The promise of mass deportations is a pivotal focus in President-elect Donald Trump’s upcoming administration.
Immigrant children and parents who lived in fear of deportation under Trump’s first presidency likely feel that same anxiety return ahead of his inauguration.
Teachers and administrators often meet that anxiety head-on in the classroom. Psychologists have pointed to the negative effects of harsh immigration policies on these students, regardless if they are citizens or not.
Two educational researchers published the book Schools Under Siege: The Impact of Immigration Enforcement on Educational Equity in 2021 to examine the effects of Trump’s immigration policies on school children.
Co-editor Patricia Gándara, co-director of the Civil Rights Project at the University of California, Los Angeles, recounted what they heard from teachers.
“(They) told us about students in their classrooms who were the best students who had dreams of going to college and becoming something important,” she said. “They were now saying that … there was really no point in coming to school because their futures were now so uncertain.”
Harsh immigration policies also contributed to increased absenteeism, decreased student achievement, and parent disengagement.
Co-editor Jongyeon (Joy) Ee, an associate professor in the School of Education at Loyola Marymount University, said the book highlights the importance of education systems for communities.
“Public schools are one of the very few spaces where those dreams can come true for the next generations of young people,” she said. “They should be free from any kind of disruptions of aggressive immigration enforcement and they should be the last line of defense for many families and communities.”
