In January, the Trump administration rescinded a longstanding federal coverage memo that designated colleges as protected areas from immigration enforcement. Within the months that adopted, the Division of Homeland Safety launched a number of immigration enforcement campaigns throughout the nation.
Whereas Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, officers had not, as of early December, carried out arrests or interrogations inside colleges, many district and college leaders spent a lot of this yr addressing worry and issues from immigrant households, establishing protocols for what to do if ICE officers search entry to campus, and typically publicly advocating for college kids and households detained by officers off campus.
To higher perceive how immigration coverage intersected with schooling this yr, the EdWeek Analysis Middle, which recurrently conducts nationwide surveys of Okay-12 educators on quite a lot of schooling subjects, included survey questions associated to immigrant college students’ rights and immigration enforcement.
Listed here are a few of the key findings from these nationwide surveys.
Political divides exist concerning educators’ views on college students’ rights
In 2024, the EdWeek Analysis Middle observed, for the primary time, an uptick in open-ended survey responses expressing frustration with the federal necessities that colleges should present supplemental assist so English learners can purchase the English language.
That remark prompted survey questions despatched out to educators in January and February this yr that explicitly requested whether or not they supported federal legal guidelines mandating assist for English learners, and mandating entry to free, public schooling for undocumented college students.
When responses have been damaged down by voting habits within the 2024 presidential election, a partisan divide emerged.
Educators have been requested: If the shortcoming to talk and perceive the English language excludes Okay-12 college students from efficient participation in studying, federal legal guidelines require public colleges to show college students English. What’s your view of those legal guidelines?
Eighty-seven p.c of respondents who voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris stated they assist these legal guidelines, in contrast with 63% of those that voted for now-President Donald Trump. 4 p.c of Harris voters opposed these legal guidelines, in contrast with 14% of Trump voters.
Equally, 85% of Harris voters stated they favored legal guidelines requiring public colleges to teach immigrant college students, no matter whether or not the scholars or their dad and mom are legally permitted to reside in the USA. That’s in contrast with 31% of Trump voters in favor.
About 41% of Trump voters opposed such mandates, in contrast with 3% of Harris voters.
And on the subject of immigration enforcement, 99% p.c of Harris voters felt immigration officers shouldn’t be permitted to make arrests or perform raids in colleges, in contrast with 58% of Trump voters. Thirty-seven p.c of Trump voters stated they have been in favor of ICE exercise within the colleges or district places of work the place they personally work, in contrast with 2% of Harris voters.
Specialists and advocates have famous that such views on college students’ rights can have an effect on the standard of schooling for English learners and immigrant college students.
When college students are detained, educators look to districts for advocacy
This summer season, the EdWeek Analysis Middle sought to know what steps educators and districts have been keen to take within the occasion {that a} pupil was detained by ICE off campus as immigration enforcement campaigns grew throughout the nation.
Forty-seven p.c of surveyed educators stated they’d need their district to advocate for a pupil’s launch if a pupil have been apprehended by immigration brokers off campus for causes associated to immigration violations which are civil (not legal). Extra elementary and center college lecturers and principals (59% and 53%, respectively) stated their district ought to advocate for a pupil’s launch than these working at the highschool degree (28%).
When requested whether or not they personally would advocate for a pupil’s launch, educators expressed extra hesitancy, with 44% saying it relies upon.
The particulars of a pupil’s case and whether or not they felt ready to successfully help have been the highest components educators stated they’d weigh when deciding whether or not to advocate for a pupil’s launch. Authorized legal responsibility was the highest cause educators gave for not advocating for a pupil’s launch.
Educators report worry, nervousness on account of immigration enforcement
This fall, the EdWeek Analysis Middle wished to seize the speedy ripple results from stepped-up immigration enforcement.
About half of all educators surveyed who work with immigrant households stated their college students have expressed worry or nervousness this college yr on account of federal immigration enforcement efforts.
Thirty-five p.c of educators working with immigrant households cited no impression from federal enforcement on their college students, whereas 24% reported lowered pupil attendance, and an equal share stated their college students have been experiencing distraction or lack of engagement at school.
Of those that reported worry and nervousness amongst their college students, 75% stated that worry or nervousness is interfering with pupil studying “some” or “quite a bit.”
Educators have been additionally requested whether or not their college or district had any protocols in place for what to do if ICE officers sought entry to a faculty constructing or pupil data.
Seventy-one p.c stated such a protocol was in place, whereas 29% p.c stated there are not any such protocols in place.
District leaders and immigrant pupil advocates have stated that immigration protocols each maintain college students secure and assist tackle worry and nervousness that’s affecting pupil studying.
