Threats of Deportation Harm Education of K-12 Students
As if K-12 students didn’t have enough to worry about, now, some face the threat of forced deportation of themselves, their parents, and/or their friends. The president elect’s promise to deport millions of undocumented immigrants has unnerved immigrant students, their parents, and their communities. His threat to end birthright citizenship adds an additional layer of cruelty to his mass deportation plans.
According to the American Immigration Council, forced deportation or even the threat of deportation has “significant physical, emotional, developmental, and economic repercussions for millions of children across the country. Deportations of parents and other family members have serious consequences that affect children—including U.S.-citizen children—and extend to entire communities and the country as a whole.” Threats of mass deportation inhibit "people’s ability to function in society and for their kids to get an education” said Hiroshi Motomura, a professor at UCLA School of Law.
An estimated six million minor children share a home with an undocumented family member, who is often a parent. Pew Research estimates that 9 million people are “mixed status families” which include at least one “unauthorized adult” and at least one child born in the United States. If children of undocumented residents are U.S. citizens, then what happens to them if their parents or guardians are deported? Reuniting families may take years, particularly after an ill-defined mass deportation plan as has happened in this country previously.
A heartless solution to that problem was offered by Tom Homan, President Elect Trump’s nominee for Border Czar and formerly the head of the U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). When asked "Is there a way to carry out mass deportation without separating families?" he answered "Of course there is. Families can be deported together."
One concern of educators is that vulnerable students will begin to stay home from school to avoid opening their family up to the possibility of deportation. This is at the same time school systems across the country are making efforts to address chronic absenteeism because the importance of school attendance to academic performance is well documented. With the recent efforts to improve student performance, it is counterproductive to create situations where absenteeism will reduce performance.
The Trump Deportation Plan
During the first Trump administration, plans to deport students and their families terrified immigrant communities, but at least ICE had a policy that agents should not conduct enforcement actions near schools, hospitals, or places of worship. However, indications are that under the new Trump administration that policy will be changed and enforcement will become aggressive even in places formerly designated as off limits.
Currently, the president elect promises to double down on the actions taken during his first term. Well before the 2025 inauguration, the newly elected administration is making plans to deport close to 11 million people. This includes the expansion of detention facilities for this purpose and deployment of the military for enforcement.
Surely, there will be substantial legal, economic, and political challenges with such a plan, but President Elect Trump “ promises to brush aside hurdles and mount a campaign modeled after the harsh roundups of the Eisenhower Administration, when the U.S. government expelled hundreds of thousands of migrant workers to Mexico. Accordingly, school systems are preparing for the worst, as details about the mass deportation plan are revealed.
Past and current plans for aggressive enforcement by ICE resulted in the self-designation of a number of sanctuary jurisdictions across the United States. Sanctuary cities, counties and states “have laws, ordinances, regulations, resolutions, policies, or other practices that obstruct immigration enforcement and shield [immigrants] from ICE — either by refusing to or prohibiting agencies from complying with ICE detainers, imposing unreasonable conditions on detainer acceptance, denying ICE access to interview incarcerated aliens, or otherwise impeding communication or information exchanges between their personnel and federal immigration officers.”
Fairfax County in Virginia has a Public Trust and Confidentiality Policy that ensures that immigrant residents can access county benefits and services without fear that the information they share will be disclosed to federal immigration officials. Fairfax County “believe(s) in keeping families together and protecting those who are most vulnerable and the trust policy specifies that this policy applies “regardless of their immigration or citizenship status”.
The objective of the policy was to increase opportunities and decrease crime in immigrant communities by giving residents protection from deportation if they reported crimes and sent their children to school. By all accounts this policy has been successful.
Sadly, there are those who use disinformation to disparage immigrant communities and the policies that protect immigrants. For example, there are inaccurate reports of intricate “relationships among sanctuary cities, English Learners, boundary policies in Fairfax County Public School System, and political rantings about the 'Southern Border.'" Some suggest that undocumented students should not attend our public schools because of the cost to taxpayers but these people “wildly misunderstand the purpose and mission of public schools, which are to educate everyone--a point which is foundational to our nation and supported by numerous laws and regulations.”
Since the 1982 Supreme Court decision known as Pyler v. Doe, undocumented children have had the right to attend public school. However, recent challenges to that decision are increasing and experts warn that the conservative-dominated Supreme Court may overturn the precedent.
Strategies to Oppose Deportation
Despite an aggressive campaign to reduce immigration, there are vigorous efforts to oppose deportation. Thanks to Jessica Craven of Chop Wood Carry Water, a compendium has been compiled by state organizations that support immigrants.
Mobilization for Justice has provided information on what to do if ICE comes to your school and a community of concerned K-12 educators and supporters of immigrant children, families, and communities produced and shared a guide for schools with large immigrant populations.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is intensely involved in opposing deportation of immigrants. The ACLU shares critical support by providing the history of laws and policies related to immigration, a warning of deceptive tactics that may be employed by ICE, details of their work on the fight for asylum, information on lawsuits against deportations, potential use of the Alien Enemies Act to rationalize detention of immigrants, and a way that President Biden can protect undocumented immigrants before he leaves office. In addition, the ACLU offers a roadmap for opposing the planned mass deportation of immigrants.
Additional Resources
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