As immigration fears rise, a teacher said loudly that she doesn’t feel comfortable when students or their parents approach her to ask about their future if they are undocumented.
Many teachers and administrators are aware of a variety of scenarios that could start playing out very soon:
immigration officials asking about a student, a child who leaves school for the day only to discover that their parents have been detained and no one is home to care for them, and students worried about deportation who simply stop coming to class. Educators and advocates say they feel they must be prepared for these situations, but they are also keenly aware of the risk of backlash that can come with talking about a political issue like this publicly.
This dilemma has left teachers in disbelief.
Several educators said they feel it is in a community’s best interest that kids, regardless of legal status, have the opportunity to go to school.
Educators are also expecting students to begin disappearing from their classrooms altogether, as many teachers have already observed happening in their schools. Parents may be nervous about being separated from their children if they are detained, or may think that their child’s presence in school could lead to authorities learning they are in the country without authorization.
In Michigan, ESL teacher Karen Iglesias said she’s heard students ask if they are going to get deported and had parents tell her they’re scared to drive to their kids’ school.
Cinthya Longoria, an elementary school teacher in North Texas, says she’s trying her best to support parents who feel anxious about the future while remaining uncertain about her own.
Longoria is currently a recipient of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which provides temporary legal protection against removal for some immigrants brought to the U.S. without documentation as children. She recently had a parent ask her for reassurance that their family would be OK under the new administration, she said.
“I just told her I hope so,” Longoria said. “Because I couldn’t tell her yes. That’s when I told her I was a DACA recipient. At that moment, that was the only thing I could tell her without being dishonest.”
Federal laws prohibit schools from denying students free public education based on immigration status and regulate the disclosure of students’ personal information. Those laws, in addition to Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure, are meant to serve as safeguards for undocumented families concerned about enrolling their children in schools, experts say.
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