Principals are reporting worsening student well-being and declining enrollment and attendance as a result of more aggressive federal immigration enforcement, new research confirms. Here’s how leaders are responding.
Nearly 64% of principals say students from immigrant families missed school because of the crackdown and related rhetoric, according to a new report from the UCLA Institute for Democracy, Education and Access, also known as UCLA IDEA. One principal surveyed by the researchers stated, “Fear is everywhere.”
“Given the harsh, even hateful rhetoric and aggressive immigration actions of the Trump administration, the effect on students and schools should not be surprising to anyone,” said John Rogers, UCLA IDEA director and lead researcher of the project.
Some families are leaving their communities, a development reported by more than 57% of principals.
Bullying has also intensified. More than one-third (35.6%) of leaders reported that students from immigrant families were bullied with phrases like, “Can I see your papers?” Or, “Go back home.”
How leaders plan to respond
Principals are drafting school plans to respond to visits from federal agents, according to more than three-quarters of leaders. Furthermore, more than 47% of principals are prepared to meet the needs of students whose parents or guardians are deported.
Nearly half of principals also offered professional development to staff on how to support students from immigrant families in one of the most tumultuous years for public education.
Uncertainty is growing in school districts nationwide, according to media reports. At a recent school board meeting in Minnesota, an unusually large number of community members expressed frustration over the Eden Prairie School District’s response to recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in the Twin Cities, according to Eden Prairie Local News.
The district is home to a large Somali community, the news outlet reports, and parents said that leaders have not communicated how they plan to keep students safe in light of increased focus by ICE against the Somali population.
Last week, hundreds of Hillsboro High School students walked out of class to protest ICE in their communities, according to Oregon Live. The walk-out drew close to 1,600 students from neighboring middle and high schools.
“This means a lot to all of us, those who were impacted by ICE, the terrorism that ICE has been inflicting on our country,” one Hillsboro High School student told Oregon Live. “My parents work so hard, and now they’re living in fear because of what’s going on.”
Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security asserts that ICE does not target or raid schools. A press release issued by the department near the start of the current school year argued that the media is “attempting to create a climate of fear and smear law enforcement.”
“ICE is not conducting enforcement operations at, or ‘raiding,’ schools,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said. “ICE is not going to schools to make arrests of children. Criminals are no longer able to hide in America’s schools to avoid arrest.”
