Trump promised mass deportations. Educators worry fear will keep immigrants’ kids from school

The Oregon community where Gustavo Balderas served as the school superintendent was terrified by tales of immigration raids during the previous administration of Donald Trump.

There were rumors that immigration officers might attempt to enter schools. Staff members had to track down pupils who were skipping class and persuade them to return, even though there was no truth to it.

“People simply began to hide and duck,” Balderas added.

Regardless of whether the president-elect fulfills his promise to deport millions of illegal immigrants, educators across are preparing for chaos. Children of immigrants will suffer even if he just discusses it, according to legal observers and educators.

According to Hiroshi Motomura, a professor at the UCLA School of Law, “continually threatening people with the possibility of mass deportation really inhibits their ability to function in society and for their kids to get an education.”

For many, that terror has already begun.

In Beaverton, Oregon, on Monday, November 25, 2024, Beaverton School District Superintendent Gustavo Balderas stands for a picture in the lobby of the district office. (Photo courtesy of Amanda Loman)AP

Almudena Abeyta, the administrator of Chelsea Public Schools, a Boston neighborhood that has historically served as a first port of call for Central American immigrants traveling to Massachusetts, stated that although the children are still attending school, they are afraid. Haitian families are now relocating to the city and sending their children to school there.

They want to know if we will be deported. Abeyta said.

Since many parents in her district grew up in nations where schools were run by the federal government, they could assume that this is the case here. Abeyta assured parents in a letter sent home the day after the election that their children will be safe and welcome regardless of the president.

At schools, immigration officers have refrained from making arrests of parents or pupils. Immigration officers are not allowed to make arrests or carry out other enforcement operations close to sensitive sites, such as schools, hospitals, or houses of worship, according to a regulation that has been in place since 2011. In a 2021 policy update, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas stated that doing so could limit access to vital services.

The advise on sensitive areas should be revoked, according to Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s policy agenda for Trump’s second term. Trump has nominated several people who worked on the plan for his new cabinet, including Tom Homan for border czar, despite his attempts to disassociate himself from the proposals during the campaign.

According to Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights in Los Angeles, if immigration officials detained a parent bringing off children at school, it might cause widespread panic.

According to her, if something occurs at one school, it spreads like wildfire and students stop attending.

In Beaverton, another Portland suburb, Balderas, who is currently the superintendent, warned the school committee last month that it was time to get ready for a more determined Trump administration. Beaverton will train employees to prevent immigration officials from entering schools if they are targeted.

Balderas, the president of ASSA, the School Superintendents Association, stated that all bets are off with Trump. If something does occur, it will probably happen far more quickly than it did the last time.

Some school authorities are afraid of calling attention to their immigrant kids, which makes them hesitant to discuss their plans or concerns. According to a school administrator in the Midwest who works with a large number of children of Mexican and Central American immigrants, the school has asked immigration lawyers to assist parents in formalizing any plans for their children’s care in the event that they are deported. Since they were not permitted to address the media, the administrator talked on condition of anonymity.

Superintendents and school board members may disagree when they advocate for immigrant families.

According to Viridiana Carrizales, CEO of ImmSchools, a nonprofit organization that provides training to schools on how to support immigrant students, this is a very sensitive topic.

Since the election, she has received 30 requests for assistance, two of which are from Texas superintendents who believe their conservative school boards would not support openly reaffirming the right of immigrant kids to attend or district plans to reject immigration officials.

Requests for comment from almost two dozen superintendents and district communications officials contacted by The Associated Press were either ignored or denied.

Denver Public Schools spokesperson Scott Pribble replied, “We would prefer not to comment on the topic because this is so speculative.”

In the past two years, the city of Denver has provided lodging or a bus ticket to almost 40,000 migrants. Aurora, one of the two locations where Trump has declared he will begin his mass deportations, is also nearby.

Denver Public Schools is keeping an eye on the situation while we continue to serve, support, and safeguard all of our students as we always have, Pribble said in response to more questions.

During the first Trump administration, the school board in Denver, like many other large-city districts, approved a resolution pledging to shield its kids from immigration authorities who could be looking for them or their information. The 2017 resolution states that Denver will not allow our students entry unless federal agents are able to produce a legitimate search warrant.

The argument has been that if students are afraid that immigration officials would take them or their parents away while they are on campus, they will not be able to learn. Regardless of immigrant status, school districts claim that these measures uphold their pupils’ constitutional entitlement to a free public education.

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