By fall 2024, Fresno Unified School District student attendance had finally nearly recovered from the heightened absenteeism initiated by pandemic-related school closures, said Carlos Castillo, the district superintendent.
Then President Donald Trump was elected to his second presidential term with promises to increase deportations of undocumented immigrants.
The community in Fresno County, California, has a large, predominantly Hispanic immigrant population. Student attendance at Fresno schools dipped beginning Jan. 20, Trump’s inauguration day, and the drop remained through the end of the 2024-2025 school year, which Castillo attributed to fears of immigration raids.
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