How Schools Are Navigating Trump’s Immigration Policies

When Alex Marrero, superintendent of Denver Public Schools, went to visit some of the classrooms in his district on Feb. 5, the same day that ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) raided apartment buildings in the city, he noticed significant changes to the environment. 

Upon walking into one classroom that had over 30 students enrolled, Marrero saw only seven children present. He says that one young student did not recognize him and asked the teacher if Marrero was “one of them” in Spanish—referring to an ICE agent—since he was wearing a suit and tie. 

In that moment, Marrero recognized that the district needed to act on what he says is their most important core value: “Students first.” So on Feb. 12, Marrero led Denver Public Schools to become the first U.S. school district to sue the Trump Administration over its policy allowing ICE immigration agents in schools.

The action followed significant movements made on President Donald Trump’s Inauguration Day on Jan. 20, which saw the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) rescind the latest version of the protected areas policy which was issued in 2021 by the Biden Administration. A new directive, titled “Enforcement Actions in or Near Protected Areas,” ended the practice of ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents avoiding “sensitive” areas—including elementary and secondary schools, colleges, hospitals, and churches— for enforcement actions.

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“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America's schools and churches to avoid arrest,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in a statement on Jan. 21. “The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense.”

This policy overture is just one in a slew of immigration crackdown policies and Executive Orders that the Trump Administration has put forth. 

Denver Public Schools v. Noem, the lawsuit filed by Denver Public Schools—Colorado’s largest public school district—against the DHS and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, argues that the new directive gives ICE “unchecked authority” to enforce immigration in schools, and that the district has since been “hindered in fulfilling its mission of providing education and life services to the students who are refraining from attending DPS schools for fear of immigration enforcement actions occurring on DPS school grounds.”

In the meantime, the school system is asking for a temporary restraining order to prohibit ICE and CBP’s enforcement of the policy. Marrero says that he and the district are not “anti law enforcement” nor are they planning on “obstructing ICE agents.”

“Our vision is to educate kids, and it becomes unnecessarily difficult with the potential of non-emergency law enforcement action,” he says. “Also, we have to protect the sanctity of the schoolhouse, because I do not believe that they are going to find warlords and gang leaders sitting criss-cross-applesauce on the colorful rug learning how to read.”

The Migration Policy Institute estimated in 2019 that 733,000 school-aged children lived in the United States without legal status. Beyond this, the American Immigration Council estimated in 2021 that more than six million children shared a home with at least one family member, often a parent, who is undocumented.

Anna Fusco, the president of the Broward Teachers Union in South Florida, says that in the immediate aftermath of Trump’s new policy in schools, there was “panic” and “uncertainty” from parents, teachers, and students. They initially saw attendance dip, and the “stress levels skyrocketed.”

But Fusco says that the union has worked with other South Florida teachers’ unions to quell concerns and fears of the over 10,000 Broward union members she represents. She is keen to express to community members that schools can still remain safe for students—her view is not one that endorses obstructing law enforcement, but she’s also set on not allowing federal agents to enter the school without a warrant reviewed by attorneys.

“Teachers are teachers first and foremost,” Fusco says. “We're never going to violate the law, but we have rights.” 

Fusco was a Broward teacher until she was elected as president of the union full time in 2016. She says that the concern of deportation is similar to what it was during Trump’s first term, but this time it’s heightened.

“Educators are angry. Teachers just want to teach, and not every day have to be overloaded with another thing to protect a child from,” Fusco says. “We signed up to teach because we want kids to blossom and flourish. We grow to love our students, and it’s become very cumbersome on a lot of our teachers and schools.”

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Marrero agrees, stating that “no student can learn under anxiety stress, no teacher can teach under those conditions,” and this stress weighed heavily on his decision to sue the Trump Administration.

Adelaide, a teacher in the Cincinnati Public Schools, spends her days working with students from immigrant communities, and says first and foremost, what she’s seeing in the classroom is “fear.”

“I had an eighth grader come up and hug me goodbye, and I nearly lost it—the whole family just said ‘Sorry, we can’t come to school anymore. It’s not safe,’ and that’s been heartbreaking” she says. “And a lot of them are documented or have pending cases. But there’s just no trust in the government right now to respect the cases already happening.”

Adelaide says the school is navigating Trump’s immigration crackdowns by providing resources to those in need. Her school has hosted multiple “Know Your Rights” events for immigrant families, which teach people what to do in various scenarios, including when approached or questioned by ICE, if a loved one is detained, and how to avoid immigration fraud. These events have had a pro bono immigration lawyer present to listen to questions from parents.

Other school districts, such as New York Public Schools and Chicago Public Schools, have posted resources to best aid students, parents, educators, and community members, and statements to reify their support of immigrant communities.  PTAlink, which connects the Parent Teacher Associations (PTA) across New York City, for example, has posted lists of toolkits, “know your rights” cards, and other digital resources that show how to navigate different situations with law enforcement. Said resources have been translated into multiple languages. 

In 2017, the San Lorenzo Unified School District Board of Education passed a Safe Haven resolution that affirmed the district’s commitment to supporting the educational journeys of students, regardless of their documentation status. Superintendent of San Lorenzo District, Daryl Camp, says that they’ve reified this resolution in the wake of Trump’s second term.

The district, which is located in the San Francisco Bay Area, shared a “resources and support for our immigrant families” page, reassuring that the district will not release student or family information without a warrant, and stating that they “will continue to stand” with their students and community.

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Camp, who is also incoming president of the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA), says a lot of work is going into educating immigrant families as to how they can best protect the children.

With over 50% of the students attending TK-12 schools in San Lorenzo being Hispanic or Latino, Camp recognizes that families are fearful. In his conversations with other administrators in ACSA, he says he has heard discussions about administrators being concerned of what they will need to do if a child of immigrants does not have parents to go home to after the school day has ended.

Camp says he and the school district have learned from Trump’s first term and the pandemic and now host their own “Know Your Rights” presentations virtually, since some families “don’t feel comfortable going to a common area.”

The San Lorenzo district has also provided training for school administrators, and gave the school’s social workers, office managers, and counselors access to an attorney to know what they should do if federal agents show up, because they “never know” who the first contact might be for immigration officials.

“This is not a bluff. This is us putting our hands up saying ‘Let's get back to doing what we've been trained to do, which is educate kids,’” Marrero says, adding that since the lawsuit has been filed, other school districts have inquired with him about the process. “We’re not alone in this.”