SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – As President Donald Trump cracks down on immigrants in the United States illegally, some families wonder if it is safe to send their children to school.
In many districts, educators have sought to reassure immigrant parents that schools are safe places for their children, despite the president’s campaign promise to carry out mass expulsions. But fears intensified for some when the Trump administration announced Tuesday that it would allow federal immigration agencies to make arrests in schoolschurches and hospitals, ending a decades-old policy.
” Oh my God ! I can’t imagine why they would do that,” said Carmen, a Mexican immigrant, after learning that the Trump administration had rescinded the policy banning arrests in “sensitive locations.”
She plans to take her two grandchildren, ages 6 and 4, to their school Wednesday in the San Francisco Bay Area unless school officials tell her it’s not on.
“What helped me calm down was knowing that the school is on our side and has promised to inform us if it is not safe at school,” said Carmen, who is expressed on condition of using only her first name, for fear of being targeted. by immigration officials.
Immigrants across the country are worried about Trump’s promise to expel millions of people. Even though fears of raids did not materialize on the administration’s first day, rapid changes in immigration policy have left many people confused and uncertain about their future.
At a time when many migrant families – even those legally residing in the country – are wondering if and how to travel in public, many school systems are monitoring the effects on their situation. student attendance. Several schools said they were receiving calls from concerned parents about rumors that immigration agents were trying to enter schools, but it was too early to say whether large numbers of families are keeping their children at home .
Tuesday’s decision to clear the way for arrests at schools reverses guidelines that blocked two federal agencies — Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection — from conducting checks in sensitive locations. In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said: “Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest. »
Daniela Anello, who heads the DC bilingual public charter school in the nation’s capital, said she was shocked by the announcement.
“It’s horrible,” Anello said. “There is no such thing as hiding from anyone. This is not happening, this is not happening. …It’s ridiculous.”
An estimate 733,000 school-age children are in the United States illegally, according to the Migration Policy Institute. Many others have U.S. citizenship but have parents who are in the country illegally.
Schools work to reassure parents
Education officials in some states and districts have pledged to advocate for immigrant students, including their children. right to public education. In California, for example, officials have offered guidance to schools on state law limiting local involvement in immigration enforcement.
A resolution passed by the Chicago Public Schools Board of Education in November, declared that schools would not assist ICE in enforcing immigration law. Officers would not be allowed to enter schools without a criminal warrant, it said. And last month, the district reminded New York City principals of certain policies, including one prohibiting the collection of information about a student’s immigration status.
This is not the case everywhere. Many districts offered no insurance to immigrant families.
Teachers at Georgia Fugees Academy Charter School have learned that even students and families nationwide are legally intimidated by Trump’s sweeping proposals to deport millions of immigrants and roll back the rights of noncitizens.
“They are not even at risk of being evicted and they are still afraid,” said Luma Mufleh, director of operations. Officials at the small Atlanta charter school, focused on serving refugees and immigrants, expected so many students to miss school the day after Trump took office that educators accelerated the school’s exam schedule so that students do not miss important tests.
When asked Tuesday about attendance data, school officials did not feel comfortable sharing it. “We don’t want our school to be targeted,” Mufleh said.
The new immigration enforcement policy in schools will likely prompt some immigrant parents who fear deportation to keep their children at home, even though they face little risk, said Michael Lukens, executive director of the Amica Center for immigrant rights. He said he believes it is part of the administration’s goal to make life so untenable that immigrants end up leaving the United States on their own.
Some parents see school as one of the last safe places
For Iris Gonzalez in Boston, schools seem to be about the only safe place she can go as someone living in the country illegally. She’s had children in Boston schools for nearly a decade, and she doesn’t expect anyone to bother her or her daughters to prove they’re here legally. Her children will therefore continue to go to school. “Education is important,” she said in Spanish.
Gonzalez, who came to the United States illegally from Guatemala 14 years ago, worries about having to enter a courthouse or drive, even if she has a license. “What if they arrest me?” she asks herself.
“I don’t sleep,” she said. “There’s a lot of uncertainty about how to look for work, how to keep driving and what’s going to change.”
Carmen, the Mexican grandmother who now lives in California, said returning home was not an option for her family, who faced threats after her son-in-law was kidnapped two years after their home in the The state of Michoacan, a region overrun by drug trafficking gangs. .
Her family arrived two years ago under former President Joe Biden’s program allowing asylum seekers to enter the United States and then apply for residency. After his inauguration on Monday, Trump quickly close the CBP One app who dealt with these and other arrivals and promised to “end asylum” during his presidency.
Carmen has had several hearings on her asylum application, which has not yet been granted.
“My biggest fear is that we will have nowhere to return to,” she said. “It’s about saving our lives. And protect our children.
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