The Impact of Immigration Enforcement on Education: Challenges and Opportunities

Immigration has always been a significant factor in shaping the demographics and social fabric of the United States. As of 2023, immigrants constituted 14% of the total population, with over 47 million immigrants residing in the country. While immigration policies and border security often dominate public discourse, the impact of immigration enforcement on the education of children, particularly those from immigrant families, warrants careful consideration. This article explores the multifaceted ways in which immigration enforcement affects students' academic performance, mental health, and access to educational resources, while also highlighting the crucial role educators play in supporting these students.

The Climate of Fear and Uncertainty

The current climate of heightened immigration enforcement has created an environment of fear and uncertainty for many students, especially those who identify as Latinx or come from undocumented families. The fear of deportation looms large, impacting students’ sense of safety and well-being, even within the confines of their schools. Instead of focusing on their education, these students struggle with this uncertainty and as a result are often absent from school or inattentive.

Impact on Student Well-being and Academic Performance

Research indicates that enhanced immigration enforcement actions have a wide array of impacts on children, including on school attendance and performance and mental and physical health. Increased immigration enforcement is associated with declines in academic achievement, an exacerbation of racial and ethnic gaps in educational outcomes, feelings of lack of safety in schools, and negative mental and physical health outcomes among children of immigrants.

The fear of deportation can lead to increased absenteeism, negatively impacting academic outcomes and student health. Students may be distracted or disengaged in class, and some may require additional counseling or support services. The UCLA-based researchers found that Immigrant students’ schoolwork and experience in the classroom often suffer in the presence of immigration enforcement - with 60% percent of teachers and school staff reporting poorer academic performance, and nearly half noting increased rates of bullying against these students,.

The effects of immigration enforcement ripple throughout the entire school community. Teachers reported experiencing heightened anxiety due to anti-immigrant sentiments and policies. These situations add to teachers’ stress and create more work for them.

Read also: UCLA: Shaping Immigration Policy

Declining School Attendance

Recent reports indicate that immigrant families are scared to send their children to school and that there have been declines in school attendance among children in immigrant families. In the Boston-area, reports suggest that over 1,000 students did not show up to school following news of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity nearby, similar to Fresno, where attendance dropped by around 1,000 per day following President Trump’s inauguration. In Chicago, one educator serving immigrant families noted a nearly 50% drop in school attendance in the days immediately following the President Trump’s inauguration.

Declines in school participation and performance may not only negatively influence children’s educational outcomes and health but may also have impacts on school funding.

State-Level Actions Exacerbating Fears

Fears and attendance declines among children in immigrant families may be exacerbated by other state-level actions. For example, Tennessee is in the process of advancing a bill “that would require public K-12 and charter schools to verify student immigration status and… bar children who cannot prove they lawfully reside in the United States unless they pay tuition.” Oklahoma also has proposed a rule that would require parents or legal guardians to provide proof of citizenship and/or immigration status for children enrolled in the state’s public schools. While Oklahoma’s proposed rule does not explicitly bar enrollment for students who may be undocumented, it is likely to cause fear among immigrant families about their immigration status being recorded and may lead to drops in student enrollment due to chilling effects.

The Impact on School Funding

Schools are primarily funded through a combination of state and local funding. Each state has its own formula for funding school districts, but they all are directly or indirectly based on the number of students served by a school district as determined through student attendance or enrollment. Increases in absenteeism or decreased enrollment arising from enhanced immigration enforcement activity could lead to decreases in school funding.

Funding Models and Their Vulnerabilities

Most (35) states plus DC fund schools on a per student basis. Nine states use a resource-based funding model, in which districts receive funds based on the resources they anticipate needing (such as teachers and supplies) depending on how many and what types of students the school districts serve. States employ a variety of methods to determine a district level student count for their funding models, including attendance averages, single or multiple student counts, or enrollment averages. To determine the student count that goes into funding models, six states use the average daily attendance in school districts over a year, also known as an attendance average; 20 states plus DC use student enrollment or attendance from a single day or multiple days, also known as single or multiple counts; and 24 states use the average daily enrollment in school districts over a year (or over a 20-day period in the fall in Alaska), also known as enrollment average.

Schools in states that use attendance-based models to determine student counts for school funding may be particularly affected by increases in absenteeism or decreases in enrollment due to immigration-related fears. These states include California and Texas, which are home to the largest shares of school-aged children living in immigrant families. Districts in states that base student counts on enrollment could also be impacted if, over the longer-term, immigrant families disenroll their children from school or move out of school districts due to immigration-related fears.

Geographic Disparities

Nationwide, about one in six (17%), or 9 million, school-aged children (5 to 17 years) live in a household with at least one noncitizen adult, who could be impacted by immigration enforcement fears. This share rises to nearly one in three (32%) or 2 million school-aged children in California and about one in four school-aged children in Texas (25%), New Jersey (24%) and Nevada (23%). By region, the West has the highest share (24%) of school-aged children in a household with at least one noncitizen adult, followed by about one in six school-aged children in the Northeast (17%) and the South (16%); and about one in ten school-aged children in the Midwest (9%).

The Role of Educators and Schools

Educators play a crucial role in how kids are welcomed into the classroom and within their communities overall. We have families coming into our public school system who do not understand how the system works, making the educator the bridge between the child and the family. In these instances, the role of educators is to understand how to support and encourage these students- to advance them and foster their achievement. Immigrant students must have the same opportunities to flourish as other students. Our educators must serve many roles for these students in a challenging societal environment, where many are suspicious of and hostile toward immigrants. Undocumented parents are afraid and lack resources to advocate for the educational needs of their children. Educators can serve as advocates for these students.

Creating Safe and Supportive Environments

Schools have been safe havens and places for immigrant families to access resources and knowledge, and to build coalitions, solidarity, and partnerships. Educators are often the first individuals in whom a student and/or family confides and reveals that they are undocumented.

Many schools are implementing strategies to address the fears and anxieties of immigrant students. Some schools have shared information about immigrant students’ rights, provided additional counseling or mental health support, and changed safety policies. For example, the School for the Visual Arts and Humanities partnered with UCLA in 2019 to launch a permanent one-of-a-kind legal clinic. The legal clinic’s team - comprised of a director, manager, two staff attorneys and up to a dozen law students - provides students and families with one-time consultations and, in some cases, legal representation.

Advocating for Students' Rights

The U.S. Department of Education says all children in the United States are warranted equal access to a public elementary and secondary education, regardless of their or their parents’ actual or perceived national origin, citizenship, or immigration status. The Supreme Court affirmed in Plyler v. Doe (1982) that children have a right to public education regardless of their immigration status and that states cannot enact policies or laws that deny immigrant youth’s access to public schools.

Educators and educational professionals can advocate for legislation for immigrant students with efforts as simple as issuing a statement.

Addressing the Teacher Shortage

There is a nationwide shortage of preservice or in-service educators who want to prepare to teach these students in the public education environment. Teachers are forced to manage a variety of learner needs requiring specialized training and applications that have been found to be effective. Unfortunately, the untrained teacher can quickly become overwhelmed and contribute to the disconnect between learner needs and pedagogy.

The Broader Context

America is a country of immigrants. Through each wave of immigration, our public schools incorporate immigrant children into the fabric of our country. Our public schools serve as a cultural incubator to aid and nurture acceptance of diversity. Our local classrooms should be a microcosm of a global demographic. It is projected that by the year 2040, one in every three children in the United States will grow up in an immigrant household.

Economic research shows the importance of immigrant students being in spaces with non-immigrant students and how the cultural diversity in schools matters and improves academic performance and engagement.

DACA and its Impact

When President Barack Obama created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals initiative in 2012, the idea was to offer an American immigration policy giving relief from deportation. Its purpose is to protect eligible immigrant youth brought into the United States when they were children from being sent back to a country they have never known. The program gives these young, undocumented immigrants that deportation protection, as well as a work permit.

DACA students deserve every available opportunity in education. We have students whose experience influences how they end up engaging in careers. Many of our DACA students go into areas of service like teaching, and many of them want to become immigration attorneys to help others like themselves. It makes an enormous difference to see students who can take advantage of in-state tuition and other benefits of living here. Their lived experience is that of living in the United States.

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