How California Schools Can Support Students, Families Fearing ICE Raids

Source: Ian Kapsalis/The Express

Guest Blog by Laura E. Enriquez, Ed Source. This story was originally published by EdSource. Sign up for their daily newsletter.

Back-to-school season should be a time of hope and excitement. This year in Southern California, however, it was shadowed by fear as immigration threats spilled into schools.

All summer, federal immigration agents besieged the streets of Southern California. In response, schools in impacted areas set up safety zones, coordinated school personnel and volunteers to monitor nearby areas for ICE activity. Still, violent raids and violated rights are ratcheting up fear across entire communities. Just this week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that one’s race and related factors can be used to detain individuals, paving the way for immigration enforcement officers to make more frequent stops. 

As I got my kids ready for school — picking out new shoes and stuffing supplies into backpacks — I was struck by the privilege that these are our biggest worries. For many other Latino families in Southern California, the first day back was overshadowed by anxiety: Will Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) be waiting outside? Will a parent not come home tonight?  

As a professor who studies the impacts of exclusionary immigration policy on undocumented and mixed-status families, I anticipate the long-term effects of this moment. Detention and deportation of a family member destabilizes households and harms children’s mental health and academic success. Even for those who manage to avoid the deportation of loved ones, these raids will be core memories that shape how a whole generation understands legal vulnerability.

In my past research, I often listened to undocumented and U.S. citizen young adults recall a key moment: being in the car when a parent was pulled over, hearing late-night knocks on the door, or encountering police checkpoints. Those memories have shaped lifelong understandings of when and how deportation may threaten their families. 

Because the students I studied grew up in California, these incidents were once occasional and isolated. Now, the threat is coordinated and constant. Students tell me their parents say it’s never been like this before. From now on, when their mom doesn’t answer the phone, the worst-case scenarios that flash through their heads will be the ones they see in the news: brutal detentions, disappearances into ICE custody, and possibly deadly outcomes. 

Such fears compromise students’ educational engagement and mental health, weakening their academic performance. In our research on undocumented students and U.S. citizens with undocumented parents at the University of California, my colleagues and I found that immigration-related threats created clear disparities between these students and their peers with lawfully present parents. These fears fueled high rates of anxiety, depression and academic disengagement. The overall pattern is clear: Immigration policies harm whole families and communities, not just undocumented immigrants. 

California legislators have passed two bills that seek to restrict immigration enforcement on school campuses and inform students and families of the presence of immigration officers on campuses. Signing these bills into law and implementing them will provide a critical sense of safety that can enhance student well-being. 

Source: Mindsite News/ Linda Perales

Administrators and educators — from elementary school through college — can further step in to help families navigate threats. Existing school mass notification systems can be used to inform families when ICE is active nearby. Just as schools prepare for earthquakes, they can support families in creating emergency reunification plans so that younger children are cared for and older students know what to do. 

Teachers and staff at all levels must be prepared to talk with students in culturally competent and compassionate ways. This means staying current on immigration-related issues, sharing resources, and making clear that anti-immigrant language will not be tolerated. For high school and college students, recognizing immigration stress as a valid reason to request extensions can prevent them from falling further behind. 

These measures may seem small in the face of the severe threat and fear that students are facing. However, they can offer a beacon of hope, letting families know they are not alone and bolstering their ability to cope with and navigate these threats.

The families in recent news stories could have easily been mine. My oldest child was born into a mixed-status family. Her father, my husband, was undocumented until he gained permanent residency when she was 2 months old. That change was the result of complex immigration policies that worked in our favor. Ten years later, my daughter’s biggest concern is which backpack fits with her style — not whether her dad will be there to meet her at the bus stop. 

Outdated federal immigration policies block many undocumented and mixed-status families from achieving the security my family enjoys. To protect the next generation, we need immigration policies that do not disappear undocumented immigrants and traumatize U.S. citizens. State, local and institutional policies can help combat ongoing threats, but ultimately, we need federal action to create a humane and accessible pathway to legal status.

The next generation shouldn’t grow up fearing a knock on the door. It’s time for policies that keep families together and children safe. 

MORE ABOUT...

Laura E. Enriquez

Laura E. Enriquez is an associate professor of Chicano/Latino studies at the University of California, Irvine. She is the author of the forthcoming book “Family Legal Vulnerability: How Immigration Policy Shapes the Lives of Latino College Students.” 

EdSource is California’s largest journalism organization focused on education. EdSource believes that an informed, involved public is necessary to strengthen California’s education institutions, improve student success and build a better workforce.