with Lawyers for Civil Rights, who added that her group will continue to monitor school enrollment to ensure every family can register 鈥渨ithout fear or unnecessary hurdles.鈥�

Neither district officials nor multiple Saugus school board members responded to 社区黑料’s requests for comment. They鈥檝e stated previously that their enrollment procedures followed the law. 

Richmond Walton said the school鈥檚 turnaround came as a shock: In a recent admissions policy directive, it omitted the census clause. The instead centered on proof of residence and the district鈥檚 desire to ferret out anyone not living within its borders.

鈥淚t did come as a surprise to me,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t was a fight we had been fighting for well over a year.鈥�

The new development in the Saugus case coincides with the state鈥檚 recent adoption of the , which affirms the educational rights of immigrant children and students with disabilities. Undocumented students鈥� right to attend school is already enshrined in the landmark 1982 Supreme Court decision Plyler v. Doe, but that ruling is under attack in some conservative states.聽

鈥淭his law comes at a time of rising federal threats to civil rights,鈥� Massachusetts Advocates for Children said about the state鈥檚 initiative, which was signed by Gov. Maura Healey on Aug. 5. 鈥淲hile federal protections for immigrant students and students with disabilities are in jeopardy, Massachusetts has taken a bold stand to ensure that those rights remain protected here at home.鈥�

In Saugus, Walton said the district required families to fill out a census form as part of a local headcount conducted every year. In order to comply, she said, they had to get the document from town hall. Once they did, she said, the town would initiate an inspection of their living quarters. 

A family with an elementary-aged child was barred from completing the form because they were heating their home with space heaters, she said. In another case, one family was doubled up with another, and the one that sought to enroll a child was not the leaseholder, which disqualified them. Both were eventually allowed to attend school when Massachusetts Advocates for Children intervened.

Adam Strom, executive director of Boston-based , said the district鈥檚 reversal is critical.

鈥淚t protects something fundamental: every child’s right to attend school,鈥� Strom said. 鈥淣o student should have their education held hostage by discriminatory policies.鈥�

Students of all ages have been targeted for deportation across the country since the start of the year. Some have been in federal detention for weeks, with while others have been . 

Earlier this summer, on his way to volleyball practice was detained by immigration agents before winning his release. 

The Saugus school district served in 2023, up from 2,297 in 2021. Nearly 30% of the student body was identified as Hispanic or Latino two years ago, up from 20.6% in 2021. 

Just under 10% were English learners in 2023, up from 6.3% two years prior. 

The school superintendent鈥檚 secretary, Dianne Vargas, told 社区黑料 a year ago that the census requirement was waived for incoming immigrant students.聽

But, she said then, the district did require other forms of paperwork meant to protect these students鈥� welfare so the district could 鈥渕ake sure they are with a parent or guardian 鈥� that they actually have someone who is caring for them so we don鈥檛 have doubling up and people aren鈥檛 passing children around.鈥� 

On July 4, Nory Sontay Ramos stepped off a flight from San Antonio into a country she hardly recognized: Guatemala.

The summer wasn鈥檛 supposed to start this way. The 17-year-old had plans. In early June, she wrapped up 11th grade on a high note, having made the honor roll and represented her Los Angeles high school in the city finals for track. With track season over, she turned her attention to cross-country, showing up to campus for practice after the school year ended.

Everything changed when she and her mother, Estela Ramos 鈥� both undocumented 鈥� appeared at what they thought was a standard check-in visit with immigration officials on June 30.

鈥淚CE took us to a room, and they ended up telling my mom, 鈥榊our case is over, so we have to take you guys with us,鈥欌�� Sontay Ramos told The 19th. Over the objections of their attorney, federal agents led them away.

The next day, she and her mother were shipped to Texas. And by July 4, they were on a plane to Guatemala, a country where neither of them have lived for over a decade. On Independence Day 鈥� an occasion associated with freedom, with hope 鈥� their American dream shattered. Sontay Ramos has no idea what will become of the friends, family members and school community her deportation forced her to leave behind in Los Angeles.

A lawyer hired after she and her mother were detained said Monday that a motion to reopen the case has been filed with the Board of Immigration Appeals but provided no other information to The 19th.

A year shy of becoming a high school graduate in the United States, the teen鈥檚 life 鈥� and opportunities 鈥� completely changed in the span of five days.

鈥淚’m confused,鈥� Sontay Ramos said, her voice breaking. 鈥淚 don’t know. I’m just really sad about everything.鈥�

President Donald Trump campaigned for a return to office with the promise of mass deportations, characterizing undocumented immigrants as criminals and threats to women and girls. But as his administration has ramped up enforcement of his policy priority, undocumented people with no criminal backgrounds have made up the largest share of immigrants targeted. Those who are pursuing legal status through the proper channels have also become vulnerable 鈥� showing up to check-ins, like Sontay Ramos and her mother 鈥� only to be detained. These developments, recent polls reveal, have led to public disapproval of the Trump administration鈥檚 strategies.

Civil liberties and advocacy groups have raised concerns that undocumented immigrants are being removed so quickly they have been denied the right to . With Trump鈥檚 One Big Beautiful Bill Act directing $150 billion more toward mass deportations, expedited removals of undocumented immigrants will almost certainly increase 鈥� and those like Sontay Ramos stand to get caught in the middle.

The Trump administration deported more than 93,800 people from January 20 to June 11, with compared with the same period in 2024, revealed an analysis by the Washington Post based on information from the Deportation Data Project. (The data does not reflect arrest and removal numbers from Customs and Border Protection.) Of those, 61 percent did not have criminal records and almost 90 percent were men, underscoring how relatively uncommon it is for a mother and daughter to be removed.

The Trump administration has not provided a tally of how many minors have been deported this year, but The 19th鈥檚 found that only about 3 percent of removals involved children. When ICE targets juveniles, the incidents often make national headlines, such as when living in Torrance, California, were detained in May and swiftly deported to Honduras. In states including Michigan, Massachusetts and New York, the detainment of teenagers, including those who are technically legal adults, have also this year.

But when Sontay Ramos and her mother exited their Guatemala-bound flight on Friday, they weren鈥檛 met with fanfare. None of their family members in the Central American nation knew to expect them. With the help of an internet connection, they managed to contact one of Sontay Ramos鈥� older sisters, with whom they鈥檙e now living. The teenager isn鈥檛 sure which part of Guatemala she鈥檚 in, though she describes the area as rural. In fact, a family member told The 19th, she’s in the Guatemalan department of Totonicap谩n, in the western highlands.

Just 6 when she left Guatemala, Sontay Ramos struggles to recall what life there was like. But she remembers the emotion she felt as a small child: fear.

鈥淚 was scared because there’s gangsters here, and they tried to kill my mom,鈥� she said. A family member involved in a gang threatened her mother, once attacking her so badly she needed to be hospitalized, she said. 鈥淢y mom was scared.鈥�

A study exploring the from 2012 to 2019 found violence, poverty, climate change and corruption to be among the driving factors and that many such migrants hail from rural parts of the country.

鈥淭he two major reasons, especially if we look at families, have to do with violence and drought,鈥� said David Leblang, a coauthor of that study and politics professor at the University of Virginia. 鈥淚t has been drought and then flood, hurricane and then drought that has just decreased the ability for families to put food on the table, so you see a combination of economic insecurity, but more so for families, food insecurity 鈥� because when you can’t feed your kids, that’s when families are going to pick up and they’re going to move first to more urban areas and then out of the country.鈥�

About 11 years ago, Sontay Ramos and her mother headed by car to the United States in search of safety and opportunity. There, other family members awaited them and they hoped to be granted asylum, she said.

The transition was not easy. They left behind three of Sontay Ramos鈥� older siblings who did not want to come to the United States, she said. Her father remained in Guatemala, too. His death from illness shortly after she moved away was devastating.

鈥淯nfortunately, her dad passed away at a young age, just like two weeks after her arrival to the States,鈥� recalled Jennifer Ramos, Sontay Ramos鈥� 22-year-old cousin who lives in Los Angeles. 鈥淪he grew up with her dad, so that also hit her at such a young age, just coming to a new country at 6 years old and not knowing the language here and losing her father. It was definitely hard for her.鈥�

Getting accustomed to life in Los Angeles also wasn鈥檛 easy. Sontay Ramos and her mother are Indigenous Guatemalans, fluent in K’iche’. made assimilation more challenging in a city where English and Spanish are the primary languages.

Jennifer Ramos helped her little cousin learn to speak English. 鈥淪he would come over, and I would help her with her homework. When she first came to the States, my younger sister was kind of her only friend in school because she didn’t know anybody and, again, the language barrier. She actually does struggle speaking Spanish.鈥�

In time, Sontay Ramos and her mother adjusted to life in California. Her mother ultimately became a garment worker, employed as a seamstress until physical setbacks 鈥� illness and surgery 鈥� sidelined her earlier this year. Her deportation has separated her from her life partner, with whom she and her daughter shared an apartment in the Westlake District of Los Angeles, the neighborhood , and days of demonstrations in nearby downtown escalated after Trump deployed 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines.

Los Angeles is a deeply blue city in a liberal state, with the nation鈥檚 highest concentration of immigrants 鈥� a place that the president has made ground zero for his immigration raids. In November, the city council voted unanimously to make L.A. a sanctuary city, which bars it from using resources for immigration enforcement. Last week, the Trump administration filed suit, . Meanwhile, advocacy groups including the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and Public Counsel are suing the Trump administration for what it describes as a .

Before Trump鈥檚 immigration policies roiled her neighborhood and upended her life, Sontay Ramos was indistinguishable from her peers born in the United States. She grew up on the Netflix shows 鈥淪tranger Things鈥� and 鈥淐obra Kai,鈥� enjoys the music of Lana Del Rey and The Weeknd and dotes on her cat, Max, who turned 1 on May 15. He is black 鈥� one of her two favorite colors. In her spare time, Sontay Ramos practices taekwondo, which she鈥檚 been learning for nearly four years.

鈥淚 just liked it,鈥� she said of the martial art. Knowing how to fight, she added, helps her feel protected.

Sontay Ramos never sensed she was in danger before the immigration check-in that would push her out of the United States.

But her cousin Jennifer Ramos worried. The night before, Ramos鈥� father invited the family over to have Sunday dinner with his wife and three daughters. The evening was largely festive. Her father made shrimp ceviche and was eager for his family to enjoy the tangy, citrusy dish 鈥� especially Estela Ramos, who had just celebrated her 45th birthday. But when Estela mentioned that she and her daughter had an immigration check-in scheduled, everyone fell quiet.

鈥淲e were kind of scared,鈥� Jennifer Ramos said. 鈥淲e were like, 鈥楢re you sure you should go?鈥欌��

But her aunt tried to reassure them by letting them know their lawyer said it would be fine. After all, they had shown up for previous check-ins without incident, and if they didn鈥檛 appear, immigration officials would just find them at home.

Now, Jennifer Ramos doesn鈥檛 know when she’ll see her aunt and cousin again.

鈥淚t is unfair that a young student like her has been detained,鈥� she said. 鈥淪he’s the most deserving person. This should be the least of her worries.鈥�

Sontay Ramos couldn鈥檛 help but tear up when she described what she was looking forward to about senior year 鈥� graduation, her friends, track-and-field and cross-country.

Although excited to reunite with family members they hadn鈥檛 seen in years, she and her mother have been weeping off and on since they arrived in Guatemala.

鈥淚 was happy, but I was expecting to see them in another way,鈥� she said of her relatives. 鈥淣ot like this.鈥�

Sleeping and eating have been tough as has the constant feeling of disorientation. She doesn鈥檛 know where she is. In K’iche’, she asked her mother for the name of the town they鈥檙e in, but it didn鈥檛 register.

She also continues to feel blindsided about why she and her mother were deported at all. She doesn鈥檛 understand how or why their case was closed.

Recent polls, particularly those conducted after the immigration raids in Los Angeles, reveal that the Trump鈥檚 administration鈥檚 immigration crackdowns may be unpopular with the majority of the public. A PBS News/NPR/Marist poll released July 1 found that .

Sixty-four percent of registered voters support giving most undocumented immigrants in the United States a pathway to legal status, with 31 percent preferring deportation for most of them, released June 26. Six months ago, only 55 percent of voters supported giving unauthorized immigrants a path to legal status, while 36 percent backed deportation.

Leblang, the politics professor, said that ultimately the economy will sway the public to take a stand on immigration.

鈥淎ll of those people who are being deported, they’re consuming goods that are produced by natives,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o, what the evidence suggests is that’s going to affect native workers鈥� wages, so across the board, this is going to have a negative effect on the economy.鈥�

For Manuel Guevara 鈥� a physical education teacher and coach at the Miguel Contreras Learning Complex, where Sontay Ramos is enrolled as a student 鈥� immigration isn鈥檛 an economic issue but a personal one. He came to the United States at 11 months old in the mid-1980s during El Salvador鈥檚 horrific 12-year civil war, becoming a citizen as a teenager. He fears that more deportations of youth from his school are imminent. He knows some families skipped school graduations in the area due to their concerns over raids. Some are so worried they refuse to let their children attend football practice. He鈥檚 heard that other families intend to self deport.

鈥淭his is not normal,鈥� Guevara said. 鈥淥ur whole community is beyond vulnerable. A lot of [students鈥橾 parents, sad to say, don’t know how to read and write. Their kids need to do that for them. If they鈥檙e presented with [immigration] paperwork, they might not even be able to read it because that’s not their primary language.鈥�

He can hardly believe that Sontay Ramos, whom he taught for most of her high school years, is gone.

鈥淪he was smiling, happy-go-lucky,鈥� Guevara said. He鈥檚 astounded that she was detained and deported in less than a week. 鈥淣ory is going into her senior year, which is another thing that’s just killing me. She was going into her senior year with all this momentum.鈥�

Guevara fondly recalled the teen鈥檚 high-pitched voice that gets even higher when she鈥檚 excited.

鈥淵ou could tell when she’s coming from down the hallway, for sure,鈥� he said. But her trademark voice is now subdued due to her deportation ordeal. Through tears, she expressed gratitude for how her teachers, classmates and other supporters have donated nearly $7,000 to her campaign.

鈥淚 just want to thank everybody for the support and tell them to just be safe out there and be strong no matter what’s going to happen,鈥� she said.

If she can鈥檛 return to the United States, she will figure out how to finish her education in Guatemala.

Guevara is certain Sontay Ramos has the aptitude for greatness. Her academics and extracurricular activities are just hints of what she鈥檚 capable of, he said.

鈥淪he was about to reach cruising altitude,鈥� he said. 鈥淪ome of our students are capable of reaching the clouds up there and doing some great things. And I really believe that she was on her way.鈥�

was originally reported by Nadra Nittle of . .

Schools and other organizations serving undocumented students are taking their activities underground, fearful of revealing all they do to help newcomers navigate life in America 鈥� lest they be targeted and shuttered by the Trump administration.

Some have asked staff to use secure messaging systems like Signal instead of text and email to keep sensitive conversations from public reach. Others say such discussions should happen only over the phone. 

A few are reconsidering the distribution of once-standard , afraid they could overstep some unclear federal boundary about immigration enforcement, while others are scrubbing the names and locations of their sites from the internet. 

No matter the strategy, the goal is the same: avoid federal audits, funding cuts and closures that could be prompted by their work with undocumented students and families, but also the administration鈥檚 edict against diversity, equity and inclusion.

鈥淏ecause of the threats from the federal administration about revoking the of nonprofits, we want to keep ourselves from being targeted,鈥� said one man who asked not to be identified because he works for an organization that serves undocumented youth. 

Groups like his can lose their IRS status, which allows them to collect tax-deductible donations, if they engage in political activities. For this reason, he said, they are carefully policing staff members鈥� speech in public and in private. Political discussions or commentary on social media are forbidden.聽

鈥淎nything that could be perceived as obstructing or challenging federal immigration policies, we don’t put in writing,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nything that could be seen as a criticism of the administration 鈥� or anything that could be seen as partisan 鈥� we鈥檙e going to completely avoid.鈥�

An administrator for a small Illinois school district that serves mostly Hispanic children said that while it still provides help to all families 鈥� including connecting them to rental and tax-preparation assistance 鈥� staff are more guarded about publicizing their efforts. Any high-profile association between the school and these types of services can be a flag to their families鈥� immigration status.

鈥淲e鈥檙e not trying to draw attention,鈥� she said, asking that she not be identified in order to protect her students. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want any light shining on our district.鈥�

Her fears around immigration were heightened in February, she said, when she received two letters addressed to her office from the Department of Homeland Security, asking for the whereabouts of two children. 

鈥淚 ignored them,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 just pretended like it didn鈥檛 happen. I did not respond in terms of providing the information and so far, nobody has followed up.鈥�

Those early efforts took place just weeks after Trump returned to office and are among the administration鈥檚 first known attempts to target and locate undocumented children. Reports of federal agents undertaking welfare checks on young immigrants who crossed the border unaccompanied did not surface until months later. 

Some of those visits have led to . Hundreds of kids, their caretakers hauled away, have been placed in in recent months. 

Many schools, including the one in Illinois, are curbing the use of words like 鈥渄iversity鈥� and 鈥渆quity,鈥� in all their communications. They鈥檙e worried they could be accused of obstructing the law: Trump has likened the use of these terms 鈥� 鈥渋nclusion鈥� among them 鈥� to a type of he will stamp out by withholding the offending group鈥檚 .   

These schools and advocacy organizations are also barring staff from participating in protests or rallies related to immigration 鈥� or student detainment. 

And they said school-sponsored events, like a normally well-attended spring family night for the parents of English learners, have been nearly empty 鈥� or worse, cancelled 鈥� since Trump took office and immigrants avoid large gatherings.

Catherine Lhamon, executive director of The at the University of California, Berkeley, argued that now is not the time to retreat. Lhamon, the head of the Education Department鈥檚 civil rights division during both the Obama and Biden administrations, said efforts to avoid Trump鈥檚 dragnet have proven futile. 

“The impulse to keep your head down and hope that you will escape notice has been demonstrably ineffective during the first months of the Trump administration,鈥� she said. 鈥淔ulfilling your mission, doing the things that took you to this work, standing for your principles, that鈥檚 what each of us should do.”

Lhamon said, too, that discouraging staff from speaking out publicly in defense of their students erodes the bond between the two. 

鈥淚t also strikes at the core component of schooling, that is to teach people how to think critically, how to question authority,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hat is the function of schooling. Curtailing that is a mistake.鈥�

And while Trump has threatened Harvard University with the loss of its 501(c)(3) status, the Nonprofit Alliance notes his , although House Republicans are . 

Whether Trump鈥檚 threats are idle or actual, their impact has changed how immigrant-focused entities operate. 

Barbara Marler, a long-time educator-turned-consultant in Illinois, has worked with newcomer students for decades. She鈥檚 now offering school districts and other education-focused clients the option of combing through their records to find and erase any DEI-related terms an AI bot could flag as troublesome. 

Such wording could trigger Freedom of Information requests that Marler described as 鈥渘efarious鈥� and one school administrator, already inundated by them, deemed harassment.

鈥淣ever, in my career of over 40 years, have I felt the need to do this,鈥� said Marler, adding that a majority of school districts in vocal, right-leaning communities feel compelled to adopt these precautions. 鈥淭hey want to do right by their [English learners], but are worried that legal challenges would bankrupt them in the worst-case scenario 鈥� or board meeting harassment would be triggered in the best-case scenario.鈥�

Alejandra V谩zquez Baur, a fellow at The Century Foundation, a progressive think tank, and director of the notes most of the people who work for organizations that serve immigrants want to draw attention to children and families who’ve historically been cast aside.

鈥淲e know exactly what it feels like to feel ostracized by a system that was not built for us,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e come into this work to amend that. And so the reality of the situation at this moment is heartbreaking. We do not join these fields to mince our words and hide our intentions.鈥�

Some groups, including those that operate inside immigrant-friendly states or cities, with big budgets and robust legal defense, might feel emboldened to push back, she said. But small organizations, particularly those run by immigrants, who might themselves be undocumented or whose staff have mixed status, can鈥檛 afford that risk. 

Trump himself was forced to close his own 501(c)(3), a private foundation established in 1987, as part of a 2018 after his family was found to have used money earmarked for charity to further the president鈥檚 . Trump, who was $2 million in damages, called the investigation 鈥渉arassment.鈥� 

Antero Godina Garcia, professor at Stanford University鈥檚 Graduate School of Education, said even a public retreat in name only by those groups that serve immigrants marks a loss for the community. He worries that it will shrink these organizations鈥� reach and the families they assist will have fewer places where their identities are recognized and affirmed.

鈥淚t is not just less services and opportunities for these communities, but also a broader erosion of how individuals can see themselves as valued within the social fabric of this country,鈥� he said.  

But the man who works for the organization serving undocumented youth, who voiced concern about preserving its tax-exempt status, said it’s difficult to determine what types of comments or activities are considered over the line by the Trump administration. 

鈥淚t gets complicated because things that we think are normal and are legal, such as offering know-your-rights training, the administration could easily perceive that as obstructing their policies, making them hostile to us,鈥� he said. 

As for the written footprint, Marler, who has attended numerous conferences on how best to serve multilingual learners, has observed a telling shift in the types of in-class translating applications marketed to teachers. These tools were long promoted for their ability to keep records, allowing educators to go back and examine communications over time to learn more about students and families. 

Now, Marler said, those same companies are marketing privacy. 

鈥淥ne of their top-selling points was there was no record of the material that was translated,鈥� she said 鈥� so communications couldn鈥檛 be subpoenaed or subjected to public records requests. 鈥淣ow, that is their sales point.鈥�

Students in the Bronx high school that Dylan Lopez Contreras attended before he was arrested by immigration agents last month have sent hundreds of letters in recent weeks to the Western Pennsylvania detention center where he is being held.

Written in a third-period elective class set aside for this purpose, staff made sure to send the missives individually, rather than in a single pile, hoping Contreras would enjoy their support over time . 

Contreras, 20, didn鈥檛 always have time for school 鈥� working to help support his family would often pull him away, one of his teachers told 社区黑料 鈥� but he left his mark on the ELLIS Prep campus. He was the one who introduced a fun new tradition, one that continues in his absence, maybe even in his honor: He got the kids to play Uno in their downtime. 

His teacher could hear their laughter over the game in the hallway. So when it came time to send Contreras a supportive note, telling him to stay strong during a dark time, one of them slipped an Uno card inside the envelope. 

鈥淚鈥檓 going to give him a +4,鈥� the student told his teacher, referring to a card used to delay or prevent an opponent鈥檚 victory. 鈥淭hat would make him laugh.鈥�

Contreras鈥� May 21 arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents 鈥� and that of a Massachusetts high school junior who was picked up by ICE 10 days later 鈥� have intensified anxiety among educators who serve immigrant students. They say their early fears about President Trump’s return to power are now playing out. 

an 11th grader at Grover Cleveland High School in Queens, was detained June 4 after a routine immigration hearing, Public Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles Ramos confirmed Saturday. The teen鈥檚 name has not been released.

“They are in incredible pain right now,鈥� Queens state Assemblywoman Claire Valdez told about the family. 鈥淭hey are terrified for their son. They are terrified for the rest of their family. I don’t think that you have to be a parent to put yourself in their shoes and to imagine someone that you love more than life itself being taken away in this incredibly, incredibly cruel way.”

And while these students engage in separate legal battles, CNN reported last week that some 500 children who arrived in the United States as unaccompanied minors have been taken into federal custody by agents following 鈥渨elfare checks鈥� that many advocates say are wreaking havoc. Families say the children have been increasingly difficult to find and extract from government 鈥渃are.鈥澛犅�

The efforts targeting children 鈥� some 鈥� may be the result of increased pressure from a reportedly furious White House deputy chief of staff to boost the number of immigration-related arrests to 3,000 per day. 

Adam Strom, executive director of Re-Imagining Migration, said some school districts have been preparing for this escalation 鈥� creating rapid response teams and family support networks that activate when immigration enforcement occurs 鈥� but others are shocked at what they’re witnessing.

鈥淔or other communities, this is a wake-up call … the unimaginable is happening in communities like their own, to students not so different from the kids in their own classrooms,” Strom said. 

After much protest, 18-year-old Massachusetts teen Marcelo Gomes da Silva was granted bond and from custody Thursday. He said he had , had crackers for lunch and dinner, slept on a concrete floor with a metallic blanket and had to use the bathroom in front of 40 other men. 

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said he should never have been taken into custody by ICE agents, who later admitted they were looking for his father.

鈥淲hile ICE officers never intended to apprehend Gomes-DaSilva, he was found to be in the United States illegally and subject to removal proceedings, so officers made the arrest,鈥� homeland security officials said in a . 

The New York and Massachusetts cases come amid others. An 18-year-old student from Colombia living in Detroit, was as he was driving friends to join their high school field trip. Federal officials said he already had a removal order from a judge. 

In another case, a was held in an ICE detention facility for weeks after she was arrested by local police in early May on traffic charges that were later dismissed. 

As the cop told Ximena Arias Cristobal he was taking her to jail, she replied shakily that she couldn鈥檛 go because she had finals the next week and her family 鈥渞eally depends on this.鈥� Released on bond May 22, the young woman is now facing deportation to Mexico, a country she left when she was 4.

Far younger children 鈥� including toddlers 鈥� have been defending themselves in immigration court for years. And the many organizations that have helped them through the system are now under attack. Some have been issued 鈥� Trump ceased funding for their legal representation 鈥� leaving them in further jeopardy. 

4-Year-Old Immigrant and Other Young Kids Go to Court Alone

Nancy Duchesneau, a senior pre-K-to-12 research manager at the advocacy organization EdTrust, said it鈥檚 too early to tell if the country鈥檚 most recent immigration enforcement campaign 鈥� manifested in raids and surprise detentions after court appearances 鈥� has led to a drop in school attendance .

Duchesneau noted that ICE’s aggressive tactics disrupt learning and cause harm to a wide swath of students, not just immigrants or those with foreign-born parents.  

鈥淲hen we see trauma happen to other kids, or to other people, we still have emotional impacts from that,鈥� she said. 鈥淪eeing your friends taken away 鈥� kids that you know 鈥� even if you are an American citizen, we don鈥檛 know what else could happen.鈥�

Like Strom, she said schools should make sure there are clear policies in place for when ICE agents visit campus and that both students and staff know their rights.

Eric Marquez, one of Dylan鈥檚 teachers at ELLIS Preparatory Academy, said he taught Contreras for weeks last fall before the young man, who worked , started regularly missing school. 

鈥淚f he had a chance to work, he worked,鈥� Marquez said. 

His teachers understand that struggle. ELLIS Prep is a small specialized school that serves older newcomer students with limited English, nearly all of whom had arrived in the country just weeks or months before their admission. Many are behind on their credits and some have massive gaps in their education. Despite these challenges, Marquez said many go on to college. 

社区黑料 published a 16-month-long undercover investigation last year into how schools respond to enrollment requests from students like Contreras. The fictional teen in 社区黑料’s Unwelcome to America project, 鈥淗ector Guerrero,” was also Venezuelan. But unlike Contreras, Hector, 19, was refused admission to more than 200 high schools across the U.S. where he had a legal right to attend based on his age.

At the time of our reporting, Donald Trump, then a leading presidential contender, was once again vilifying immigrants on the campaign trail, a winning tactic for a man who rode a similar wave of xenophobia into office in 2016. 

Worry was beginning to build over how far he might go as president to deport undocumented children and families. 

Now five months into Trump’s second term, Marquez remembers the moment he learned his student had been arrested and was living out that fear.

鈥淔or me, it was soul-crushing,鈥� the teacher said. 鈥淚t hit everyone. It was symbolic in a way. He was that over-age, under-credited student with a limited, interrupted formal education. But he was super smart. He totally can go to college. He really can.鈥�

As President Donald Trump has ramped up deportations, some immigrant students across New York have been too afraid to attend class in person. In response, some school districts have turned to virtual learning, a move the state鈥檚 Education Department is sanctioning, officials revealed last week.

鈥淚 will tell you in the sense of a crisis, we do have some districts right now 鈥� that are taking advantage and providing virtual instruction to our children who are afraid to go to school,鈥� Associate Education Commissioner Elisa Alvarez .

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Alvarez shared with the board a the state Education Department issued in March clarifying that districts have the flexibility to offer online instruction to 鈥渟tudents who may be unable or averse to attending school, including during times of political uncertainty.鈥�

The memo further specified schools can tap online learning for immigrant and migrant students 鈥渨ho may be affected and reluctant to attend school in person due to concerns about their personal safety and security.鈥�

Alvarez didn鈥檛 disclose how many or which districts were using the approach and for how many students. A state Education Department spokesperson did not respond to follow-up questions.

New York City public schools already have virtual options available and aren鈥檛 doing anything different for immigrant students fearful of attending school, a spokesperson for the city鈥檚 Education Department said.

Still, the disclosure from state officials highlights the ongoing fears some immigrant students are facing four months into the Trump administration and raises fresh questions about how their school experiences are being affected.

Shortly after taking office, Trump barring federal immigration agents from making arrests at 鈥渟ensitive locations鈥� including schools.

Migrant families staying in New York City shelters expressed acute fears during the week after Trump鈥檚 inauguration in January and , likely contributing to lower citywide attendance rates that week (though Mayor Eric Adams later ). Some city educators said they鈥檝e seen attendance for immigrant students rebound since that first week.

City policy prohibits federal law enforcement agents, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, from entering schools without a warrant signed by a judge, and Education Department officials have for how to respond.

At the state level, the Attorney General鈥檚 office and Education Department issued in March reiterating that state and federal law both compel districts to only permit federal law enforcement to enter schools under very limited circumstances.

Many school leaders have worked hard to communicate those policies and reassure anxious families. And immigration enforcement inside of schools has remained rare.

But some high-profile raids have targeted school-age children, including one in the upstate New York hometown of Trump border czar Tom Homan that swept up three students in the local public schools, . And there have been across the of parents detained by immigration agents right outside schools during drop-off time.

Under those circumstances, virtual learning could give schools a way to keep up some connection with students or families who might otherwise completely disengage.

But some New York City educators said they鈥檙e still working hard to convince fearful immigrant students to come to school in person, noting that virtual learning was especially during the COVID pandemic.

Lara Evangelista, the executive director of the Internationals Network, which oversees 17 public schools in the five boroughs catering exclusively to newly arrived immigrant students, said none of her schools have made the 鈥減urposeful choice鈥� to engage fearful students through virtual learning.

鈥淰irtual learning for [English Learners] was really challenging during COVID,鈥� she said.

Alan Cheng, the superintendent who oversees the international schools as well as the city鈥檚 dedicated virtual schools, said he hasn鈥檛 seen any significant changes in enrollment or interest in online learning due to fear of in-person attendance among immigrant students.

And while virtual learning might be able to offer a version of the academic experience of in-person school, it鈥檚 harder for it to replicate some of the other services that schools provide families.

鈥淥ur schools serve much more than just the academic environment,鈥� Cheng said. 鈥淭hey are really community schools, they provide health care, they provide plenty of other resources.鈥�

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. Sign up for their newsletters at .

Under proposed in February, students statewide could be required to submit birth certificates or other sensitive documents to secure their seats 鈥� one of several state efforts this year designed to  enshrining students鈥� right to a free public education regardless of their immigration status. 

Watson, a Republican, argues undocumented students are a financial drain on Tennessee鈥檚 public schools even though state officials don鈥檛 know how many are enrolled there. He sees a way to find out. 

鈥淚f someone is not able to produce their documentation then you would make the assumption that they are here illegally and it would allow you to begin to collect some data as to the number of students in a school system that are either undocumented or are here illegally,鈥� Watson said in an interview with 社区黑料. 鈥淪o that鈥檚 sort of a starting point for us, in terms of trying to understand what the financial cost is.鈥� 

The controversial legislation, which has drawn protests and could in federal money for Tennessee schools, has also sparked alarm among privacy advocates who warn efforts to compile data on students鈥� immigration status could be used not just to deny them an education 鈥� it could also fall into the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

As the Trump administration ramps up deportation efforts and tech billionaire Elon Musk鈥檚 Department of Government Efficiency reportedly a 鈥渕aster database鈥� of government records to zero in on migrants, civil rights advocates warn that education data about immigrant students, such as home addresses, could be weaponized. 

鈥淭hat would be an easy grab for federal officials,鈥� said Cody Venzke, a senior policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union focused on surveillance, privacy and technology. 鈥淪chools are a geographically based governmental service and that makes that data particularly vulnerable.鈥�

Republican lawmakers in Tennessee, Oklahoma and Idaho seek to compel educators to collect records about students鈥� immigration status that have traditionally been outside their purview. Meanwhile, reams of existing information about immigrant students 鈥� including their birth locations and how long they鈥檝e lived in the U.S. 鈥� could serve as proxies to help authorities identify and track undocumented students or those with undocumented family members, said Elizabeth Laird, the director of equity in civic technology at the nonprofit Center for Democracy and Technology.

For Laird, a recent executive order signed by President Donald Trump to merge federal and state data, surveillance-driven immigration enforcement efforts and irregular data collection efforts across federal agencies set off alarm bells. Laird recently published on schools鈥� legal obligations to keep sensitive student data secure. 

鈥淲hat we鈥檝e seen in the last three months is unprecedented access to and consolidation of data about people across a number of federal agencies, and that means taxpayers, it means student loan borrowers, it means Social Security recipients,鈥� Laird said. 

Immigration enforcement officials have already to deport international college students, who came to the U.S. without their parents and whose IRS returns were once considered absolutely confidential. Additional irregular data collection efforts have been carried out across federal agencies in the name of rooting out fraud and waste. 

鈥淵ou don鈥檛 have to go very far to see the connection between the data environment that they’ve created in the name of fraud, waste and abuse and how it relates to immigration enforcement,鈥� Laird said. As Republicans argue that immigrants are wrongly accessing benefits and causing financial turmoil in public schools, she said, 鈥淚mmigration has become a fraud, waste and abuse issue.鈥� 

Officials at the White House and Education Department didn鈥檛 respond to requests for comment.

Data collection in the surveillance age

At just over 100 days into Trump鈥檚 second term, there is no evidence that K-12 students鈥� data have become a specific target for immigration enforcement, even after ICE scrapped a longstanding policy this year that restricted agents from carrying out raids at schools, churches and other 鈥渟ensitive locations.鈥� 

Watson told 社区黑料 his legislation is about ejecting undocumented children from public schools and not about removing them from the country altogether. But a recent Center for Democracy and Technology survey suggests that educators even pre-Trump were already sharing student information with immigration enforcement officials. Some reported that their schools provided student grades, attendance and discipline information to immigration authorities last school year, the survey found, as well as information collected by digital surveillance tools on school-issued laptops. 

A recent executive order seeks to make vast data collection a lot easier. With a stated purpose of promoting government efficiency, Trump in March to eliminate 鈥渋nformation silos鈥� between federal agencies that have historically existed to prevent the government from abusing its access to Americans鈥� , including adoption records, citizenship information, IP addresses and student loan histories. 

Under the order, the Trump administration is building a database of individual people unlike anything the U.S. government has had before 鈥� and one that鈥檚 been compared to . 

鈥淢ost breathtaking,鈥� Venzke said, is the Trump administration鈥檚 efforts to gain unfettered access to information held at state agencies. Experts said the broadly defined order could apply to schools, state education agencies

The U.S. Department of Education generally doesn鈥檛 maintain large datasets of student data beyond financial aid records 鈥� which include students鈥� and family members鈥� Social Security Numbers and Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers. are used by taxpayers without Social Security numbers to pay taxes regardless of their immigration status but could be leveraged as an indicator that someone is undocumented. 

The real student data trove, however, resides at the state level. In fact, states have maintained data about foreign-born students for years and the threat of immigration enforcement is 鈥渘ot limited to undocumented students,鈥� according to the CDT white paper. in the U.S. lost their visas in the first months of the Trump administration, although it recently in the face of court challenges. 

State education data is used to populate the U.S. Department of Education鈥檚 , which centralizes state-by-state information to guide policy development and includes information about students who were born outside the U.S. and have been enrolled in U.S. schools for less than three years. Though the data states provide to the federal government is aggregated, Laird warned that local education agencies could be compelled to share the underlying records that identify specific students. 

Schools also identify immigrant children and English learners in order to receive federal grants that support their learning. Additionally, under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, which requires students nationwide to take standardized tests, immigrant students who have lived in the U.S. for less than a year can opt out of the English assessments 鈥� waivers the CDT noted 鈥渃an only be provided if schools know who these students are.鈥� 

Students cautioned against speaking out

Despite the recent executive order鈥檚 stated goal of preventing fraud, Laird said the mandate mirrors , issued during Trump鈥檚 first term, which sought to consolidate data for the explicit purpose of streamlining immigration enforcement. At least 鈥� South Dakota, South Carolina, Iowa and Nebraska 鈥� agreed to share driver鈥檚 license data with the Trump administration as it sought to pinpoint the citizenship statuses of every adult residing in the U.S. 

Julie Sugarman, associate director for K-12 education research at the nonprofit Migration Policy Institute said educators nationwide have taken steps to ensure students鈥� records aren鈥檛 used beyond their intended purposes, including for immigration enforcement. But the Trump administration鈥檚 vast data collection efforts present an unprecedented situation.

鈥淪tates generally would have a full spreadsheet that includes identifying information, so yeah, if the government was to go to states and ask for that, that would set off huge alarm bells,鈥� Sugarman said. 

鈥淲e鈥檙e in a time when the government is asking for things that they鈥檝e never asked for before,鈥� she continued. 鈥淪o I鈥檓 really not sure what might happen if the government went to a state and said, 鈥楪ive us your entire database with every piece of information about every student in public schools.鈥� 鈥�

Digital surveillance tools being used by federal immigration officials to track down deportation targets 鈥� including social media monitoring software 鈥� have become . Digital surveillance tools, which track students鈥� online communications and web searches, could offer valuable data to immigration officials, Laird said. In some instances, students鈥� digital communications are automatically shared with local law enforcement officers who, in communities nationwide, have been increasingly . 

Social media surveillance tools used by K-12 schools and university educators have previously been . 

In the last few months, some K-12 students have already been warned to be careful about what they post on the internet as the government moved to revoked the visas of foreign-born college students for their , and . 

Martin Milne, president of the Connecticut-based Assist Scholars, said his organization has told international K-12 students that their ability to learn in the U.S. is conditional 鈥� and can be eliminated at a moment鈥檚 notice. The nonprofit scholarship organization currently helps nearly 200 international students enroll in U.S. private secondary schools.  

鈥淲e鈥檝e sent a really general reminder to students applying for visas to be particularly mindful that obtaining a student visa is really a privilege and it鈥檚 not a right and it comes with important responsibilities,鈥� Milne said, recently used by the Trump administration. 鈥淎nd that if they abide by the responsibilities that come with being a visa holder, they鈥檙e not going to draw attention to themselves.鈥� 

Tennessee wants Trump鈥檚 permission

Back in Tennessee, a Republican-led effort to collect data about undocumented students and bar their access to public schools has stalled. Despite claims that immigrant students are a drain on school resources, a state audit warned the move could cost Tennessee as much as $1.1 billion in federal education money if officials fail to comply with federal laws that prohibit discrimination based on race or national origin. 

Still, the climate caused by the legislative effort and Trump鈥檚 deportation efforts has students on edge, Kyle Carrasco, a high school government and economics teacher in Chattanooga, told 社区黑料. Although his school doesn鈥檛 ask students about their immigration status, Carrasco said he suspects at least some are undocumented and several have already had family members taken into ICE custody. 

鈥淎t the end of the day, immigrants regardless of documentation status are paying taxes, they鈥檙e paying into the system that they 鈥� if these bills become law 鈥� will be withheld from,鈥� Carrasco said. 鈥淪o I don’t necessarily understand the reasoning and the logistics beyond why we need to be identifying and tracking these students.鈥� 

Watson, the state senator, hasn鈥檛 given up, telling 社区黑料 he hopes his bill will resurface after local officials receive assurance they won鈥檛 be penalized by the federal government. In an April 21 letter to the U.S. Department of Education, state Fiscal Review Executive Director Bojan Savic asked if Tennessee risked losing federal money for its failure to comply with civil rights laws. 

With Trump in charge, Watson said he didn鈥檛 think the letter was necessary. 

鈥淭his bill, were it to be enacted into law, would align with the strategies that the current administration is exercising,鈥� Watson said, 鈥渁nd it would not put our federal dollars in jeopardy.鈥�

The 5-4 vote by the Senate Education Committee came despite the Legislature鈥檚 own fiscal analysis, which said the proposed legislation 鈥渕ay jeopardize federal funding to the state and to local governments鈥� and violate the federal Civil Rights Act, which specifically prohibits discrimination based on national origin in programs receiving federal dollars. Three Republicans joined the committee鈥檚 sole Democrat in voting 鈥渘o.鈥�

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Immediately after the vote was cast, shouts of 鈥渟o shameful鈥� and 鈥渢hat鈥檚 trash鈥� erupted inside the hearing room. Others, including school-age children in attendance, streamed out of the room in tears.

The bill () by Sen. Bo Watson, a Hixson Republican, and House Majority Leader William Lamberth, a Portland Republican, says that local school districts and public charter schools 鈥渟hall require鈥� students to provide one of three forms of documentation: proof of U.S. citizenship, proof the student is in the process of obtaining citizenship or proof they have legal immigration status or a visa.

Students who lack one of the three forms of documentation could then be barred by their local school district from enrolling unless their parents paid tuition.

Watson,  the bill鈥檚 sponsor, said he brought the measure in response to the increasing cost to the state of providing English-as-a-second-language instruction.

鈥淩emember, we are not talking about people who are here lawfully,鈥� Watson said. 鈥淲hat I鈥檓 trying to discuss here is the financial burden that exists with what appears to be an increasing number of people who are not lawfully here.鈥�

In response to a question from Sen. Raumesh Akbari of Memphis, the sole Democrat on the panel, Watson said he had received no formal request from any school official to introduce the measure.

鈥淚n an official capacity, this is one of those issues people do not talk about,鈥� Watson said. 鈥淭his is a very difficult bill to present. It is very difficult to have all these eyes on you.鈥�

鈥淚n an unofficial capacity at numerous events, have people mentioned this problem to me? Absolutely,鈥� Watson said.

Akbari responded: 鈥淚鈥檓 from the largest school district in the state. I have not had those conversations.鈥�

鈥淚 am offended by this legislation,鈥� Akbari said. 鈥淚 find that it is so antithetical to the very foundation of this country鈥�.This is saying that babies 鈥� you start school at five years old 鈥� that you do not deserve to be educated.鈥�

The bill鈥檚 sponsors have acknowledged the measure is likely to face a legal challenge if enacted. The proposed legislation, they have said, is intended to serve as a vehicle to potentially overturn the Supreme Court鈥檚 Plyler v. Doe decision, which established a constitutional right to a public school education for all children. The 1982 decision was decided by a 5-4 vote, Watson noted.

鈥淢any 5-4 decisions taken to the court today might have a different outcome,鈥� Watson said.

The proposed legislation is part of an unprecedented slate of immigration-related bills introduced in the Tennessee legislature this year as Gov. Bill Lee and the General Assembly鈥檚 GOP supermajority seek to align with the Trump Administration鈥檚 immigration policies.

Lee last month signed into law legislation to create a state immigration enforcement office to liaise with the Trump administration, create distinct driver鈥檚 licenses for noncitizens and levy felony charges at local elected officials who vote in favor of sanctuary policies.

Among nearly three dozen other immigration-related bills still being considered is one to require hospitals that accept Medicaid payments to report on the immigration status of their patients. would open up charitable organizations, including churches, to lawsuits if they have provided housing services to an individual without permanent legal immigration status and that individual goes on to commit a crime.

Following Wednesday鈥檚 hearing in the Senate Education Committee, hundreds congregated in a hallway of the Legislature, chanting 鈥渆ducation for all鈥� and pledged to return as the bill winds through the committee process.

The bill 鈥渋nstills fear and hopelessness in these students,鈥� said Ruby Aguilar, a Nashville teacher who testified against the bill during the hearing.  鈥淓ducation is not merely a privilege, it is a shared human right every child should have access to.鈥�

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com.

As President Donald Trump reportedly mulls an executive order to eliminate the Education Department, the federal government鈥檚 role could shift from ensuring children have equal educational opportunities to making it easier to deport them. 

One closely watched avenue where that could happen is allowing immigration enforcement in schools. Trump last month barring federal agents from conducting raids in sensitive locations like churches, hospitals and schools. 

A protest Thursday against the administration targeting schools in its mass deportation pledge was sparked in part by claims that last month was precipitated by rampant classroom bullying, with the student鈥檚 peers claiming the Texas girl’s family was undocumented and would get deported.

鈥淭he presence of immigration enforcement in our classrooms will not make schools safer, it will actually do the opposite,鈥� Alejandra Gonzalez Rizo, an eighth-grade teacher in Washington, D.C., and a former DACA recipient, said during a Thursday press call organized by two advocacy groups, United We Dream Action and The Immigration Hub. 鈥淚t will create chaos and fear, forcing students and teachers to look over their shoulders instead of focusing on learning.鈥� 

The big picture: To date, I鈥檓 not aware of any cases during Trump鈥檚 second term where immigration officials carried out enforcement actions inside a school. Advocates warned of a greater fallout to come. 

• School police in Texas have opened an investigation into Jocelynn’s death. |
• Now you see it, now you don鈥檛: The Trump administration implemented 鈥� then walked back just days later 鈥� an order that sidelined a federal program that allows nonprofits to provide legal representation to undocumented children who are in the country without their parents. |
  • The young migrants, called unaccompanied minors, have become a central target in Trump鈥檚 immigration crackdown. |
  • Prohibiting ICE activities at or near schools or bus stops 鈥渃ould significantly limit immigration enforcement in Denver,鈥� the Trump administration said in response to a lawsuit from the city鈥檚 school district seeking to prevent an end to the sensitive locations policy. |
  • In February, a federal judge blocked immigration officials from conducting raids and arrests at a handful of churches and places of worship that sued to halt the policy shift. Trump鈥檚 directive, the judge ordered, likely denied religious freedoms protected by the First Amendment. |

Emboldened states: Decades ago, the Supreme Court ruled that all children in the U.S. are entitled to a free public education regardless of their immigration status. Conservative state officials want that to change 鈥� with lawmakers in Tennessee, Oklahoma, Indiana and Texas introducing bills to bar undocumented kids from classrooms. |

The Pinellas County, Florida, police department has reportedly applied for a federal program that deputizes local officers with immigration enforcement powers. |

• On Thursday, Pinellas school officials said they would cooperate with ICE but would stop short of instructing its officers to work alongside federal immigration agents. |

Departing gifts: From soccer balls to handwritten letters, educators across the country have been giving heartfelt mementos to multilingual learners whose families have chosen to leave their schools and their homes rather than risk scrutiny from immigration agents. | 社区黑料

In the news

R.I.P. ED? Trump is expected to sign an executive order as early as today calling for an end to the Department of Education, throwing into uncertainty an agency that enforces federal civil rights laws and distributes financial support to low-income schools and students with disabilities. But here鈥檚 the thing: The department was created by Congress 鈥� and bringing down a federal agency will take a lot more than a few scribbles on a piece of paper. |

Now you see it, now you don鈥檛 (again): The department appeared to walk back a controversial order that threatened to strip federal funding from schools with diversity, equity and inclusion policies. | 社区黑料

• In response to the original order, some educators said they had no intention of playing along. In Long Beach, California, for example, school officials moved forward with plans to open the Center of Black Student Excellence despite federal pressure. | 社区黑料
  
• In a lawsuit Wednesday, the ACLU and the nation鈥檚 largest teachers union alleged Trump鈥檚 anti-DEI order stifled educators鈥� free speech rights. |

In a first-in-the-nation move, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has signed a law that strips state anti-discrimination protections from transgender and nonbinary students. |

A lawsuit has accused a former security guard at a Milwaukee private school of secretly recording underage girls in a campus locker room. |

• More from Milwaukee: City officials approved a $1.6 million plan to station police officers in public schools 鈥� more than 400 days after a state law went into effect requiring cops on campuses. |

The Senate failed to pass legislation that sought to bar transgender students from participating in school athletics programs consistent with their gender identity. | 社区黑料

Free from gun-free zones: A new Wyoming law has banned 鈥済un-free zones鈥� in schools and other public spaces. |

Kept in the Dark

For a recent investigation for 社区黑料 and Wired, I fell down a dark web rabbit hole and chronicled more than 300 school cyberattacks in the last five years 鈥� and revealed the degree to which school leaders in virtually every state repeatedly provide false assurances to students, parents and staff about the security of their sensitive information. 

This week, I highlighted my investigation into a ransomware attack on the Providence, Rhode Island, school district 鈥� where educators denied a massive student data breach in plain sight. 

As a result of that 18-month-long investigation, I was interviewed last week on KARE 11, the NBC affiliate in Minnesota’s Twin Cities. Public records I obtained from Minneapolis Public Schools uncovered sharp disparities in what district leaders told the FBI after a 2023 data breach and what it communicated to the public. You can watch the newscast .

ICYMI @The74

• To Make Ed Tech More Secure, Software Companies Need to Step Up
  
• AI Chatbots Can Cushion the High School Counselor Shortage 鈥� But Are They Bad for Students?
  
• 1st Confirmed Death in Texas Measles Outbreak Is Unvaccinated, School-Aged Child

Emotional support

Oh hey, springtime, is that you? 社区黑料 editor Andrew Brownstein鈥檚 pup Sagan is already out in the yard waiting for longer, warmer days. 

A soccer ball covered in signatures from classmates. A handwritten letter telling a child of their worth. A T-shirt bearing a school emblem meant to remind a newcomer how much they were loved in a place they once called home.聽

These are among the items teachers have given their multilingual learners after hearing their families planned to leave rather than risk being detained by immigration agents.

鈥淥ne of my students told me last week that their family had decided to go back to Brazil because they were afraid of deportation,鈥� said teacher Joanna Schwartz. 鈥淚t was his last day here. I scrounged up a T-shirt with our school鈥檚 logo on it and a permanent marker and my student had all of his friends and teachers sign it.”

She said she taught the fifth grader for three years. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 nothing big, but it was a treasure to him to have the physical signatures of his dearest friends and teachers to take with him,鈥� she said. 

Some immigrant students wrestling with the fear of deportation leave school with no warning. They simply stop showing up and ignore the calls and emails that follow. 

Other times, they give their teachers just a few hour鈥檚 notice, often a single afternoon, to process and accept the loss of a relationship that might have lasted for years. A tight hug, a kind word and then 鈥� gone.  

Such scenes are unfolding throughout the country as the Trump administration and , striking terror in the hearts of the undocumented and their advocates. 

Faced with the fallout, teachers who鈥檝e spent their entire careers advocating for immigrant students 鈥� fighting battles even within their own districts to ensure they have a robust education 鈥� are left fumbling for the right words to say or gift to give a child under extreme stress. 

Schwartz, who teaches multilingual learners in Philadelphia, uses her prior training as a therapist to help kids through these toughest of moments. 

She said she often gives these children 鈥渢ransitional objects,鈥� something tangible, like the signed school T-shirt, to help them feel connected to their friends in the United States as they move back to their homelands.

Schwartz wrote her departing student a letter in which she 鈥渞eminded him of his many strengths and told him how much he will be missed,鈥� she said. She added drawings, stickers and her email address. 

鈥淚 wish I could do more,鈥� she said. 

Areli Rodriguez was devastated when, last winter, during her first year of teaching in Texas, one of her most promising and devoted young students left for another state: The boy鈥檚 family was growing wary of and headed to Oklahoma, where they hoped they鈥檇 be safer. 

鈥淗e was my first student who left for this reason,鈥� she said of the fifth grader who had arrived in the United States from Mexico less than a year earlier. 鈥淚t was so gutting. It just broke my heart.鈥� 

The family didn鈥檛 know the Sooner State would impose some of the harshest in the nation. Those included state schools chief Ryan Walters saying he would comply with Trump’s order allowing immigration enforcement in schools and a failed edict that Oklahoma parents be required to report their own immigration status when enrolling their kids in school. That proposal was rejected by the governor this week, who said children should not be used

Rodriguez is not sure where the child is today. As a parting gift, she gave him a soccer ball signed by all his classmates.

Video: A fifth-grade student leaving Areli Rodriguez’s Texas classroom leads his classmates in a chant in Spanish about self-worth. 社区黑料 obscured the students’ faces to protect their identity and provided the English-translation captions. (Areli Rodriguez)

The boy, who was chosen as student of the week when he departed, led the class in a call-and-response chant by Rita F. Pierson just moments before he was gone from the district for good.  

I am somebody.

I was somebody when I came.

I’ll be a better somebody when I leave.

I am powerful, and I am strong.

鈥� I have things to do, people to impress, and places to go.

And, his teacher noted, she wasn鈥檛 the only gift-giver that day: The boy left her one of his favorite toys, a Rubik鈥檚 Cube. 

In a diary entry, he wrote to Rodriguez and another beloved teacher: 鈥淭o say goodbye to all of you, Ms. Rodriguez and Ms. [S], I want to tell you that you are my favorite teachers, and I鈥檓 sorry for any trouble I may have caused. Maybe I wasn鈥檛 the best student, but I am proud of myself for learning so much.鈥�

Rodriguez didn鈥檛 need the note to remember him.

鈥淚 think about him all the time,鈥� she said, adding that he embodies what she loves most about multilingual learners. 鈥淔or him, school was a gift, an opportunity, a privilege. He just worked so hard. We had academic competitions. I coached him. He did creative writing in Spanish and he placed. His parents were so supportive 鈥� they looked at education as something they wanted to seize.鈥�

His classmates felt the loss, too, Rodriguez said. 

鈥淭here would be times when I would sit there at recess and watch them play without him and you could tell there was an element missing,鈥� she said. 

The Department of Homeland Security is urging undocumented people to This isn鈥檛 the first time they鈥檝e felt such pressure: Former President in a single term, double that of Trump鈥檚 first four years in office. But many of those he turned away were newly arrived at the border. Unlike Trump, Biden shied away from . 

The current president is targeting this population in other ways, too. Trump signed an executive order Feb. 19 aimed at . It鈥檚 unclear how this might impact education: Schools receive federal money, particularly to help support low-income children, but they also cannot turn away students based on their immigration status, according to the 1982 Supreme Court decision . 

That landmark ruling, however, , most recently in Tennessee where lawmakers this month introduced a bill saying schools can deny enrollment to undocumented students. The sponsors say it’s their intention to challenge Plyler.

鈥榃e hugged long and hard鈥�

In addition to the T-shirts, cards and other mementos, educators are preparing something else for withdrawing students, a far more practical gift meant to help them resume their education elsewhere 鈥� and quickly. 

Genoveva Winkler, regional migrant education program coordinator housed in Idaho鈥檚 Nampa School District, said she鈥檚 given more than 100 families copies of their students鈥� transcripts in English and Spanish. 

鈥淭his school year, we are preparing 鈥榩ackets鈥� for the families with all that information,鈥� Winkler wrote in a Facebook message, adding her district also gave them textbooks supplied by the Mexican Consulate that parents can use to prepare their children academically and bolster their Spanish. 鈥淭he students are not 100% bilingual. Parents are taking all steps necessary to make the transition easier for their children.鈥�

Indianapolis teacher Amy Halsall said four children from the same family, ranging in age from 7 to 12, left her school system right after Inauguration Day, headed back to Mexico. 

鈥淭hey didn鈥檛 specifically say that it was immigration related but I would guess it was,鈥� Halsall said. 鈥淭his is a family that we have had in our school since their sixth grader was in first grade. The kids were really upset that they had to leave.鈥�

The youngest and the eldest told Halsall they want to be ESL teachers when they grow up, she said. The two middle children hope to be mechanics and one day open their own shop. Halsall gave them a notebook full of letters written by fellow students and pictures of their classmates.

鈥淚 told the kids that they had learned a lot and always did their best,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 told them that they worked hard and were on their way to being bilingual. We hugged long and hard. I told them if they ever came back to Indianapolis that they should call us or visit.

I told them if I was ever in Mexico, I would call them. I tried hard to keep things positive but it was hard for all of us. Everyone had tears in their eyes.鈥�

The anxiety continues, Halsall said. Just last week, another child, age 8, told her he worried that 鈥淟a Migra鈥� 鈥� ICE agents 鈥� would take his mother away while he was out. 

鈥淚 told him that he was safe at school and if he got home and no one was there to call me,鈥� she said. 

Another teacher, in Virginia, said she had two such students leave school so far this academic year. One hailed from Guatemala and the other from Mexico. Both were in their mid-teens and had impeccable attendance, she said.

The boy from Guatemala, a solid student who wanted to accelerate his path toward graduation, would often say how perplexing it was that some of his peers didn鈥檛 show the same dedication to their studies that he did. 

Both teens expressed concern to fellow students about possible immigration raids shortly before leaving school for good. Their teacher did not have a chance to say goodbye in either case. Their departure, she said, left her feeling 鈥渃ompletely empty.鈥�

鈥淚鈥檝e loved watching them integrate in our school and seeing how they realized they can have this pathway if they choose,鈥� she said. 鈥淲atching that choice ripped away by fear is devastating.鈥�

Lea esta historia en 

Fewer California high school seniors are completing federal financial aid applications than in past years, which some analysts say is a sign that students may fear the Trump administration will use their sensitive data for immigration enforcement.

The number of seniors completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, has dropped by about 48,000 students, or 25%, as of last week, compared to this point last year. In both years, the California deadline for state financial aid 鈥� such as waivers to fully cover tuition at public universities plus other awards 鈥� is early March.

Also down dramatically is the share of students applying who have at least one parent who鈥檚 undocumented: That number has plunged 44% so far this year compared to this point last year 鈥� from about 30,000 students then to 17,000 now.

The  from the California Student Aid Commission, the state agency that handles financial aid. This morning the commission  with high school counselors regarding the implications of this decline and how to encourage more students to apply for aid. 

The Trump administration has not announced plans to use application information to target people for deportation.

鈥淭his is very alarming,鈥� said Daisy Gonzales, executive director of the commission, in an interview about the application declines. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a crisis in the sense that we have a perfect storm.鈥� The White House鈥檚 , the fires in Southern California that displaced thousands of families and  plus students鈥�  are all forces that Gonzales says may be behind the drop. 

If the trend of fewer applications holds, she fears that 鈥渨e鈥檙e losing another generation of students who should be enrolling, who should be succeeding.鈥�

The commission has extended the deadline for state aid  for students in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, where much of the destructive winter fires occurred.  

California and FAFSA issues aren鈥檛 new

College aid experts warned last fall that families with undocumented members living in the U.S. were questioning the safety of the data. Leading associations of college advisors told students to  to protect their loved ones. While current law limits student and family information entered in the application for only financial aid purposes, legal experts told CalMatters under a presidency like Donald Trump鈥檚. Some students with undocumented parents are specifically suspicious of a line in the application for parents asking them if  and a prompt to complete an identity verification form.

Gonzales has attended financial aid fairs the commission sponsors and heard from families about their FAFSA fears. 鈥淭he number one question that they would ask me is, 鈥業s it safe for me to apply, and what are my options?鈥欌�� she said.

While the FAFSA is a federal application, California has its own state application that the student aid commission stresses is not shared with federal agencies. It鈥檚 called the , known as CADAA. Legal experts told CalMatters that federal agencies would have to  to access those state records.

The CADAA gives students access to state tuition waivers and several thousand dollars in other grants, but FAFSA is the only way for students to also receive federal student loans and the Pell grant, which can .

Originally meant for undocumented students, the state application last year was expanded to permit students with a parent who wasn鈥檛 a citizen to apply for state aid. The student aid commission took that step because of massive technological issues with the. But a senior staffer at the student aid commission told California lawmakers last year that the state application may need to take a larger role in handling student financial aid if the federal immigration climate changes 鈥� .

Two new state bills may help, Gonzales and other commission officials said. One would . Another would . Both bills are in their early stages, though the extension legislation could move quickly: Lawmakers last March  to address that year鈥檚 tech-related federal application mishaps.

鈥淲e have examples of families who actually have chosen not to submit the FAFSA application, and have opted instead for the CADAA,鈥� said Marcos Montes, policy director for Southern California College Attainment Network, a coalition of nonprofits that helps students apply for college and financial aid. He said that鈥檚 what counselors in the network told him who specifically work with families living in public housing.

Montes said most mixed-status families he鈥檚 encountered who are foregoing FAFSA are those applying for financial aid for the first time. They鈥檙e less familiar with the process and are more hesitant to share information with the federal government, especially if they鈥檝e submitted few, if any, personal records to federal authorities.

鈥淭hey do realize that they鈥檙e leaving financial aid money on the table,鈥� he said.

Federal role unclear, loss of money could be steep

There are many unknowns about Trump鈥檚 plans for student financial aid data, but Montes listed several new developments that he and his college access colleagues find concerning. One is billionaire Elon Musk鈥檚 group, called Department of Government Efficiency, that reportedly gained access to student loan records. Last week the undergraduate student association of the University of California  to halt Musk鈥檚 group鈥檚 access to student financial aid files. In response, the U.S. Department of Education on Wednesday said it would temporarily block Musk鈥檚 group from accessing those files, . That deal will last until at least Feb. 17.

Another worry is that the federal Department of Homeland Security, which includes immigration enforcement agencies, has asked officials at the Internal Revenue Service for help removing individuals who are in the country illegally,  It鈥檚 another indication of how immigration enforcement is pairing with outside agencies, Montes said.

For students who鈥檝e already applied for federal financial aid in past years or whose parents have submitted tax returns, the federal government already has their information. That鈥檚 what the University of California is explaining to students.

鈥淚f your family has submitted this information in the past, it may continue to be accessible to those same government agencies,鈥� the university . 鈥淪ubmission of a FAFSA, in this case, may not increase the amount of information about your family that is already accessible to the federal government. However, if your family has not had any data exchanged in these or other spaces, then submission of a FAFSA may present new information on the status of your family.鈥�

A UC advisory group in December calculated that if every student with undocumented family members opted out of federal aid by only completing the state application, $85 million in grants .

鈥淭he University of California does not have the resources to backfill for $85 million in missing federal Pell Grants, much less any lost access to federal student loans or work-study,鈥� wrote Stett Holbrook, a UC spokesperson, in a statement to CalMatters. 

Attendance had already been low for about a week at Laredo Elementary School in Aurora when federal immigration agents showed up at an apartment building down the street before school started Wednesday, according to teachers.

The first hour of classes that day was punctuated by the sound of a plane circling above and dark SUVs driving up and down the street, a teacher said. At one point, one of the SUVs parked next to the school鈥檚 crosswalk.

While some students in Nate Madson Dion鈥檚 fifth grade class were absent, most made it to class, where he said 鈥渢hey have people they trust, and they feel safe. But all that concern is still lurking.鈥�

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A third grader emailed her teacher to explain that she wasn鈥檛 at school because she hadn鈥檛 been able to leave her home because of the raids. 鈥淗opefully, I鈥檒l be back tomorrow,鈥� she wrote, according to Madson Dion.

The Aurora school district had attendance of 89.44% on Wednesday and was at 92.25% the following day. According to Colorado Public Radio, attendance in the district had dipped to 79% on Jan. 30, the day the raids had been rumored to start.

In Denver schools, the district鈥檚 most recent lowest attendance date was Feb. 3 during a national movement for , but it had bounced back to about 86.9% on Feb. 5.

Madson Dion overheard his students having conversations about the raids last Thursday. A student who had been at the apartment building was telling the kids about it. He said seven people were taken from his building and some doors were knocked down.

Madson Dion said he stuck to most of his lessons for the day. He doesn鈥檛 guide any conversations about what鈥檚 happening outside, but lets students talk when they initiate conversations. He chimes in when he has information that could be helpful to students, he said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 super important for me to allow it to happen, while also not pressing it,鈥� Madson Dion said. When a student was wondering what would happen if immigration agents knocked on his door, Madson Dion chimed in and told students, 鈥淛ust don鈥檛 answer the door.鈥�

Students already knew that, he said.

鈥淔ifth graders know about warrants. Fifth graders shouldn鈥檛 have to know about warrants,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e have kids who are resilient in ways I wish they didn鈥檛 have to be.鈥�

At nearby Hinkley High School, math teacher Beth Himes said her students had experienced many of the same things. Some had seen raids taking place and residents of apartment buildings hiding on rooftops.

鈥淪tudents on their way to school had filmed people on top of a roof as they drove past the apartment complexes, and that was going around the school,鈥� Himes said. 鈥淪tudents were all abuzz, they were very nervous, they were worried. Not necessarily for themselves, but for parents, other family, friends, neighbors.鈥�

Her classroom has large windows through which students could see the immigration enforcement vehicles driving past.

The night of the raids was parent-teacher conference night at Hinkley.

Himes usually has between 12 and 14 parent meetings in a night. Last Wednesday, Himes only had six parent meetings. One parent had emailed her to ask for the information through email, and cited the raids for feeling unsafe to go meet Hines in person.

Most classes at Hinkley have gone on as normal, and while attendance is down, it hasn鈥檛 been significantly lower on any particular day, Himes said. Similar to at Laredo, she said she believes Hinkley students feel as safe as they can while they are at school. But getting to and from school can feel dangerous for them or their families.

鈥淚 think their anxiety goes up when they leave,鈥� Himes said.

At Laredo, when an immigration SUV parked in the crosswalk in front of the school, some families felt uncomfortable crossing the street in front of that agent, so the families waited inside the school until they felt safe to leave again.

Teacher says it matters when leaders talk about immigration

In the nearby Adams 12 school district, the superintendent told his school board on Wednesday night that immigration concerns are taking a lot of time to address.

Superintendent Chris Gdowski said the district believed the parent of one Adams 12 student had been detained in Wednesday鈥檚 raids and that the child was in the temporary care of a neighbor.

Attendance had been down by as much as 5% at some Adams 12 schools, and the district was trying to problem-solve with families to find ways to get students back in classes, or find ways to keep them learning while at home, Gdowski said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 become a fairly significant part of many of our jobs on the security side in coordinating with our principals about what to do if this happens, and then there鈥檚 also fairly consistent communication needs that we have,鈥� he said.

At a meeting the day after the raids, the Jeffco school board discussed the fears that seem to be keeping some children home from school. Although Jeffco didn鈥檛 discuss large attendance rate drops, staff told the board they will present recommendations for the superintendent in the next couple of weeks on how to help students who don鈥檛 feel safe coming into classes physically.

The board workshopped the on this Thursday to show support for immigrant and LGBTQ students who may be feeling unsafe. But board members struggled with some of the language, because they wondered what they could guarantee doing for students, especially as things keep changing.

Board member Paula Reed, was hesitant about saying the district won鈥檛 collect or share immigration information from students or families, because she said in the near future. Board members also wondered if they could control what happens outside their school buildings, and whether they should state that immigration actions that happen near schools are disruptive to students.

that is nearly identical to one the board approved in 2017 written with parent and student groups. It states that as one of the most diverse districts in the state, Aurora is dedicated to supporting and serving all students. The resolution includes updated demographic information showing that the district鈥檚 students now speak more than 160 different languages and that more than 42% of all students are learning English as a new language.

The resolution adds a requirement that Aurora schools update student emergency contact information twice a year instead of once per year and encourages families to include a non-family contact in case family members can鈥檛 pick up students.

Himes said the Aurora resolution matters because it supports school staff鈥檚 desire to keep students safe and to communicate that desire to the families and students themselves.

鈥淚t鈥檚 just been very well-communicated,鈥� Himes said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the key.鈥�

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. Sign up for their newsletters at . 

But educators said they are determined to help these students learn, even through this difficult time. Diana Herrera, who teaches in California鈥檚 Central Valley but who declined to name her school, vowed to protect her students as if they were her own children. Even with her sensitivity to their plight, she said, attendance has dropped 鈥� including among those born in the United States. 

鈥淭hey are concerned for their family members,鈥� Herrera said, through tears, adding her school has not given teachers any directives on how to address or quell their concerns. 鈥淚f I can鈥檛 give them the right answer or if I can鈥檛 make them feel better, they are not going to continue coming.鈥� 

Trump recently removed barriers that once kept immigration agents away from . Conservative forces 鈥� who have urged undocumented residents to consider 鈥� have also, , been strategizing to undo , the landmark 1982 Supreme Court ruling that a child cannot be denied a public education based on immigration status. 

Amid these challenges, Cheruba Chavez, who is an English language and special education teacher in New Orleans, pledged to keep her students safe and engaged: Those who miss school will get follow-up calls encouraging them to return, and those who transfer will receive all the help they need to avoid gaps in their learning.

鈥淭hey are coming to school for something that no one can take away from them: an education,鈥� she said. 

Despite the anxiety around immigration and deportation, Hector Villagra, vice president of policy advocacy and community education at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said he believes campus raids are unlikely. 

But he said staff members should understand their legal obligation: Villagra, an attorney, said schools typically do not have to honor what he called 鈥渁dministrative warrants鈥� from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Most are mere forms issued through the Department of Homeland Security or ICE and are not judicial warrants signed by a judge or magistrate, he said. 

鈥淭hese documents do not give ICE agents any authority to enter school premises without permission,鈥� he said. 

Dan McNeil, general counsel for the American Federation of Teachers, echoed his remarks at the teachers union’s virtual town hall Thursday night. He said ICE agents on campus should be referred to the school’s administration. As for teachers, they can remain mum. “You have the right to remain silent,” he said. “You should not disclose the immigration status of your student 鈥� or even let them know if a student that they ask about is on campus.” 

ICE did not immediately respond to questions about its authority. 

Alejandra Vazquez Baur, cofounder of the National Newcomers Network, said attorneys, not front office workers, should be the ones to decipher which warrants must be acted upon.

She added that Trump鈥檚 tactics, which she characterized as 鈥渁n attack鈥� on immigrant families, are designed to make them believe they do not belong in public spaces. 鈥淔amilies fear to send their kids to school,鈥� she said. 鈥淭his is about exclusion, racism and power. The cruelty is the point.鈥�

But Vazquez Baur added that immigrant advocates are using this moment to organize, unite, share ideas and push back, when possible, against the president鈥檚 directives. 

Even so, tensions remain high on the ground and some schools are cancelling in-person events for parents who are worried about coming to campus, said Nancy Rosas, senior director of schools for the Internationals Network. 鈥淥verall that fear makes people behave like they want to hide in the shadows,鈥� she said. 

Viri Carrizales, president of ImmSchools, founded in 2018 to support educators in creating a welcoming environment for immigrant students, said the consternation around immigration has left some educators worried about addressing the matter head on. 

Carrizales, who was undocumented in her K-12 and college journey, said some school staff are prohibiting the distribution of 鈥渒now-your-rights鈥� cards to students for fear of drawing attention to their schools: She said, too, their silence on these critical issues makes immigrant families feel unsupported. Some are withdrawing their children entirely.聽

社区黑料 also reached out to multilingual learner teachers on Facebook. While some said attendance held steady, others, like Tammy Ingraham Baggett, who teaches multilingual learners in Harris County, Texas, said numbers declined noticeably in the past week.

She said two students told her they were going to miss school because of possible immigration raids: One child, whose mother was concerned for her safety at school, asked to work on her assignments at home for the rest of the week because of ICE. 

鈥淚s your mom scared?鈥� Ingraham Baggett recalled asking the ninth grader. 鈥淪he said emphatically, 鈥榊es.鈥� I asked if she was scared. She shrugged, eyes downcast, and nodded yes.鈥�

Ariel Taylor Smith, senior director of the National Parents Union Policy & Action Center, whose organization has taken a strong stance in favor of immigrant communities, said she is worried about students in Republican states and about those living in the suburbs or in rural areas. 

鈥淚 think a lot of our kids in our urban cities are in districts that have the infrastructure to provide regular communication with parents in multiple languages,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hat’s muscle they’ve already built 鈥� and it鈥檚 one everyone should have.鈥�

Some suburban and rural districts might not have that same capacity, she said.

Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, who came to the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant from Portugal, said this week the nation鈥檚 second largest district is preparing for the incoming administration鈥檚 planned mass deportations.

The district has begun mandatory training for staff in how to respond if federal immigration officers appear at or nearby schools, Carvalho said, and has produced 鈥榢now your rights鈥� cards to be distributed to students, with directions on how to behave if approached by immigration agents.

But LAUSD can only do so much to combat the fear and anxiety felt by the district鈥檚 immigrant families, the superintendent said Monday at a press conference to discuss the measures.

鈥淣o child of any age should face that awful, disturbing condition,鈥� said Carvalho. 鈥淭hat is why we’ve created safe spaces in our schools for our students to come together.鈥�

Since 2017 LAUSD has had a policy to not voluntarily cooperate with immigration enforcement actions by federal agencies and in November school board members to reaffirm LA Unified鈥檚 status as a sanctuary district.

School officials do not collect or share information about the immigration status of students and their families, Carvalho said, and federal agents will be denied access to schools unless they possess proper judicial warrants.

President-elect Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, has promised to begin his second administration with widespread federal enforcement action to remove undocumented people from US cities, possibly with help from the military.

LAUSD officials do not keep records of students鈥� immigration status. About 15% of the district’s students are English language learners, and about 13% of students speak Spanish as their primary language.

According to the Migration Policy Institute, about students enrolled in California public schools are undocumented. Nearly in California have at least one undocumented parent, according to the National Center for Children in Poverty.

The Department of Homeland Security designates schools as where immigration enforcement should be avoided. Federal enforcement action at schools was limited in the first Trump administration.

But the president-elect has vowed to step up enforcement in his second term.

Evelyn Aleman, founder of Our Voice, a parents鈥� group which advocates for LA Unified鈥檚 low-income and Spanish-speaking families, said immigrant families in LA are living in fear of what may come when Trump takes office.

Even those here legally are concerned their immigration status could be rescinded, Aleman said.

鈥淩ight now, there’s a lot of anxiety and fear in our communities,鈥� said Aleman. 鈥淲e don’t really know what’s going to happen, and it’s that uncertainty that makes everyone so nervous.鈥�

Aleman said even the threat or presence of immigration enforcement near schools is enough to discourage students from attending classes.

When federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in 2017 after he dropped his daughter at school, Aleman said, immigrant families in the area stopped sending their kids to class.  

Immigrant families use text messaging and social media to warn each other of the presence of ICE agents in their neighborhoods, said Aleman.

For weeks, she said, immigrant families in Los Angeles have been meeting via Zoom, over the phone and in person to discuss what to do if enforcement ramps up when the president-elect takes office.

Meanwhile, state officials in California are also preparing protections for immigrant families.

State Attorney General Rob Bonta in December issued for how districts can comply with state law limiting state and local participation in federal immigration enforcement. he also published in case of contact with federal agents.

California lawmakers are also preparing new statutes. introduced in the state assembly last month would inhibit federal immigration agents鈥� access to schools. Another in the state senate would establish a 鈥渟afe zone鈥� of one mile around campuses.

Ana Mendoza, a senior staff attorney at American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and director of the organization鈥檚 , said that such efforts can offer real protections to immigrant students.

鈥淓ven though immigration enforcement happens in California, the federal government can’t come in and ignore the guardrails, violate due process and do what it wants,鈥� said Mendoza. 鈥淭he state can protect its citizens from federal government abuse, and individuals can also protect their rights.鈥�

California lawmakers are proposing steps to protect K-12 students and families from mass deportations 鈥� although the real value of those proposals may be symbolic.

A pair of bills in the Legislature 鈥�  and  鈥� aim to keep federal agents from detaining undocumented students or their families on or near school property without a warrant. The bills are a response to President-elect Donald Trump鈥檚 threat to deport undocumented immigrants, a move which could have major consequences for schools in California, which funds its schools based on attendance and where  have at least one undocumented parent.

Both bills would make it harder and more time-consuming for agents to enter schools or day care centers. But they can only delay, not stop, arrests. 

鈥淚n no way can these bills override federal law,鈥� said Kevin Johnson, a law professor at UC Davis. 鈥淏ut the bills respond to a great concern in the community that it鈥檚 not safe to take your children to school. 鈥� I can鈥檛 emphasize enough how important this is, how vulnerable undocumented immigrants feel right now.鈥�

鈥淚n no way can these bills override federal law,鈥� said Kevin Johnson, a law professor at UC Davis. 鈥淏ut the bills respond to a great concern in the community that it鈥檚 not safe to take your children to school. 鈥� I can鈥檛 emphasize enough how important this is, how vulnerable undocumented immigrants feel right now.鈥�

AB 49, proposed by Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, a Democrat from Torrance, would require immigration agents to obtain written permission from the superintendent before coming onto school property. It also bars agents from being in rooms where children are present. SB 48, introduced by Sen. Lena Gonzalez, a Democrat from Long Beach, would prohibit local police from cooperating with federal agents 鈥� such as assisting in arrests or providing information about families鈥� immigration status 鈥� within one mile of a school. It also bars schools from sharing student and family information with federal authorities. 

School districts have also doubled down on their efforts to protect students and families. Los Angeles Unified has partnered with legal aid organizations to assist families and instructed schools not to ask students about their immigration status. San Francisco Unified has .

鈥�(San Francisco Unified) is a safe haven for all students regardless of citizenship status,鈥� Superintendent Maria Su wrote to the community after the November election. 鈥淪FUSD restates our position that all students have the right to attend school regardless of their immigration status or that of their family members.鈥�

Schools as safe havens

Schools have long been safe havens for immigrant students. Under a , public schools must enroll all students regardless of their immigration status and can鈥檛 charge tuition to students who aren鈥檛 legal residents. And since 2011, discourage agents from making immigration arrests at schools, hospitals, churches, courthouses and other 鈥渟ensitive locations.鈥�

But Trump said he plans to  guidelines, and the Heritage Foundation, which published the right-leaning Project 2025 manifesto, is encouraging states to . That could set up the possible overturn of the Supreme Court decision guaranteeing access to school for undocumented students. The foundation鈥檚 rationale is that government agencies such as schools are already overburdened and need to prioritize services for U.S. citizens.

鈥淭he (Biden) administration鈥檚 new version of America is nothing more than an open-border welfare state,鈥� Lora Ries, director of the Heritage Foundation鈥檚 Border Security and Immigration Center, . 鈥淣o country can sustain or survive such a vision.鈥�

Muratsuchi, chair of the Assembly Education Committee, said he was inspired to author AB 49 just after the election, when he listened to the concerns of immigrant students in the political science class he teaches at El Camino Community College in Torrance. 

鈥淚t became clear there was more and more fear among my students, not only for themselves but for their families. The fear of families being torn apart is very real,鈥� Muratuschi said. 鈥淲e want to send a strong message to our immigrant students that we鈥檙e going to do everything we can to protect them.鈥�

鈥楾oo scared to speak up鈥�

For most undocumented families, deportation would mean a plunging into poverty and in many cases, violence. Nahomi, a high school senior in Fresno County whom CalMatters is identifying by her middle name because of her immigration status, described the threat of deportation as 鈥渁 major worry for my family and I. Our lives could change completely in a blink of an eye.鈥�

Nahomi and her parents arrived in California in 2011 from the city of Culiacan in Sinaloa, Mexico, an area plagued by . They initially planned to stay until Sinaloa became safer, but once they settled in the Central Valley they decided the risks of returning outweighed the risk of deportation, so they stayed. Nahomi鈥檚 father works in construction and her mother is a homemaker, raising Nahomi and her younger sister.

While she and her family fear deportation, Nahomi is not afraid to attend school. She said schools can help families know their rights and help children feel safe.

鈥淚 feel very welcomed and safe there,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t is a very diverse high school and I just feel like any other student. 鈥� (But) a lot of these families are probably too scared to speak up about doubts they might have.鈥�

Politically unpopular?

Patricia G谩ndara, an education professor and co-director of the Civil Rights Project at UCLA, said the risk of federal agents arresting students at schools is probably small. It鈥檚 unclear how many children in K-12 schools are undocumented, but it鈥檚 probably a relatively small number, she said. In any case, immigration enforcement that affects children almost always sparks public outcry from both parties, she said. 

鈥淪ome people might say they鈥檙e anti-immigrant, but it鈥檚 another thing entirely when the family up the street, whom they鈥檝e known for 20 years, suddenly gets deported, or your kid鈥檚 best friend gets deported,鈥� said Gandara, who鈥檚 studied the topic extensively. 鈥淚t鈥檚 politically very unpopular.鈥�

Still, the proposed bills could send a powerful message that schools are safe places, she said. Immigration crackdowns can have a , a Stanford study found, which can lead to less funding for schools, particularly low-income schools that enroll large numbers of immigrant children. 

Immigration crackdowns can also lead to an increase in bullying, anxiety and general uncertainty on campus, not just for immigrant children but for everyone, G谩ndara said. Teachers, in particular, experience high levels of stress when their students鈥� safety is endangered, she said. 

鈥淪chools are one of the last places immigrant families feel safe,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut as soon as (federal agents) move into schools, they鈥檙e not so safe any more. These bills say, 鈥榃e鈥檙e not going to sit back and let this happen. Not all of government is against you.鈥�

California 鈥榦ne of the best places to be鈥�

Both bills are awaiting hearings in the Legislature. Tammy Lin, supervising attorney with the University of San Diego Immigration Clinic, expects California to continue to take steps to protect undocumented families, but political conflicts will be inevitable.

The incoming Trump administration is likely to battle California and other left-leaning states over immigration matters. Even within California, conflicts are likely to erupt between state leaders and those in more conservative regions, or even between agencies in the same area. In San Diego County, for example, the Board of Supervisors ordered the sheriff鈥檚 office to not notify federal immigration officers when it releases suspected undocumented inmates from jail, but the . 

Lin also said she wouldn鈥檛 be surprised if there鈥檚 an attempt to overturn the Supreme Court ruling guaranteeing education to undocumented children, potentially paving the way for other immigrants鈥� rights to be reversed. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 a slippery slope,鈥� Lin said. 鈥淚mmigrants know this, which is why there鈥檚 immense fear and uncertainty right now. But bills like these show that California is still one of the best places you can be.鈥�

Suriyah Jones, a member of the CalMatters Youth Journalism Initiative, contributed to this story.

This was originally published on .

Even as student enrollment declines drive staggering nationally, one group of students in particular 鈥� children from immigrant households 鈥� have been blamed for straining education budgets. 

Politically aligned media sources are laying the groundwork for President-elect Donald Trump’s mass deportation plans. The Fox News station in El Paso, Texas, for example, ran a story this week stating that America鈥檚 public schools have endured a massive financial hit and removing these students would be an 鈥渁ttempt to alleviate the problem.鈥� Its only source: an interview a right-wing pundit from the Leadership Institute gave to the conservative Sinclair Broadcast Group.

With the estimated to the U.S. since 2022, according to an October Reuters report, some districts have described budget constraints and challenges in accommodating language barriers and unmet educational needs. 

Trump and his allies, who plan to use the military to carry out massive deportations at the onset of his second term, have made clear their intention to:

• to citizenship for anyone born in the U.S.
  
• case affirming undocumented children鈥檚 right to a free public education. 
  
• to carry out raids in classrooms. 

U.S.-born children could become targets, too.

In , Trump floated the possibility of removing immigrants’ American-born relatives during deportations because he doesn鈥檛 鈥渨ant to be breaking up families.鈥� 

鈥淭he only way you don鈥檛 break up the family is you keep them together and you have to send them all back,鈥� said Trump, who was widely at the southern border during his first term. 

On the ground: In an in-depth investigation this year, my colleague Jo Napolitano exposed how hundreds of schools across the country illegally denied entry to older immigrant students, expressing 鈥溾�媝ervasive hostility and suspicion鈥� toward these new arrivals. In an update this week, Jo explores how the Oakland, California, school district works to welcome 鈥� rather than reject 鈥� its newcomers.

Click here to read Jo鈥檚 latest story.

In the news

As schools nationwide deploy surveillance tools to monitor students online, the youth mental health crisis is being met with late-night home visits from the police and hospitalizations. |

• 鈥淭he majority of cases that I saw were serious or concerning enough to merit hospitalization, and that in the majority of cases the parents were not aware of the child鈥檚 suicidality,鈥� said Dr. Leticia Ryan, the director of pediatric emergency medicine at Johns Hopkins Children鈥檚 Center.

鈥楥hild executions鈥�: Police say the man who carried out a religiously motivated shooting last week at a Christian elementary school that left two kindergarteners wounded wrote that he was acting in response to 鈥淎merica鈥檚 involvements in genocide and oppression of Palestinians.鈥� |

In a new lawsuit against tech company Character.ai, parents accuse its AI chatbot of encouraging their children to commit self harm and murder. |

It鈥檚 a bird 鈥� it鈥檚 a plane 鈥� it鈥檚 a drone spewing pepper spray. Aerial support could soon hover over Texas schools under a bill that seeks to increase state spending on campus security from $10 to $100 per student. |

Andrew Ferguson, tapped by Trump to chair the Federal Trade Commission, promised in a memo to the incoming administration to 鈥渉old big tech accountable,鈥� 鈥減rotect freedom of speech and fight wokeness鈥� and 鈥渢he trans agenda.鈥� |

• Advocates with the nonprofit Fight for the Future said Ferguson鈥檚 statements bolster LGBTQ+ advocates鈥� opposition to the bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act, legislation designed to prevent childrens鈥� access to social media content deemed harmful. The bill was revived for the umpteenth time in Congress this week. |
  
• 鈥淚t is unbelievably insulting that after years of this conversation about KOSA, young queer and trans people are still being gaslit about the harms that this legislation poses to their online communities,鈥� Fight for the Future campaigner Sarah Phillips wrote.  |

More from the FTC: The commission has reached a settlement with school 鈥渨eapons detection鈥� company Evolv Technology after accusing the maker of AI-powered security screens of misstating its ability to identify threats and keep kids safe. | 社区黑料

A 12-year-old girl was handcuffed for three hours inside her New York City elementary school after law enforcement officials said she hit a school safety officer during a fight with a classmate. |

A 33-year-old Connecticut school resource officer died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound hours after he was arrested and accused of luring a child online. |

• Related: New Justice Department guidance urges police departments to train campus cops on keeping appropriate boundaries with kids following an investigation into predatory officers who use their positions to groom students. |

The socioeconomics of cybercrime: Children from affluent households 鈥渁re at greater risk of being targeted and compromised by cybercriminals,鈥� according to new Javelin research, because they have greater access to social media and credit cards linked to digital accounts. Yet, 鈥渟ociety鈥檚 most vulnerable children, those in foster care, are ideal candidates for exploitation by cybercriminals.鈥� |

ICYMI @The74

• 鈥楾here are risks both ways鈥�: Supreme Court Weighs Medical Care for Trans Youth

• 鈥楬ow Far Will RFK Go?鈥� 2 Experts Talk Kennedy鈥檚 Potential Impact on Child Health

• Child Hunger Rose 6% in Kansas, and it Isn鈥檛 Clear What State Lawmakers Will Do

Emotional support

Introducing Sagan, the newest addition to 74 editor Andrew Brownstein鈥檚 crew. 

Everybody say, 鈥楬i, Sagan.鈥� 

Rumor has it the 3-year-old pup 鈥� named after the astronomer, duh 鈥� is a real pro at fetching the frisbee.

But researchers with The University of Chicago say such data points represent a mere snapshot of student achievement for those still learning a new language, telling just a fraction of a greater story. 

They鈥檝e been turning their attention instead to a different group of children: Former English learners who, by the time they reached ninth grade, had graduated from language support programs.

Their of 78,507 Chicago Public School students who started high school in the fall of 2014, 2015 and 2016 shows this group is thriving: They had better cumulative grade point averages and SAT scores and were more likely to graduate high school than the district average.

Their two-year college enrollment rate was also higher. 

鈥淭here is this perception that English learners are particularly struggling, that they don鈥檛 do well 鈥� that they are perpetually behind,鈥� said Marisa de la Torre, a managing director and senior research associate at the . 

Incoming Vice President JD Vance furthered the notion that these students are a burden, when he pointed to the tens of thousands of school-age children in whose parents are undocumented.

鈥淣ow think about that,鈥� he said in October. 鈥淭hink about what it does to a poor school teacher, who鈥檚 just trying to get by with what they have, just trying to educate their kids, and then you drop in a few dozen kids into that school, many of whom don鈥檛 even speak English. Do you think that鈥檚 good for the education of American citizens? No, it鈥檚 not.鈥�

Xenophobia and race-baiting were central to Donald Trump’s re-election efforts. The incoming president has said he will to drive millions of undocumented people from the country, a plan and  

de la Torre said the belief that all children associated with English learner programs are forever adrift is misleading and unfair to students and their teachers: It鈥檚 a far smaller subset of active English learners 鈥� those who struggle to make it out of English learner support programs 鈥� who tend to have lower grades, she said.

Jorge Macias, now a senior consultant to the Latino Policy Forum, led Chicago Public School鈥檚 multilingual program for years. He said the narrative must be changed to reflect reality. 

鈥淪tate-level data and national data doesn’t capture this group properly,鈥� Macias said, noting that 78% of English learner students in the Chicago school system transitioned out of the program by 8th grade, according to an earlier study. 鈥淎nd once the students exit, they actually show just as much success 鈥� if not more 鈥� in the factors that matter most for postsecondary success. 鈥�

UChicago researchers divided active English learners into categories, including long-term English learners. These students were in the program for at least six years: Many had learning disabilities and Individualized Education Programs outlining their mandated special education services.

The final category consisted of late-arriving students, those who came to the district after the third grade and remained active in the English learner program in their freshman year of high school. 

Former English learners represented 23% of the school system鈥檚 ninth graders in the years the study covered. Long-term English learners without IEPs made up 4%. Their performance was substantially lower than the district average. 

These students were more likely to enroll in a two-year-college and less likely to enroll in a four-year college 鈥� and when they did enroll in a four-year college, they had lower persistence rates., they had lower persistence rates.聽

Long-term English learners with IEPs made up 3% of ninth graders in the study. Their high school performance and college enrollment and persistence rates were similar to non-English learners with IEPs.聽

Late-arriving English learners, who also made up 3% of the study鈥檚 ninth graders, graduated high school at similar rates to their peers: 81% compared to the district average of 84%. But their college entrance exam scores were lower. 

Despite this, their two-year college persistence rate was markedly higher than most other students who enrolled in college.

Researchers found that while late-arriving English learners struggled with standardized tests, their grades were strong. And they were more successful than their native English-speaking peers 鈥� and former English learners 鈥� in college, suggesting their poor test performance was not predictive of later success. 

This new report builds upon earlier research in this area. Another de la Torre of Chicago Public Schools found that English learners who demonstrated English proficiency by eighth grade had higher attendance levels through elementary and middle school, better math test scores and core course grades compared to students never classified as ELs.

It found, too, that English learners who did not achieve English proficiency by eighth grade struggled with declining attendance by the middle grades and also had considerably lower grade point averages.

Rebecca Vonderlack-Navarro, the Latino Policy Forum鈥檚 vice president of education policy and research, said quality bilingual programs and other supports can help active English learners succeed. 

The achievements of former English learners, she said, are “a powerful reminder that bilingualism is not a barrier, but a bridge, to greater opportunities.鈥�

When immigration agents raided chicken processing plants in central Mississippi in 2019, they arrested nearly 700 undocumented workers 鈥� many of them parents of children enrolled in local schools.

Teens got frantic texts to leave class and find their younger siblings. Unfamiliar faces whose names weren鈥檛 on the pick-up list showed up to take children home. School staff scrambled to make sure no child went home to an empty house, while the owner of a local gym  for kids with nowhere else to go.

In the Scott County School District, a quarter of the district鈥檚 Latino students, around 150 children,. When dozens of kids continued to miss school, staff packed onto school buses and went door to door with food, trying to reassure families that it was safe for their children to return. Academics were on hold for weeks, said Tony McGee, the district鈥檚 superintendent at the time.

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鈥淲e went into kind of a Mom and Dad mode and just cared for kids,鈥� McGee said. While some children bounced back quickly, others were shaken for months. 鈥淵ou could tell there was still some worry on kids鈥� hearts.鈥�

have occurred in the past, with in an effort to deter unauthorized immigration. If former President Donald Trump wins a second term and enacts his hardline immigration policies, could become a much more common occurrence affecting millions of children and their schools.

If reelected, Trump has in U.S. history, at his disposal from to. Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, have to  about the parents of U.S. citizen children.

But any such plan inevitably would sweep up parents of school-age children, leaving educators with the responsibility of providing food, clothing, counseling, and more to affected students. Educators who have been through it before say schools that serve immigrant communities should prepare now. have at least one undocumented parent.

On top of that, it鈥檚 unclear if Trump would seek to undermine the  that during his last presidency in an attempt to protect immigrant students and their families on school grounds.

Trump has shown willingness to target immigrant children

Trump frequently aims his rhetoric and policy proposals at the children of immigrants.

Last year, for children born in the U.S. to undocumented parents, and he has at the U.S.-Mexico border. He has not ruled out deporting women and children as part of his mass deportation plan.

鈥淲e鈥檙e gonna look at it very closely,鈥� he said in an , even as he acknowledged that images of families being loaded on buses would make it 鈥渁 lot harder.鈥�

Both  and have characterized immigrant children as being burdens on schools who are overcrowding classrooms and taxing teachers with their language needs. Top aides to Trump tried for months during his first administration to give states the power to block undocumented children from attending public school, , and an influential conservative think tank is if Trump wins a second term.

Immigrant rights advocates worry that Trump would seek to end a that has treated schools as 鈥溾�� or 鈥溾�� areas where immigration agents are not supposed to surveil families or make arrests, except in extraordinary circumstances, so as not to deter children from going to school.

鈥淓nforcement actions undertaken in these locations have a ripple effect,鈥� said Heidi Altman, the director of federal advocacy at the National Immigration Law Center. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very frightening for communities when we think about the possibility of a Trump administration, both in terms of enforcement at and near protected areas, like schools, but also the impact on schools and access to education.鈥�

The Trump campaign did not respond to questions about whether the former president would seek to carry out immigration enforcement activities at or near schools as part of his mass deportation plan. But Project 2025, a policy playbook , calls for rescinding any memos that identify 鈥渟ensitive zones鈥� where immigration action should be limited.

And even when immigration enforcement happens off campus, it can still have far-reaching effects on children and schools.

Kheri Martinez was just 13 when her mother was swept up in the 2019 Mississippi raids. She was one of around 1,000 children whose parents were arrested that day. A family friend picked Martinez up early from school, and she later learned from her dad 鈥� who was working out of state on a construction job 鈥� that her mother had been detained.

The seventh grader bottled up her own fears and told her two little sisters, who were a toddler and early elementary schooler at the time, that their mom was working overtime. For dinner, they ate pizza dropped off by worried family friends. That night, Martinez climbed into her parents鈥� bed with her sisters, hoping the blankets that smelled like their mom would comfort her.

鈥淓ven though I don鈥檛 know if Mom is going to come home today,鈥� she told herself, 鈥渁t least I鈥檇 have something closer to me, I鈥檒l feel like she鈥檚 here.鈥�

Her mom came home crying at 4 in the morning 鈥� on humanitarian grounds while their cases proceeded 鈥� and Martinez finally felt like she could breathe.

At school the next day, there were whispers that the school would be targeted for violence and that the government was going to come back and take kids away. It felt like everyone at school was 鈥渙n alert.鈥�

鈥淭he Hispanic kids, we were just kind of out of it,鈥� Martinez said. 鈥淲e weren鈥檛 us for a little bit.鈥�

Immigration raids take heavy emotional toll on kids

What Martinez experienced is not uncommon among children whose parents have been caught up in immigration raids. Multiple studies have documented the sweeping psychological, emotional, and financial toll that such operations have on children and their families.

Researchers from the nonprofit Center for Law and Social Policy found that the Mississippi raids were especially traumatic for the children whose . Many saw their parents handcuffed and shoved into white vans on their way home from school, prompting screams and uncontrollable crying.

Children 鈥渃ontinued to suffer emotionally鈥� for weeks and months, the research team wrote, and even kids who鈥檇 been reunited with their parents showed signs of post-traumatic stress and separation anxiety. Some kindergartners started wetting the bed again, and toddlers regressed in their speech. It was common for kids to come home from school, drop their backpacks, and spend the rest of the day sleeping. Older kids often took on more housework, child care, and paying jobs so they could contribute to their households.

Similarly, how earlier immigration raids in three states affected some 500 children whose parents were arrested.

Those children were most likely to experience emotional distress, but fear also spread to children who worried their parents would be 鈥渢aken鈥� next. Story time often turned to talk of the raids and got emotional, teachers said. Some kids internalized their parents鈥� disappearance as an abandonment. Some children ate less and lost weight, while others started acting out or had trouble sleeping.

鈥淪ome parents said that, months after the raids, their children still cried in the morning when getting dropped off at school or day care, something that they rarely used to do,鈥� the report found. 鈥淐hildren were said to obsess over whether their parents were going to pick them up from school.鈥�

With breadwinners in detention, many families fell behind on rent. Three-quarters of the parents said they struggled to buy enough food after the raids. Housing instability forced some kids to change schools multiple times. The experience 鈥渟apped the attention of some children and affected their academic performance,鈥� researchers found.

For Martinez, it took a year for school to feel normal again. She often felt like she was on edge, 鈥渙n the lookout鈥� for another raid.

鈥淚t hurt me for a while,鈥� Martinez said.

How schools and families can offer support to kids

School leaders say it鈥檚 difficult to plan for an immigration raid. Agents usually do not give schools any prior warning. But schools that serve immigrant communities can take certain steps in advance.

鈥淲e practice for fire drills and tornado drills, bus evacuations, and sad to say nowadays we practice for active shooters. There鈥檚 not many drills for ICE raids,鈥� McGee, the former Scott County superintendent, said. When 鈥渇amilies are separated, and you鈥檙e responsible for how do these kids get home and who takes care of them, it helps to have a little insight that: Hey, you need to be prepared.鈥�

in their communities say it鈥檚 especially important to develop an emergency protocol for how children should be signed out at school if their approved caretaker is not available to pick them up. Identifying a potential temporary shelter for students 鈥� whether at a school, a local church, or a community center 鈥� is also helpful.

McGee and his team met daily with the principals of schools where many children were affected by the raids to ask how teachers and students were doing. The district also provided materials to help teachers talk about the raids in class and explain to kids who weren鈥檛 affected how their classmates may be feeling.

鈥淲e didn鈥檛 get into the political struggle of why this happened, or why that happened, should it happen, should it not happen?鈥� McGee said. 鈥淥ur job is to care for kids.鈥�

For Martinez, the care two teachers showed her was especially helpful. They each pulled her aside to talk about what happened, and told her to let them know if she needed more time to complete assignments.

鈥淚 was very appreciative of that,鈥� Martinez said. 鈥淚t made me feel like: 鈥極h, they understood.鈥欌��

Her family also came up with a plan for exactly what they would do and where they would go if another immigration raid happened, which helped to ease some of the anxiety. Martinez knows, for example, that if her family has to sell their belongings and move back to Mexico that she would stay in the U.S. to finish her college degree.

鈥淵ou鈥檙e going to carry something that is not yours, but we don鈥檛 have any option,鈥� Gabriela Uribe Mejia said she told her daughter. 鈥淪he said: 鈥楧on鈥檛 worry, I understand, I know what to do.鈥� But she鈥檚 a young girl.鈥�

Still, immigrant rights advocates worry about the long-term effects on children and families.

Lorena Quiroz, who directs the Mississippi-based Immigrant Alliance for Justice and Equity, was among the community organizers who went door to door asking families if they needed food, legal assistance, or other support in the wake of the Mississippi raids.

Quiroz knows affected families who were torn apart by drinking and fighting, and teens who dropped out of school. Mothers still feel ashamed of the weeks they spent wearing an ankle monitor, visible for everyone to see under their traditional Maya skirts. Adults still tear up when they drive past the poultry plants.

People talk about it 鈥渓ike it鈥檚 yesterday,鈥� Quiroz said. 鈥淚magine that happening everywhere.鈥�

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.