Across the U.S., many parents are breathing a collective sigh of relief: school is back in session. Sitting in her trailer home in rural southern Maryland, a woman who asks to go by her first initial, "M.", says she is one of those very relieved parents. That's because she spent most of the summer indoors with her four children and says it almost drove her crazy. She asked NPR to refer to her by first initial only because she is undocumented, and like many immigrants without papers, the new school year is bringing up new fears and anxiety about ICE enforcement in and around schools.
M. holds a strand of her hair up. "Look", she says laughing, pointing at white streaks she says weren't there before this summer. It's been stressful, she says, holed up indoors with the kids. As she speaks, her youngest climbs on top of the washing machine and proceeds to throw about a hundred plastic Easter eggs on the floor; unbeknownst to her, the baby she's rocking is wildly waving a large bottle of glue. Her 7 year old walks in holding the family cat upside down.
M. and her husband have lived and worked in the U.S. for around 15 years. Their kids are all U.S. citizens, but she says this summer it just felt too risky to go anywhere. There were no trips to the pool, no visits to the aquarium or local parks. Her eldest was planning to go to a STEM summer camp, which the family pulled her out of.
Then a few weeks ago, something happened that M. says sent them into an even stricter lockdown: immigration agents showed up at her husband's landscaping job. He hid and sent the family a message, in case he was detained.
M. says that night they sat the kids down and explained: "You are all American citizens, but we are not. If we take you to the aquarium, or to a hotel, we could get detained, and deported."
Now the start of a new school year has brought up difficult questions: What if immigration agents come while the kids are in class, or while she's picking them up? Can immigration agents come into the school? Can they ask the children about their parent's legal status?
"There are no confirmed reports of ICE raids or ICE enforcement inside of schools," says Elora Mukherjee, director of the Immigrants' Rights Clinic at Columbia Law school. She says it's important to let parents know that ICE agents cannot enter a school without a warrant. Additionally, it is unconstitutional to deny students access to public education based on immigration status, and in certain cities like Chicago and New York public schools have language stipulating that administrators may not ask about immigration status. A few years ago, attempts to do so in Alabama were struck down as unconstitutional.
But Mukherjee understands the fear around schools and immigration enforcement. Almost as soon as President Trump took office, in January, locations previously designated off limits — schools, churches and hospitals — were deemed fair game for immigration enforcement.
There are numerous reports of parents being detained right outside their kids' schools.
Mukherjee says, despite the administration's repeated rhetoric about detaining "the worst of the worst" the numbers show that the vast majority of those detained by ICE so far are without criminal convictions. "Anyone can be targeted if the officers have reasonable suspicion to believe that they may be in the country without authorization."
Fear of taking kids to school has impacted attendance. Last school year, in districts across the country, immigration enforcement raids coincided with dips in attendance: in California's central valley, there was a 22% increase in absenteeism during ICE operations. In Chicago, one of the first cities to experience the Trump administration's immigration raids, teachers told NPR they saw a dip in student attendance.
"Last year was a hard year," says Roy, a second grade teacher in the Chicago public school system who requested that his last name and the name of his school be withheld to protect his students, some of whom are undocumented or who have undocumented relatives. "We had some students that missed class on and off for a month. Fear was the biggest cause. It puts you behind. If we had more time with those kids, we would have gotten farther. We need our kids back in school," he says.
In some school districts, teachers and organizers are preparing for the possibility of more immigration enforcement near schools. In Chicago, where President Trump has promised to take action, educators say they are considering offering online classes as an option for some children. "Everything is on the table," says Stacy Davis Gates, president of the Chicago teachers union. "Young people get to be safe, young people get to learn. Young people get to have grown-ups like us thinking about how they stay in school."
A few days into the school year, M sends NPR an audio message from the bus stop. She's there to pick up her kids. She's standing about a block away, and sheriff's department cars are there.
She's scared.
A few minutes go by and she sends another message.
"I'm home," she says breathlessly. "I froze. I grabbed the kids and ran back home." Nothing happened, she says, not this time.
The incident has not stopped M. from sending her kids back to school.
She says the first week her kids were back to school, she did what many parents across the U.S. probably did: She took a really long nap.
And then she did something most parents never have to do: She reached out to a friend, an American citizen, to start the process of giving her power of attorney, in case she or her husband gets picked up and deported.
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