Ana Ponce is CEO of Camino Nuevo, a network of Los Angeles charter schools where a majority of children are from immigrant households. (Courtesy: Camino Nuevo)

Every time Ana Ponce drives down the highway between Los Angeles and San Diego, she’s haunted by a childhood memory: her night in lockup — the sterile white room, the sounds of crying, and the fear she might be lost.

Born in Mexico, Ponce moved to the U.S. when she was 4, and, even as a young undocumented child in Los Angeles, she knew her family was unwelcome. Still, the family took frequent trips across the border to visit relatives in Mexico. She was 7 or 8 when she took the drive south for the holidays with her aunt — and got caught. Immigration authorities pulled them over, shuffled them into a detention facility overnight, and loaded them onto a Tijuana-bound bus the following morning.

“My aunt did not know the address of our family in Tijuana and I was very afraid that we were lost, and that we did not know how to get back, and that my family did not know how to find us,” said Ponce, 49, now a naturalized U.S. citizen.

It all worked out in the end. Family members met them at the bus drop-off point in Mexico and, shortly after, they returned north to their home in Los Angeles.

Several decades later, Ponce is CEO of Camino Nuevo, a network of charter schools where a majority of children are from immigrant households. As the Trump administration ramps up arrests and border enforcement remains a hot-button issue, deportations — and the trauma they inflict on young people — have worked their way back into Ponce’s life.

Since several parents came forward about the deportation of their spouses last school year, the charter network has been grappling with ways to support the families they serve. Camino Nuevo has eight campuses serving about 3,600 students from pre-kindergarten through high school. Although the network doesn’t ask its students about their immigration status, about 90 percent of children come into the network as English language learners, said Nicole Brown, the principal at Camino Nuevo’s Kayne Siart campus.

Under President Trump, immigration enforcement has grabbed the attention of education leaders across the country, particularly in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Conversations around immigration enforcement are likely to continue as students return to classes this fall after a summer in which thousands of undocumented children were separated from their parents. In July, the Los Angeles school board voted unanimously to denounce family separation at the border, vowing to provide emotional and legal support to any of the city’s students affected by the policy.

Educators across the country have had similar concerns. In a small Nebraska community in early August, teachers opened an elementary school that had been closed for summer break to shelter children after immigration agents swept the town in a series of workplace raids.

“We are living in a state of fear that I have not experienced in a long time, as an immigrant, as a Latina, as a person of color in this country,” Ponce said. “Our families need to feel safe, and they need to feel like we’re supporting them, and they need to know that we are going to be here with them. We have to own the fear that they live with.”

Supporting families

For one family in the Camino Nuevo network, their worst fears unfolded just after the new year. It was early January when Carmen, the mother of seven U.S.-born children, told Brown her husband had just been deported.

He was on his way to his job installing kitchen cabinets when immigration authorities scooped him up in an early-morning bus stop raid, said Carmen, 45, who asked that her full name not be used. This year, her four youngest children are enrolled at Camino Nuevo.

Nicole Brown, the principal at Camino Nuevo’s Kayne Siart campus. (Courtesy: Camino Nuevo)

Just hours later, the father was deported to his native Mexico, more than two decades after he and his wife immigrated to the U.S. for job opportunities and so their children could attend college. When Carmen went to pick up her children from school that afternoon, Brown noticed she was crying.

“She immediately said, ‘OK, come to my office and just relax,’” said Carmen, who was a stay-at-home mom at the time. With the family’s breadwinner deported, basic necessities like food became scarce. Quickly, Brown jumped into action.

Everyone at the school was informed of the situation. The school posted a fundraising campaign on GoFundMe to help cover the family’s living expenses. After circulating the link among the school community, the campaign raised $13,000 — $3,000 above the goal.

“I was able to pay my rent for January, February, March, April, and May,” until she was able to get a job, Carmen said. “It was a really, really hard moment for us, but I’m really thankful for the school, how they supported us and my kids. They are very thankful too.”

For Carmen and other families in similar situations, school leaders addressed the trauma experienced by both students and their parents.

The school counselor and the student and family services coordinator led “community circles” so students could discuss their circumstances. Their mental health team offered counseling.

“Know Your Rights” workshops offered parents information about how to stay out of trouble with immigration authorities and how to navigate the system if they ever wound up in custody. In the event authorities picked them up, parents were instructed to create plans for their kids. Camino Nuevo also keeps a National Immigration Law Center tip sheet on its website to inform parents of their rights, along with a Department of Homeland Security fact sheet that says officials won’t target schools and other “sensitive locations” for enforcement.

Even on the streets of Los Angeles, Ponce said, school leaders are on the lookout for immigration enforcement activity. When a rumor of a recent raid circulated among families online, Ponce instructed a school leader to investigate the scene. When the school leader didn’t observe signs of immigration enforcement, educators assured families they were safe.

If confronted with family deportations, it’s important for the school to be up front, said Brown, the Kayne Siart principal. “Hopefully, more solutions can come from that,” she said, “or at least people feel like they’re not alone.”

Ultimately, the deportation of Carmen’s husband prompted other parents to come forward about their own experiences with immigration enforcement — which helped put the issue into perspective. School leaders faced a “reality check,” said Cristina González, Kayne Siart’s student and family services coordinator. School officials realized they lacked the resources to handle the scope of the problem.

While many families shared their experiences with school leaders, Brown said the openness is tinged with hesitation because, as an independent school system that receives public funds, the schools are connected to the government. “I know there are more examples of [this] happening and people just don’t feel comfortable sharing,” Brown said.

As the school year kicks off, that’s an issue Camino Nuevo hopes to tackle. Now, Brown said, school leaders are working to better understand the size of the problem “and not assuming that if we don’t hear anything that everything is OK.” Meanwhile, the network plans to hold more frequent “Know Your Rights” workshops and is considering offering more group counseling sessions as demand exceeds counselors’ current availability.

Ponce said it’s crucial that children show up to class ready to learn, but trauma can get in the way. She said she still gets scared when she passes by the detention facility between Los Angeles and San Diego. As officials at the charter network increase efforts to support immigrant children, she said it’s important that her staff recognizes trauma and the ways it can impinge student learning.

“Getting an education is not solely about the academics, it’s about creating an environment that allows kids to learn. Unless we are in it with them, they’re not going to come to school ready to learn,” Ponce said. “We need to show up for our kids, we need to show up for our families, in ways that we haven’t had to show up for them before.”

This article was published in partnership with The 74.

Pedro Terán

Pedro Terán knew what he was getting into.

Terán, 33, was living in Saltillo, Mexico, two years ago when his sister posted an ad on Facebook that said the Dallas Independent School District was looking for teachers. The district had sent recruiters to Monterrey, about an hour from Terán’s home, to find educators to help meet the demands of its mandatory bilingual programs.

If Terán aced his interview, met requirements, and passed a state certification test, he could teach for up to six years on an H-1B visa — a program that offers employers the chance to find workers with unique skills they often can’t find in American candidates. And if he performed well, the school district might even sponsor his application to remain in the U.S. permanently.

But from the beginning, Terán said, recruiters made no secret of the possibility that everything could shift if President Donald Trump decided to change the visa program — which he’s since indicated he may do.

“We’ve always known it’s a possibility, but if the program were to end I’d be very sad, both for myself and my colleagues,” he said.

Despite indications of a crackdown on the H-1B program, the Trump administration has yet to enact policy changes in this area. But enforcement of existing laws has tightened for the thousands of migrant teachers in this country, sending waves of anxiety through circles of educators already in tenuous positions, experts and district officials say.

While the visa program has not received the attention of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program or the travel ban, experts say it appears to be part of the administration’s stricter approach to immigration policy.

San Diego-based attorney Vaani Chawla, who works on employment-related immigration issues, said she’s recently seen more intense scrutiny of visa applications and longer lag times as they’re reviewed.

“It seems like there’s a bit of a zero-tolerance approach going on for everything,” said Chawla. “Even if they’ve followed the rules and done everything the right way, immigration officials are still scrutinizing applications even more closely than before.”

That was underscored in late June when 25 educators had to leave the country after applications to renew their visas were held up for a federal audit. The review will take an additional six to eight months — long enough for the educators’ visas to expire, forcing them out of a country some of them have called home for more than a decade.

“It’s terribly unfortunate,” said the district’s chief human capital officer, Jeremy Grant-Skinner. “These are high-need teachers who are part of the community. We did everything we could, and the teachers did everything they could to be in compliance, so to be in the situation we are today is not good for our students or the teachers themselves.”

• Read more from The 74: 25 International Teachers Caught in Immigration Bureaucracy Forced to Leave Country Just Before Independence Day

A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Unified School District said the district has started acting earlier to renew teachers’ visas in light of concerns raised elsewhere. Los Angeles has 25 teachers with H-1B visas, with three set to expire. The teachers help staff the district’s growing dual-language programs, which now include Mandarin and Korean.

Denver Public Schools currently sponsors 130 teachers under the visa program, which a spokesperson said has helped fill the district’s need for Spanish-speaking teachers. And this year, 250 teachers are working in Dallas ISD on H-1B visas.

Future restrictions to the program would impact not only the teachers working on guest visas but also the school districts that have recruited them to fill hard-to-staff positions.

Jordan Carlton, Dallas ISD’s manager of talent acquisition, said the state’s mandate to offer bilingual education for English learners in elementary school means the district has trouble finding the roughly 400 bilingual teachers it needs to hire each year.

“We do our best to recruit through the region, but Texas just isn’t producing enough teachers through traditional programs to serve our students,” Carlton said.

“Several years ago, when we turned to international recruitment, we tapped into an incredible wealth of talent. It’s a great linguistic and cultural experience for the teachers and students.”

Teachers as the new import

Dallas’s position points to the uncomfortable new reality for migrant teachers. Like many immigrants, they came to this country for economic reasons, and they fill a niche the economy has trouble filling elsewhere. Having been here for sometimes more than a decade, many have settled in their communities and bonded with students, never expecting a major change in U.S. policy.

In recent years, as the U.S. economy has improved, the practice of hiring foreign educators has been on the upswing.

Lora Bartlett is a professor of education at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the author of Migrant Teachers, which examines America’s growing reliance on teachers trained overseas.

Bartlett found that between 2000 and 2009, almost 100,000 teachers were recruited from overseas to work in American classrooms. For a sense of scale, that number dwarfs the 56,000 teachers recruited by Teach for America in its 27-year history.

The practice took off after 2001, with the implementation of No Child Left Behind, a federal law that required school districts to employ highly qualified teachers or face funding cuts. At the time, school districts, particularly those in urban communities where turnover is routine and positions are hard to fill, were desperate to tap into the pipeline of new talent, Bartlett said.

An early wave of teacher-recruits left the Philippines and landed in Compton. When one recruit arrived in Los Angeles just before Christmas 2001, an immigration official at the airport glanced at his visa, saw his destination, and asked the incoming teacher if he’d brought a bulletproof vest, the Los Angeles Times reported at the time.

Today, foreign teachers come from countries around the globe, with many from India, Jamaica, and China. But the Philippines, with its English-speaking school system modeled after America’s, made for an ideal source.

“Over 100 years ago we planted the seeds of the teaching system that we’re now harvesting,” Bartlett said.

In May, the New York Times reported on one school district in Arizona that’s recruited more than 50 teachers from the Philippines since 2015. The Times linked the foreign recruitment to concerns around teacher pay: As educators across the country protest low salaries and poor working conditions, those from countries with low costs of living may see American teaching salaries as a boon.

However, the Arizona recruits are employed on J-1 visas. Unlike the H-1B, the J-1 visa is meant to be a temporary program that fosters cultural exchange; it offers no path to permanent residency.

That’s partly why Bartlett believes leaning on foreign teachers may pose problems for recruits, students, and the teaching profession as a whole.

“High teacher turnover leads to lower levels of student achievement. If we continue viewing these teachers as short-term stopgaps and allow them to turn over at high rates, we are going to undermine the opportunity for low-income students with the highest needs,” Bartlett said.

High-stakes teaching

A promise of a higher salary was one reason Terán came to Dallas.

He had experience teaching both in Mexico and abroad. But even at his job teaching at a private school in Mexico City — which, at around $1,000 a month, paid better than most teaching gigs — he had to find extra work as a private tutor just to scrape by.

“Teaching in Mexico is very, very underpaid,” he said. “If you’re teaching, you always have to worry about working extra so you can make it through the month.”

Terán now makes three times what he used to. When he moved to Texas, he bought a car at a dealership and was able to pay it off in six months.

“That was something that I would have never been able to do in Mexico,” he said.

Today, Terán teaches second grade, in a classroom where 100 percent of students are Latino and most speak his native language.

“Texas feels a bit like Mexico,” he said.

Carlton, Dallas ISD’s manager of talent acquisition, said the district typically recruits international teachers who already have teaching experience.

Before a teacher can score an H-1B visa and be hired, the district has to show that the teacher meets all qualifications for the job — which include passing state certification requirements — and that the district has tried, but cannot find, an American teacher to fill the role.

After the six years of visa eligibility are exhausted, the district has the option of sponsoring teachers for permanent residency if they’ve proven their value and scored proficient on teacher evaluations. Those consist of classroom observations, student test score growth, and, in some cases, students’ evaluations of teachers.

Teachers around the country have long pushed back against the notion of high-stakes evaluations, a practice that can mean rewards or punishment based on performance or growth in student test scores. But for Terán and others like him, the stakes are even higher — the evaluations could literally determine their ability to remain legally in the United States.

“I do worry about my performance,” Terán said. “It’s impossible not to think about it. It matters not only for my residency but also because it affects my pay. It affects everything.”

Still, for the moment, Terán feels lucky to have a job and an apartment. He’d like to stay in Dallas, he said, if the district wants to keep him — and the policies governing his visa don’t shift beneath him.

“I’ve moved around a lot and I know how life changes, so I try not to think too far into the future,” he said. “I just try to do my best today and plan for what I can plan for.”

This article was published in partnership with The 74.

DACA supporters protest the Trump administration’s termination of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. (Photo: Ronen Tivony/Getty Images)

All eyes have been on March 5 since the Trump administration announced last September that in six months it would end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which has provided work permits and deportation relief to hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children.

That timeline, the Trump administration announced last fall, would give lawmakers in Washington a chance to iron out a long-term immigration plan. But that legislative fix never came, and the futures of DACA recipients — thousands of whom are students, teachers, or the parents of children in K-12 classrooms — remain uncertain.

Some big questions come with that Monday deadline. Like: Are the nearly 700,000 current DACA recipients about to lose their protections en masse — and face potential deportation? No, it’s not that simple.

Here, we answer five questions about the deadline and what it means for DACA recipients, often called “Dreamers,” who currently receive benefits from the Obama-era program.

1. Where did the March 5 deadline originate?

When Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced on September 5 that DACA would be eliminated, the Trump administration said it would leave a six-month window open for Congress to find a legislative remedy. Although the administration stopped accepting new applicants for DACA benefits in September, it gave current recipients until October 5 to renew their status. DACA does not grant permanent legal status to recipients, who must renew their deferral every two years.

This strategy has allowed the Trump administration to push for the president’s immigration priorities, like increased enforcement and a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, in exchange for a long-term DACA solution like the Dream Act. Democrats, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, have accused Trump of using DACA recipients as “bargaining chips.”

2. Why did courts halt the DACA repeal?

The president’s decision to end the DACA program faced a wave of lawsuits, and in two states — California and New York — federal judges have handed sizable blows to the administration.

The first Trump setback came on January 9, when a federal district court judge in California, William Alsup, issued a temporary injunction against the administration’s decision to wind down DACA. Alsup ordered the Trump administration to “maintain the DACA program on a nationwide basis” until pending lawsuits work their way through the courts. In compliance with that order, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced on January 13 it would once again accept DACA renewal applications.

To be eligible for DACA benefits, immigrants had to be younger than 16 when they moved to the U.S., they had to be 31 or younger in 2012, and they had to have lived continuously in the U.S. since 2007. They also had to be a current student or a high school graduate without a criminal conviction.

Among the plaintiffs suing the Trump administration over the move to repeal DACA are the University of California system and its president, Janet Napolitano, who, as Homeland Security secretary under President Barack Obama, created the program in 2012. Plaintiffs in another California lawsuit include Los Angeles teacher Miriam Gonzalez Avila, who told her students at Crown Preparatory Academy she wouldn’t let DACA die without putting up a fight.

A second federal district judge, Nicholas Garaufis of New York, reached a similar decision on February 13, when he issued a second nationwide temporary injunction ordering the administration to keep DACA benefits in place for now. In order to enforce its own March 5 deadline, the Trump administration would have to successfully appeal both injunctions. The Ninth Circuit has jurisdiction in California; the Second Circuit has jurisdiction in New York. The Trump administration has already appealed to the Ninth Circuit, which has put the issue on a fast track.

In reaching a decision, the California judge cited several tweets and television interviews in which Trump appeared to favor DACA protections. The president’s own statements, the judge wrote, indicate that the program’s continuation is in the public interest.

Meanwhile in New York, Garaufis noted that the president’s DACA rollback deadline was arbitrary. Although he didn’t mention the president’s Twitter feed in his opinion, the judge said in court he couldn’t ignore the “drumbeat” of Trump’s “vicious” anti-immigrant rhetoric.

3. Why did the Supreme Court get involved?

A day after the California injunction was released, Trump tweeted his disdain, criticizing the U.S. court system as “broken and unfair.” Attorney General Jeff Sessions, meanwhile, said the California injunction “defies both law and common sense” because of its national reach. As such, the administration, in a rare move, asked the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on the DACA debate, with the goal of skipping the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. In its appeal to the Supreme Court, the Trump administration highlighted a need for urgency, noting that “even expedited proceedings in the Ninth Circuit would entail many months of delay.”

The Supreme Court last  Monday rejected the Trump administration’s request, urging the appeals court to “proceed expeditiously to decide this case.” But the American judicial system isn’t typically known for speed, and that appeal will likely take months. Vox’s headline: The Supreme Court may have just kept DACA on life support for several more months.

“Nothing is as bad as the Ninth Circuit,” Trump said after the Supreme Court decision was announced. Trump’s comments highlighted his desire to skip the appeals court, criticized by conservatives as overly liberal, for the nation’s top court, where the administration may see a better chance of victory.

“I mean, it’s really sad when every single case filed against us is in the Ninth Circuit we lose, we lose, we lose, and then we do fine in the Supreme Court,” Trump said.

4. Where do legislative attempts to replace DACA stand on Capitol Hill?

The debate over immigration reform in Washington has been in a stalemate for well over a decade, and, at the end of the day, the Trump administration’s decision to end DACA failed to change much politically. Despite months of wrangling in Congress — and a host of emotional appeals over the devastating impact of deporting people from the only country many have ever known — it was highly unlikely lawmakers would reach a legislative fix ahead of the Monday deadline.

Lawmakers just returned to work last Monday after a weeklong recess, leaving them little time to hash out a deal. Another highly contentious issue — gun control — has taken center stage in Congress and in the larger, national conversation.

Because of the court injunctions, some lawmakers have acknowledged less urgency around the March 5 line in the sand. Although it’s important, Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan said, “it’s not as important as it was before, given the court rulings.” He did say, however, that he hopes lawmakers can reach a deal at some point in March because “this place works better with deadlines.”

It’s possible that lawmakers will choose instead to wait out a court decision until after the midterm elections in November. Rep. John Larson, a Connecticut Democrat, predicted that “we’ll kick the can down the road” until then.

5. What is the current status of DACA recipients?

The fate of DACA recipients hangs in the balance as lawmakers continue to face off and lawsuits make their way through the courts. Following the injunction in California, the Trump administration began accepting renewal applications again in January, but for many, it’s likely too late. Because applications can take months to process, some recipients will experience a lapse in DACA protections.

Meanwhile, thousands of DACA recipients have already lost their work permits and deportation relief because roughly 22,000 people did not apply for renewals in time. These people are also now eligible to submit renewal applications because of the court injunctions, but some people have struggled to come with the $495 for the application fee on short notice.

As immigration enforcement efforts ramp up — including in “sanctuary cities” like Los Angeles — the Trump administration has said it won’t explicitly target immigrants with expired DACA benefits. That doesn’t mean they aren’t at risk of potential enforcement; several people experiencing a lapse in benefits have already been detained.

Had the March 5 deadline carried any weight, recipients would not have lost their benefits all at once. Instead, recipients would have been unable to renew their two-year deferred action. The Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, estimates that about 915 DACA recipients would have lost their status every day over the next two years.

This article was published in partnership with the74million.org.

LA Dreamer Melody Klingenfuss is House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi’s guest for Tuesday’s State of the Union address by President Trump. (Courtesy)

*Updated Jan. 30

Two young DACA recipients from Los Angeles will be guests at Tuesday’s State of the Union address, sitting with House Democrats and hoping to hear President Trump announce a permanent solution for them and their families to remain together in this country.

The two young women are part of a delegation of Dreamers from around the nation who have been invited by 24 House Democrats. They were chosen by the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles to represent undocumented students in the area.

“We want to see how we can change the minds of these people, really get at their hearts,” said Melody Klingenfuss, 23, who was invited by House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi to attend the speech as her guest. But “we have to be realistic of what we’re going to find there. It won’t be friendly, but we know what our mission is.”

A Tweet Tuesday from Congressman Paul Gosar, a Republican from Arizona, was pointedly unfriendly to the undocumented guests who will be at the speech. “Any illegal aliens attempting to go through security, under any pretext of invitation or otherwise, should be arrested and deported,” Gosar tweeted just hours before the presidential address. “Of all the places where the Rule of Law needs to be enforced, it should be in the hallowed halls of Congress,” he wrote.

Klingenfuss called Gosar’s Tweet “a pointless threat,” adding, “It is completely unconstitutional and we are exercising our right to free speech.”

Today, Congressman Paul Gosar contacted the U.S. Capitol Police, as well as Attorney General Jeff Sessions, asking they consider checking identification of all attending the State of the Union address and arresting any illegal aliens in attendance.

— Rep. Paul Gosar, DDS (@RepGosar) January 30, 2018

As a DACA recipient, Klingenfuss said she has gone through “a rollercoaster of emotions” since September when Trump announced he would phase out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. She graduated last year from USC with a master’s in nonprofit leadership and management and is now a statewide youth organizer with the California Dream Network, which is run by CHIRLA and mobilizes undocumented youth as well as U.S. citizens to support undocumented immigrants’ rights. She is a graduate of Cal State Los Angeles, where she earned a bachelor’s in communications and political science in two years.

Klingenfuss and other Dreamers, or DACA recipients, had been hoping Congress would pass a “clean” Dream Act by Jan. 19 that didn’t hinge on funding a border wall with Mexico. Democrats in favor of the Dream Act have pushed Republicans to come up with a solution for Dreamers by Feb. 8. But last week, the Trump administration proposed a pathway to citizenship for as many as 1.8 million undocumented youth. However, it would take Dreamers up to 12 years to obtain citizenship. Trump’s deal also requires a $25 billion commitment to build a border wall.

Trump’s proposal is a worst-case scenario, said Itayu P., who is attending tonight’s address as the guest of Congressman Jimmy Gomez.

Itayu, an LA DACA recipient, will be Democratic Congressman Jimmy Gomez’s guest at President Trump’s State of the Union address. (Courtesy)

Itayu, who is 19 and didn’t want to give her last name, hopes that the Dreamers at tonight’s speech will move the hearts of Congress members to pass a clean Dream Act. But “I will use whatever (Trump) says on Tuesday and bring it to my immigrant community, just so we know what to expect and how strong we have to (remain),” she said.

Itayu completed her first year at Hood College in Maryland but didn’t return in the fall because of uncertainty over what her legal status would mean for her education. She is now taking classes at Pasadena City College and plans to return to Hood College in the fall if a Dream Act or other permanent solution is passed.

“I’m used to the struggles,” said Itayu, who was brought to the U.S. from Mexico by her parents when she was 6 months old. She found out she was undocumented at age 14. “You learn from the struggles, and you keep growing as a person. We’re not falling apart now. We’ll keep fighting.”

Itayu joined the California Dream Network last year and said it has taught her to channel her frustration into fighting for her rights.

“I hope Trump has a heart not only for the 800,000 DACA immigrants but for the other 11 million immigrants and that he does the right thing.”

Klingenfuss is also used to struggles. Fighting for a Dream Act is not her first battle. Making it to college even though she felt she didn’t have adequate support from her school counselors is a battle she has already won.

She attended LA Unified’s John Burroughs Middle School and Fairfax High School, where she said the staff didn’t know how to adequately support her as an undocumented student. “I had to find myself my way into college,” she Klingenfuss, who was brought at age 9 to the U.S. from Guatemala by her mother. “LAUSD being such a huge school district not being able to provide the support, it just adds to the hurdle.”

An estimated 30 percent to 40 percent of LA Unified’s students are children of mixed-status immigrant families and could be affected by deportation, according to CARECEN.

Because her mother works in education, she was able to direct her to the resources she needed to get to college. Her mother is also an immigrant and works as an educator at an LA charter school, which she declined to name.

“I had the motivation to overcome struggles such as not having anyone to help me meet my deadlines for application, these are different for undocumented students. Many of us made it, but too many undocumented students often don’t have access to higher education because we don’t have the same opportunities.”

Itayu also said, as an undocumented student, she didn’t have enough support in high school. She attended Alliance Marc & Eva Stern Math and Science High School, a charter high school with a “supportive environment,” but she felt that her counselors were not prepared to help her with the resources she needed as an undocumented student. “My counselor was not aware of the California Dream Act process, for example, but was able to help me with the SAT exam and my college application,” she said.

“Whether you have DACA, you qualify for the Dream Act or not, all undocumented students have a right to education,” Itayu said. “We should continue our education regardless of this situation.”

The California Dream Network delegation of Dreamers gathered in Washington, D.C. (Courtesy)

In other DACA news for local college students, undocumented students at the nine Los Angeles community colleges will be able to tap a new fund to pay for their DACA renewals.

The chancellor of the Los Angeles Community Colleges District, Francisco Rodríguez, and Assemblymember Miguel Santiago announced over the weekend the creation of a fund that will pay the $495 permit renewal fee for eligible DACA students and help them process their applications.

The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles and other immigrant rights organizations are contributing to the fund.

Rodríguez said that enrollment at all nine colleges has dropped since President Trump announced in September that he would phase out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Because many of the community colleges’ 11,000 undocumented students are DACA recipients, Rodriguez said at a Saturday news conference at Los Angeles City College that he wanted to send a message of support and assure them that LACCD will support them in their education.

This article has been updated to add Congressman Paul Gosar’s comments on Twitter about arresting undocumented persons attending tonight’s State of the Union address and Klingenfuss’s reaction to it. 

Luis Tadeo, a DACA recipient, is in Washington, D.C., with hundreds of other Dreamers to push for Dream Act passage by Friday.

*Updated Jan. 17

Los Angeles’ Luis Tadeo sent his DACA renewal application Tuesday from Washington, D.C., where he and 30 other California undocumented youth have gathered with an urgent goal: Get Congress to pass a “clean” Dream Act by Friday.

Tadeo traveled with a group of Californians, mostly college students, organized by the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. They have joined about 300 other Dreamers from across the country who are working this week to pressure Republican members of Congress to pass the Dream Act by Friday. It’s “our last chance to have the Dream Act passed because of the deadline to approve the federal budget,” he said. “The immigration issue would play as a priority during those negotiations. After that, we could have missed Congress’s attention.”

These Dreamers — who are fighting for the 800,000 undocumented children and young adults protected from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — will be visiting and calling members of Congress to press for a path to citizenship through a clean Dream Act, meaning free from ties to other immigration decisions including the building of a border wall with Mexico.

“DACA provided protections we needed but was always uncertain. DACA is not enough now. We want a permanent solution with no attachment to a border wall, no hurting our families, no separation of families any more,” Tadeo said.

He became a DACA recipient just before he started his studies at Cal State Los Angeles. Five years later, he has a degree in recreational therapy, but the Trump administration’s September announcement of DACA’s end threw his future into uncertainty.

“It was devastating, but I was well aware of how to fight back. It’s been months of going out on the street to get support for the Dream Act,” said Tadeo, who has been working with CHIRLA.

His DACA work permit is set to expire in June, but he was able to apply for renewal Tuesday because of a court decision last week. A U.S. District Court judge in San Francisco issued a preliminary injunction effectively blocking the decision to end the program. That ruling followed five lawsuits filed by Dreamers, including a DACA-covered teacher at Los Angeles’ Crown Preparatory Academy and the University of California system.

Over the weekend, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office announced it has resumed accepting renewal requests. But on Tuesday the Trump administration said it will appeal the judge’s ruling to the Supreme Court.

BREAKING: USCIS has issued document announcing DACA renewals will resume. No new applications, unless you had DACA before and it will expire soon or it expired on or after September 5, 2016. CHIRLA’s legal services is open Tues, Thurs, & Sat at 8 am for legal consultations. pic.twitter.com/25hYRAZnNb

— CHIRLA #cleanDREAMAct (@CHIRLA) January 14, 2018

Pedro Trujillo is also in D.C. with the California delegation. He said DACA is not what they’re fighting for now. “We are tired of the uncertainty, of not knowing what’s going to happen with the information of all those DACA recipients. We need a permanent solution because we don’t want to live wondering if DACA will continue in federal courts or even be taken to the Supreme Court. We’re just not hopeful about DACA anymore. We want a permanent solution.”

Erica Ortega, a Cal State LA student with the group in D.C., echoed the frustration. She is not undocumented, but her older sister is.

“We have been living one scary moment after another, and we are tired of that. I want to see my sister drive, work, travel just like me, without fear, feeling comfortable with her life,” she said. “I want the Dream Act to be passed and ready to go by Friday.”

The LA Unified school district reacted to the critical moment for undocumented immigrant families with a statement Tuesday from Hilda Maldonado, executive director, Multilingual and Multicultural Education Department, and Erika F. Torres, executive director, Student Health and Human Services.

“All students have a right to voice their concerns and advocate for their future. We commend our young Dreamers for displaying courage and pride in advocating for their future, which will ultimately benefit the future of our country. We remain committed to providing a safe and welcoming environment for all LA Unified students and families. We will continue to be a school district that embraces inclusion and diversity.”

The California Charter Schools Association joined others in the education community including LA Unified and the University of California system in urging members of Congress to recognize the importance and significance of permanently protecting students under DACA.

“We believe it is unconscionable to punish DACA recipients who were brought here as children, many of whom have only known the United States as their home. Many DACA recipients are attending, have graduated from, or are employed in California’s charter public schools,” Jed Wallace, CCSA’s president and CEO, said in a statement.

“Dreamers have diligently earned their education and built professional and personal lives allowing them to contribute to their communities across California and the nation. Without the protections of DACA, a lifetime of learning will be jeopardized.”

A DACA teacher in Los Angeles, Eva Morelos, who works for an independent public charter school run by Alliance College-Ready, tweeted on Tuesday to push Congress for a permanent solution for educators like her.

Immigrant youth are throwing down in DC and calling on lawmakers to do the right thing and pass a #DreamActNow. If Republicans won’t bring it to a vote then Democrats need to take bold action and shut down the government to shield our community from deportation. Time to step up. pic.twitter.com/v73lfQfH6w

— Tomas Kennedy (@tomaskenn) January 16, 2018

Michele Siqueiros, president of the Campaign for College Opportunity, also issued a statement in support of the Dream Act.

“We urge Congress to pass the DREAM Act to protect Dreamers who make enormous contributions to our communities and economy, and more importantly because it is the morally right and smart thing to do. Our country cannot afford to lose the talent young immigrants and DACA beneficiaries provide our nation. Despite their status, there is only one country they know and love, and that’s the United States of America.”

Tadeo said he is hopeful that Congress will do what is right. “Like never before, all Democrats support the Dream Act, and 78 percent of Americans support a permanent solution for DACA youth. We have bipartisan support. The Dream Act has to pass now.”

Congress members who don’t support that will face the consequences in November when they run for office, Tadeo said.

“We will be here until Friday night, but on Thursday we will intensify the mobilizations. We’ll have caravans, including faith leaders who will join us … to ensure the Dream Act passes by the end of this week.”

For more information on DACA renewals, The United We Dream network has published 5 things to know.

Eva Morelos, a special ed teacher at #AlllianceSimonTech, calls on Congress to act: “As a #DACA recipient, I have made a life here as a teacher, helping students in traditionally underserved communities to achieve academic excellence so they too can lead a life of opportunity.” pic.twitter.com/tEptCPLGnI

— Alliance Schools (@AllianceCRPS) January 16, 2018

*This article has been updated with statements from CCSA, Alliance College-Ready Public Schools, and the Campaign for College Opportunity.

DACA youth gathered in downtown Los Angeles in September to condemn President Trump’s decision to end the DACA program.

Undocumented students are missing school. Parents aren’t showing up to school events. College students aren’t re-enrolling. Discrimination complaints are exploding.

As DACA protections come to an end, California education advocates are redoubling their efforts to make sure immigrant families know their rights and students continue their schooling. They are also stepping up pressure on Congress to pass the Dream Act by year’s end.

On Thursday, “Dreamers” and members of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) and the California Dream Network (CDN) will hold a “call-in marathon” from locations throughout the state including Los Angeles university campuses such as Cal State LA, UC Irvine, Rio Hondo Community College, and  LA Trade Tech.

“We’re seeing that not as many parents are attending parent workshops, school events, extracurricular activities with students — and all that is a result of the frightening immigration climate. Some districts in the state have told us of their concern for their declining attendance and enrollment,” said Oscar Cruz, president of Los Angeles’ Families in Schools.

“The biggest concern is that students and even parents are actually reporting experiencing discrimination. We have received more calls asking for help in submitting discrimination complaints in the last six months than in the last five years,” he said.

To assure California’s families, school districts are creating policies and lawmakers are passing legislation to strengthen protections for undocumented students.

Here are the California laws that protect undocumented students, and their rights to an education:

SB 54 “The California Values Act”

• This law, which takes effect Jan. 1, will provide essential safeguards to ensure that schools, health facilities, courts, and other public services remain accessible to Californians regardless of their immigration status.
• State and local law enforcement agencies and school police and security departments cannot engage in immigration enforcement except in narrow circumstances.
• State or local law enforcement agencies will be prohibited from detaining any person for deportation without a judicial warrant.

SB 699 “Educational equity”

• This law, signed by the governor in October, prohibits school officials and employees of a school district, county offices of education, and charter schools from collecting information or documents regarding citizenship or immigration status from students and their family members.
• Only the superintendent of the education agency can report in a timely manner to the governing board any requests for information or access requested by law enforcement to a school site.
• Requires the education agency to publish model policies limiting assistance with immigration enforcement at public schools.
• Ensures that public schools remain safe and accessible to all California students regardless of immigration status.
• Requires all local education agencies to adopt the model policies or equivalent policies by July 1, 2018.

AB 2000

• This 2014 law is an extension of AB 540 and exempted undocumented students from paying nonresident tuition at the California State University and California Community Colleges.

The California Dream Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act):

• This was signed into law in 2011 but was enacted in 2013. It allows children who were brought into the U.S. under the age of 16 without proper visas/immigration documentation who have attended school on a regular basis to apply for student financial aid benefits.

California Dream Act Resolution 20

This addition to the California Dream Act, was made in February as fears mounted that the DACA program would be terminated, as it was in September. The resolution assures DACA recipients that with or without DACA they still have the right to apply for financial aid under the California Dream Act.

• This resolution states that “all of the state’s public institutions of education, including the Student Aid Commission, the State Department of Education, the University of California, the California State University, and the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, have all pledged to do everything within the power of the law to protect Dreamers and DACA residents from discrimination.”
• It reaffirms “Dreamers” that they can apply for financial aid through the Student Aid Commission without risking their personal information, as this agency will not share the students’ information with third parties.

AB 540

• This law went into effect in 2001 and allows non-resident students — both undocumented and citizens — who meet certain qualifications to pay in-state tuition at universities in California.
• AB 540 students qualify for the California Dream Act benefits, including applying for financial aid known as Cal Grants.
• To be considered an AB 540 students, you must have completed three years of high school in California and graduated.

YOUR RIGHTS TO AN EDUCATION AS UNDOCUMENTED STUDENT

• Every child who lives in California has the right to a free public education regardless of the child’s or his/her family’s race, nationality, sex, religion, whether they speak English or not, and immigration status.
• Charter schools may not deny you admission on the basis of your undocumented status. You can learn more about charter school admissions here.
• Some school districts in California have declared that they are “safe zone” or “safe haven” school districts, meaning that the district promises to resist efforts of immigration authorities to come on campus or use school records for immigration enforcement purposes.
• Schools may ask for phone bills, lease agreements, affidavits, or other documents to prove residency for enrollment purposes but not proof of your immigration status.
• Your school should not stop you from enrolling if you do not provide information on your citizenship or immigration status.
• Your school district should not stop you from enrolling in school because you lack a birth certificate or have a foreign place of birth.
• Your school should not stop you from enrolling because you do not provide a social security number.
• Your school has the right to refuse to provide your student records, or parts of these records, to federal agencies. They may share it unless you advise your school the part of your immigration status should not be shared.

For more information and resources, visit ACLU’s “my school rights” website here.

Undocumented students rally in support of DACA. (Courtesy: California Dream Network)

*UPDATE:

(New data released Nov. 21 to LA School Report show that the number of applications has increased to 46,568, which is only 4 percent below last year’s figure.)

The number of undocumented students in California applying for financial aid for college has dropped 20 percent this year, which advocates say is a direct result of immigration fears and the termination of the DACA program.

The California Student Aid Commission (CSAC) data shows that 38,499 students applied for financial aid for the 2017-18 academic year through the California Dream Act, compared with 47,850 for 2016-17, as cited in a chart in the last California Dream Act update released in early June. A new update of these numbers will be released again at the end of the month as the period for applications 2017-18 is still open.

Since 2013, when the Dream Act was enacted, the number of undocumented students’ aid applications has increased at a rate of about 10 percent each year. But this fall, the increase has been cut in half, to 5 percent. The fact that there was an increase at all was due to a targeted media campaign addressing students’ fears, the commission’s staff said.

“This is the first time since the first year of the California Dream Act that the number only went up five percent,” said Patti Colston, a spokesperson for CSAC. “I believe there’s confusion with the California Dream Act and the status of DACA,” the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Slightly more students receiving the financial aid used it to enroll this fall — 41 percent as of the end of October compared to 40 percent in the same period in the last two school years.

The CSAC processes financial aid applications for all public and private colleges and universities in California. The California Dream Act allows undocumented students meeting certain criteria to receive state-administered financial aid, private scholarships funded through public universities, university grants, community college fee waivers, and Cal Grants.

Also, state legislation AB540 allows non-resident students — both undocumented and citizens — who meet certain qualifications to pay in-state tuition. AB540 students qualify for the California Dream Act benefits.

Melody Klingenfuss, a USC student and organizer with the California Dream Network of undocumented students throughout the state, says, in reality, the dropoff in students applying for aid is much steeper.

“I heard in different panels that the decrease in applications can be as higher as 60 percent less undocumented students applying through the California Dream Act. I think they believe they no longer qualify because of the end of DACA,” she said.

“There has been a lot of misinformation. Most of them feel that because DACA is over, their access to college is over too. That’s why it’s so important they’re connected with our network and well informed about how the end of DACA has no effect on their education,” she said. “That is not related and that should not interfere with their college plans.”

News media including Univision reported last month that 30 percent of DACA college students did not re-enroll in the California university system for this fall. Earlier this year when media reported a 42 percent drop in the number of financial aid applications from undocumented students, CSAC launched a media campaign to encourage students to apply, and aid applications nearly doubled in the month before the March deadline.

“We did a survey in 2016 among (the financial aid) awardees to find out why some were not claiming their financial assistance, and the majority were not aware of their approval, but that was before the end of DACA,” Colston said.

“Students should know that their information is not shared with anyone else, is safe, and stays here in our office only.”

DACA, which will end March 5 unless Congress acts, gave protections from deportation to about 800,000 undocumented youth nationwide, 28 percent of them living in California. It also provided them with work permits that started expiring in September.

California higher education officials estimate that 72,300 undocumented students are enrolled at the state’s public colleges and universities (60,000 at community colleges, 8,300 at Cal State, and 4,000 at UC) and that half were protected by DACA. Spokespersons from the University of California and the California State University systems said there is no official data as these institutions don’t track students’ immigration status.

The “elevated level of anxiety” among DACA recipients and other undocumented students in general is behind the drop in financial aid applications, said Vivian Salazar, associate director of the UCLA Academic Advanced Program, during the workshop “Immigration and Its Effect on College Students” at the Alliance 2017 summit earlier this month.

During her presentation, she explained to educators and parents attending the workshop that a recent study of undocumented students at UCLA showed that 86 percent have a 3.0 GPA or higher.

“The data shows that they are academically strong students,” Salazar said. “But their feelings of fear, anxiety, and even guilt in the case of DACA students are having a negative effect on them and their education dreams.”

She also shared data that 90 percent of DACA students are worried about being deported, compared to 70 percent of undocumented students who are not DACA recipients.

“Whether DACA exists or not, these students are still going to college. We as educators, counselors, and parents have to support them, make sure we give them the right information about legislation and all the support networks they can find at their schools and outside organizations,” Salazar said.

WHAT FINANCIAL AID CAN A DREAMER APPLY FOR?

• Cal Grant, Chafee Grant, Middle Class Scholarship
• UC Grants, State University Grants
• California Community College (CCC) BOG Fee Waiver
• EOP/EOPS
• Some University scholarships
• Some private scholarships administered by campuses

The application deadline for all Dreamer Cal Grants and most of the other aid listed above is March 2.

* This article has been updated Nov. 21 as the California Student Aid Commission has provided LA School Report with the latest data on the number of applications. The new data shows that applications have dropped only 4 percent since last year. 

Maria Lopez Lozano, right, an LA Unified teacher protected under DACA, shares her experience with parents on Thursday at Families In Schools Alliance conference in Los Angeles.

As an undocumented student in her San Bernardino high school, Maria Lopez Lozano was told by her school counselor she couldn’t go to college.

She went anyway, graduated from UC Irvine, and now teaches in LA Unified.

As a “DACAmented” teacher — as she called herself for being undocumented and a DACA recipient — she is determined to make sure her high school students know their immigration status will not keep them from college.

“It’s very sad for me to hear my undocumented students saying they didn’t know they can go to college. They never heard from counselors or teachers or even their parents that they can have access to higher education. That means it is a failure in the (school) system,” she said.

“It’s been an uphill battle, it still is now at UCLA while I’m working on my master’s degree as an undocumented student, but I hope my story is an example for my students that going to college is possible for them,” said Lopez Lozano, who teaches history at Frida Kahlo High School in central Los Angeles.

She told her story Thursday to more than 100 parents, mostly Latinos, who attended the Families In Schools 2017 Alliance summit in downtown Los Angeles. Lopez Lozano, who is currently working toward her master’s degree in education at UCLA, urged the parents to “continue your efforts to support your kids to overcome their fear of being undocumented.”

She said the support of her parents — Mexican immigrants who brought her to the United States when she was 18 months old — was crucial for her to overcome obstacles as an undocumented student.

Maria Lopez Lozano with her parents at the conference.

“My parents were always by my side, they always made me feel that my status didn’t matter for me to have an education and become a teacher one day. I want parents to know that their support is critical for their students to feel safe and aspire for college.”

During a workshop at the conference, parents learned about how to support their undocumented children in pursuing college and how to make sure they can be protected in schools.

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, was created by executive order in 2012 by President Obama for undocumented immigrants who arrived in this country as minors. It was rescinded by President Trump on Sept. 5, which will leave about 800,000 youth and young adults without protection from deportation or work permits after March 5, unless Congress passes the Dream Act, which would bring back those protections.

Sylvia Torres-Guillen, ACLU’s director of education equity, advised parents to help their undocumented children supporting the passage of a “clean” Dream Act by calling their members of Congress and signing a petition.

In September, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi told DACA recipients, or “Dreamers,” in Los Angeles that she expected Congress to pass the Dream Act before Thanksgiving.

But on Thursday, President Trump told Republican senators not to allow a solution addressing the legal status of “Dreamers” to be a part of a must-pass year-end spending bill.

María Zamora, a mother of an 11th-grade student at The Accelerated School, an independent charter school in South LA, said even though her daughter was born in the U.S., she’s affected by the immigration climate and her undocumented peers at school.

“She’s morally and emotionally affected by what her undocumented friends and classmates are going through these days,” the mother said.

“Parents should have the conversations with their kids about being undocumented, so they don’t feel like they have nothing else to do, that their status limits them when that’s not true. Talk to them about AB 540 (state law that allows undocumented students to pay in-state tuition), other options they have, help them build the support system they need.”

Lopez Lozano found out that she was undocumented while in high school. She said she was able to build that network of support that helped her graduate and go to college. She is currently protected under DACA, but she’s uncertain about her future as her permit will expire in June.

“I don’t let my students worry. I tell them you will have me for sure until the end of the school year,” she said. “I tell them that didn’t stop me from following my dreams and that they shouldn’t let it stop them either.”

The fear of uncertainty was also very real. The not knowing what was going to happen next frightened me. For many of the first years in the United States, my family “siloed” itself as a defense mechanism — we trusted very few people and organizations. It wasn’t until my family gained permanent residency that I felt temporarily at ease. My permanent residency propelled me toward the dream my parents had wished for, but my ongoing work in the community reminds me every day of the fear and uncertainty I once felt.

Nearly 30 years later, I continue to see that fear in so many of the families we work with — it is tangible, palpable, it is real. As the president and CEO of Families In Schools (FIS), a nonprofit that promotes family-school partnerships to support academic achievement, I see it in the faces of the students we help prepare for college.

I hear it from the parents that are currently holding onto the same dream my parents had for me. Today’s toxic political environment is exacerbating the situation by amplifying the discrimination families face and the uncertainty of remaining united. Here in Los Angeles, many parents are fearful of sending their kids to school, students are feeling anxious about family members being deported, and more situations of discrimination are being reported all the time. More than ever, we need to forge alliances that protect the families we serve and create welcoming school environments where families feel safe and supported.

FIS provides both families and school staff with the information, tools, and training necessary to work together on student achievement. From parent workshops on family literacy, know your rights, STEM and college awareness, to training staff on parent engagement best practices, FIS is dedicated to forging strong partnerships for student success.

FIS also fights for policies that break down the barriers families face when advocating for their children. Since 2013, when California passed the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), we’ve partnered with several organizations across the state. Together we’ve taken over 200 parents from Southern and Central California to Sacramento to testify and share their opinions on education issues. Parents are passionate agents for their children. They want a better life for their kids, but they often feel pushed out and unheard.

For the past five years, we’ve held an annual Alliance event to bring together parents, educators, and community leaders, to discuss the most pressing issues impacting student achievement. As FIS prepared for its 5th Annual Statewide Alliance Conference and Awards Ceremony, the theme became clear: “Education Without Borders.”

The theme was developed long before the President’s rescinding of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), yet it speaks directly to the political climate we are facing in our nation today. With so many families uncertain of their fate, it makes FIS and our partners strive even harder to protect and promote the importance of academic success. We create awareness around diverse education and learning pedagogies that highlight student achievement and celebrate success.

The Alliance Conference was created to move parent groups, educators, and organization leaders from their silos and place them in one room to focus on important issues that impact student success. Through the Alliance Conference, these groups are collaborating on ways to better support families, primarily families from low-income, immigrant, communities of color. It also allows like-minded people to form a larger, unified group — a California alliance that is learning together, reacting together, and, when the need arises, will mobilize together.

Oscar Cruz is president and CEO of Families In Schools.

For more information about Families In Schools and its Alliance 2017 Conference, presented by CIT/OneWest Bank at the Omni Los Angeles Hotel at California Plaza on Nov. 2, please visit www.familiesinschools.org/alliance2017.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, left, LAUSD board President Mónica García, and board members Nick Melvoin and Kelly Gonez are joined by Democratic Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, center, on Wednesday at CHIRLA’s headquarters in Los Angeles.

“DACA is dead. The Dream Act is a permanent solution for us, and that’s what we’re fighting for now,” said Paulina, an LA Unified graduate from Fremont High School and a DACA recipient who met on Wednesday with House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, LA Unified board members, and business and community leaders in Los Angeles to discuss the support needed to pass the Dream Act before the end of the year.

“I feel good about meeting and sharing my story with Pelosi because she at least gave us an approximate date when she believes the Dream Act can be passed in Congress,” said Paulina, who declined to give her last name.

Pelosi told reporters in a news conference after the meeting organized by CHIRLA (Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights) that she expects Congress to pass the Dream Act before Thanksgiving.

“President Trump cares for the Dreamers,” Pelosi said. “I trust that he will honor that commitment because the American people want him to do so.”

The newest version of the Dream Act aims to permanently legalize undocumented youth who came to the country as children. The passage of a Dream Act in Congress would be a permanent solution for DACA immigrants.

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals — or DACA — for undocumented immigrants who arrived in the country as minors was created by executive order in 2012 by President Obama. It was rescinded by President Trump on Sept. 5, which will leave about 800,000 youth and young adults without protection from deportation or work permits after March 5. Those whose permits were not renewed by Oct. 5 have already lost the protections.

“She giving us a tentative date definitely alleviates our uncertainty,” said Paulina, who graduated from UCLA. She is now preparing to enroll in a master’s program in leadership at USC. She arrived in the United States from Mexico when she was 6.

Paulina, a DACA recipient, was part of the roundtable with House minority leader Nancy Pelosi in support of the Dream Act.

“We are here in support not only of our undocumented students, but also our teachers and personnel. We have teachers in our classrooms, plant managers, counselors, principals, doctors who we rely on and that need our support,” said Nick Melvoin, vice president of LA Unified’s  school board and who was part of Wednesday’s roundtable meeting along with board member Kelly Gonez and board President Mónica García.

“We offer our support to make the Dream Act pass by sharing the stories of our families,” he said.

“Having Paulina, who graduated from LAUSD with honors, having her voice at the table was very powerful,” Gonez said. “Immigration is not a separate issue for us, immigration affects education. If you care about education, you have to care about undocumented children and families.”

The three board members were wearing buttons from the “We are one LAUSD” campaign, which was launched in August at the start of the school year in support of immigrant families.

Gonez said the immigration debate has hurt attendance in LA Unified schools.

“In my personal experience we have seen attendance drop last year when Trump was elected president,” she said. Melvoin said the same thing happened in some schools in his district.

“It happens across the district,” he said. “When students are not showing up because of fear, our district loses money, so it’s this vicious cycle where all are being affected.”

García said the meeting with Pelosi was very positive. “Our students were present, our employees were present at the table. Their voices were heard. We hear they won’t give up and we are stronger together.”

Katia García, a DACA recipient from Los Angeles, at CHIRLA headquarters last year while renewing her DACA permit.

In Los Angeles, the lines to renew DACA permits are getting longer as the Oct. 5 deadline approaches, according to CHIRLA, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights in Los Angeles, which has been helping about 40 immigrants a day renew their permits for free. The usual processing cost is $495.

The Trump Administration announced on Sept. 5 that it was ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Only immigrants whose permits are expiring between Sept. 5, 2017, and March 5, 2018 — a total of 154,000 DACA recipients — can apply to renew their work permits, and they must do so by Oct. 5.

The renewal request form can also be sent by certified mail with a postmark of Oct. 5 to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

“If October 5 is the deadline for young immigrants, it should be the same deadline for members of Congress to take action on a DREAM Act,” said Angelica Salas, CHIRLA’s executive director.

The passage of a DREAM Act in Congress would be a permanent solution for DACA immigrants, but Congress has turned its attention to tax reform and health insurance instead.

A national survey last week by the Washington Post and ABC network found that 86 percent of Americans support “Dreamers,” who had been eligible for the renewable two-year work permits under DACA. And more than two-thirds of adults — 69 percent — “strongly support” DACA.

CHIRLA also denounced national sweeps that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted during the past several days arresting 498 undocumented immigrants. The advocacy group called ICE’s “Operation Safe City” a “cruel, absurd, and politically motivated enforcement operation.” One-fifth of those arrested were in Los Angeles. 

ICE indicated that individuals with active DACA permits were not targeted for arrest.

“Of those detained, 101 were our neighbors, family members, co-workers, and residents of Los Angeles,” Salas said. “The Trump Administration has taken one more step to intimidate immigrant-welcoming communities by moving forward with a national sweep that has negatively impacted at the very least 498 American families and several communities.”

Here are five things DACA recipients must know about the Oct. 5 deadline:

1. If you are eligible to renew your permit but don’t start the renewal process by Oct. 5, you will lose your protection from deportation and your ability to work legally as soon as your current permit expires.
2. If you can’t afford the renewal fee, in California you can turn to dozens of community organizations listed here, for financial and legal assistance.
3. Read the DACA fact sheet here so you know all your options as a DACA recipient.
4. This is the bilingual hotline operated by NALEO to assist you with any questions related to DACA, 1-844-411-DACA (or 844-411-3222). It will be available during the weekend.
5. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has stated that there will be no extension for the renewal process. Read all the official guidelines here.

DACA recipients in Los Angeles share their messages on social media on Tuesday.

The day Dreamers have feared became a reality on Tuesday when the Trump Administration decided to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Starting this week, DACA recipients, known as Dreamers, will lose their protections when their permits expire unless Congress acts before the program ends in March.

What does the end of DACA mean for Dreamers? Allison Davenport, staff attorney with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC), said in a press call Thursday that these are the seven things they should know:

1. You are protected from deportation and can continue working until your permit expires.
2. If you are eligible to renew your permit for another two years, you can do so but must start the process by Oct. 5.
3. New applications for DACA benefits are no longer accepted as of now. If you applied for the first time before Sept. 5, your application will be processed normally.
4. Get legal advice. You may be eligible for other immigration protections such as a U visa, or if you have a family member, spouse or child who is a U.S. citizen, they can request permanent residency for you. If you have an immediate family member in the military, that person can also request a green card for you.
5. Be careful about fraudulent legal representation. You can search for reliable legal immigration services in your area at immigrationadvocates.org.
6. If you have been convicted of a crime, you are ineligible to renew your DACA protection.
7. International travel permits or Advance Parole will no longer be approved, including those that were in process. It is not recommended to travel out of the country even if your DACA permit is still valid.

For more information on how Tuesday’s DACA decision affects your immigration status, review the official memo.

Ref Rodriguez with his parents on July 6, the day he was elected board president.

For this school board president, the end of DACA is personal.

Ref Rodriguez’s dad has only a third-grade education, and his mom left school at sixth grade. They were migrant workers in Mexico who came to the United States to offer their children a better future through education.

So Tuesday’s announcement that the Trump Administration was ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program hit Rodriguez hard. The new president of the nation’s second-largest school district spent the day in his office talking to media and meeting with Dreamers, including Juan Casas, who shared his story in tears.

“I see in DACA youth that same dream my parents had for me and my siblings bringing us to this country,” Rodriguez said. “I’m someone’s dream deferred so I could have something better.”

Rodriguez presides over the LA Unified board in a district where Latinos make up three-quarters of the student population, a quarter of whom come from immigrant families. District 5, which he represents, includes the predominantly Latino communities of City Terrace and Highland Park in northeast Los Angeles as well as the cities of Bell, Maywood, Vernon, South Gate, Huntington Park, and South Los Angeles.

“It impacted me profoundly,” Rodriguez said Wednesday. “It deeply concerned me what’s going to happen with our DACA students and employees, our DACA teachers, their students. I felt that we have an enormous responsibility for them as human beings.”

Rodriguez, 46, was the first of his four siblings to be born in the United States. His family is in this country legally thanks to the Immigration Reform and Control Act that provided amnesty in the mid-1980s.

“I don’t have any family members who are under DACA or undocumented, but I see the younger generations in my family and they do the same as the Dreamers. They work, they go to college, and contribute to our society.”

To pay for their children’s schools, his parents cleaned offices in Glendale at night. During the day, his dad worked at a Sears warehouse — the first job he got after arriving in the U.S. and where he stayed for over 30 years — and his mom took care of the home and kids.

“I think we were always aware of the sacrifice that was made to send us to a private Catholic school. That’s how we got the value of education.”

Rodriguez and his siblings attended public schools in their early years but ended up at Catholic schools because they were easier for his parents to navigate.

Rodriguez and his parents.

“They didn’t know how to navigate an institution, but they knew how to navigate church. They found that comfort level that they couldn’t find in the public system,” said Rodriguez, who turned down a full-ride scholarship to UC Berkeley to attend Loyola Marymount University, a local Catholic university because it was what he knew. He graduated in 1995 and earned his doctorate in 2006 from Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara.

His parents’ sacrifice is what makes Rodriguez so highly value the power that parents have in advocating for their children’s education. It’s what inspired him to become a leader in education and to fight to protect their power.

Recalling his mother’s humiliation at the hands of a school official makes him especially sensitive to the way parents are treated in schools. He wants to make sure no other parent has to feel “like they don’t have the right to fight for the best education for their kids.”

“I remember once my little brother forgot his book at home and my mom had to go to the school’s principal office where she was lectured in a way that I could see how the strength that she normally had left her body. She looked like she had lost her power.

“That’s not how a parent should feel when advocating for their kids. No one knows their children better than their parents, and when this sort of wall comes up, to me that’s criminal.”

A young Rodriguez at home with his parents.

It is not by chance that Rodriguez often listens more than he talks at board meetings, particularly if it is a parent raising a concern. He welcomes parents contacting him first if they have an issue at their school. He doesn’t mind if they start at the top.

“They can contact my office and I can put them in contact with the right person. That’s my main job is as a representative of my constituents in District 5.”

He has introduced several resolutions aligned with his priorities on empowering teachers, ensuring meaningful local control for parents, teachers, and students, and engaging parents as the district’s partners. He has supported resolutions to protect immigrant families and establish “Safe Zones.” Another resolution supported parents’ right to high-quality school options. His first resolution as president created a “Kids First” agenda putting the interests of students ahead of those of adults.

At the first board meeting, he chose to start off with students speaking about their schools rather than union leaders giving reports. And he launched a “Kids First” help desk to greet parents at board meetings and connect them with people who can help.

Before joining the board, he co-founded PUC Schools, one of LA’s largest charter school organizations. Whatever his role, Rodriguez considers that his most important job is to “connect families with the resources they need.”

“I like to listen to parents. I want to connect them with the right person to help move things forward in a way that will help their kids. It doesn’t sound powerful, but actually it is.”

With an estimated 1 in 4 LA Unified students having a parent who is undocumented, Rodriguez says he knows exactly what parents want to hear to be reassured.

More than ever, he says it’s important to have in place the “safe zones” and sanctuary schools policies so parents never feel worried about sending their kids to school or sharing their personal information.

“ICE officers won’t be allowed in our schools,” Rodriguez told Univision on Tuesday.

He recognizes that in a school district as big as LA Unified, that can be difficult to accomplish on a large scale. But he believes it can be done one school at a time.

“It can’t just be a poster in the school, we need to do more than that,” he said referring to the district’s new “We Are One LA Unified” campaign supporting immigrant families that launched a week before school started and offers an online resource guide and a toolkit in both English and Spanish.

“I have asked the superintendent to keep us informed in her monthly report on how the resources are being implemented in schools and if the district’s employees are ready to support these families,” he said.

In his downtime, Rodriguez disconnects from the weighty issues at work by watching reality TV shows. “I’m obsessed with the show Below Deck and the Real Housewives,” he said, laughing.

He also enjoys spending time with his partner of 19 years, Ron. He feels proud to be open about being gay, but he confessed it wasn’t easy at the beginning when he came out in his 20s. “I think it’s important in my position being a good role model, especially being a Catholic Latino gay man.

“I came out when I fell in love with my husband and I told my mom. She advised me then not to tell my dad and to give him some time. We didn’t talk for years.”

But that changed one Sunday morning when his dad knocked on his door. “He had a tree trimmer and said he was there to clean the overgrown tree, and that was it. That’s how we started talking again and Ron became part of the family.”

Rodriguez said he and his husband have no plans to have children of their own, because of their age and because they have a very big family already.

“I have 75 cousins on one side of my family and four nieces. I also have 640,000 kids I’m responsible for.”

Aside from his role on the board  — he was elected in May 2015 and will serve through 2020 — he has no other aspirations other than to continue being an educator. “The only reason I decided to run for this position was because I thought the district wasn’t moving in the direction it should,” he said. “Education is where I want to spend the rest of my life working. I’d love to go back and be a school principal, I’d love that!”

But in the end, he said, “I’m still that kid from Cypress Park. The kid who knew that his parents were sacrificing for him to go to college. The kid who knew their parents left their family behind so we could have a better life. That’s still who I am.”

DACA youth gathered Tuesday morning in downtown LA to condemn Trump’s decision to end the program.

Los Angeles “Dreamers,” faith leaders, educators, elected officials, and community leaders reacted with outrage to the Trump administration’s announcement ending DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

There were tears among the dozens gathered at the Edward Roybal Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles right after Tuesday’s announcement by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, which they called an act of “cowardice” by Trump.

“Trump didn’t even have the courage to announce to us his decision,” said Luis, a DACA recipient who was “disappointed and sad.”

“We were expecting this, but we didn’t expect the cowardly way in which he announced it,” he said. Luis, like others in the crowd who are DACA recipients, known as “Dreamers,” declined to give his last name. He had arrived in Los Angeles at age 3 and said the United States is the only home he knows — and will always be. “I’m as American as them, so what hurt me the most is the way Sessions described us as if we were not Americans, when this is the only home we know.”

Luis recently graduated from Cal State Los Angeles with a bachelor’s in communications and is working as a digital director, but he declined to say where.

“It’s not that I’m afraid,” he said. “I lost my fear since Trump became president. In fact, I’m ready, my employer is ready, and my family is ready to fight back along with me.”

He has siblings and cousins who are also DACA recipients.

“They may have cut our wings, but we will find a way to keep flying,” he said.

Ivan, who was brought to this country when he was 9 months old, sent a strong message to Trump and those who have spoken against immigrants.

“A piece of paper doesn’t define me, a nine-digit social security number doesn’t define me, DACA doesn’t define me. DACA may have an expiration date, but not my resilience. With or without DACA, I’m going to stay,” he said.

Diana Ramos could barely talk at the rally. She cried before sharing her story as a Dreamer. “My heart aches today. My community is shattered, but today we stand stronger. We will not be defeated.”

Another dreamer, Yamilex, also could not contain her tears. “I cry not because I’m sad but because I’m angry at the way they are doing this to us,” she said.

She came as a child from Guatemala, where her father was killed, a victim of violence. Her mom, she said, was “courageous to bring me here so I could have a better life, and that’s why I’m not leaving this country. I’m going to fight back.”

Raul Hinojosa, a UCLA professor, joined the rally and told LA School Report that the decision to end DACA will have “a devastating effect.”

“They are currently contributing greatly to society, they are in school, they are working. Now they’re going to have to leave universities, colleges, they won’t be able to work or pay taxes. They are forcing them to go back to the shadows. It’s an absurd tragedy!”

Hinojosa has led DACA research projects at UCLA that have found that the economic contributions to the country by Dreamers over a 40-year life span will represent $3.6 trillion.

“We at the universities will find the way to keep them in school,” he said.

Francisco Rodriguez, chancellor of the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD), sent a message to the Trump Administration and to Congress to “do the right thing” and to pass the Dream Act. He joined a news conference organized by LA County supervisors Hilda Solis and Janice Hahn and Mayor Eric Garcetti.

Faith leaders and elected officials at a noon news conference at the LA County Board of Supervisors.

“I’m here to reaffirm our district’s commitment to a place where all students despite their status can get their educational goals and dreams accomplished,” Rodriguez said. ”We value hard work, access, equity, and inclusion for all students. We pledged to keep our doors open for them.”

Rodriguez said that LACCD has the largest number of undocumented students in the nation: 11,000.

Supervisor Hahn said through tears, “One of my staffers, Carlos, is a Dreamer. Carlos is as American as I am. He obtained his college degree while working full time in my office, going above and beyond working for my constituents. He deserves to be here with his family and his friends as much as I do.”

According to the Center for American Progress, almost half of DACA youth are attending school, mostly to get a bachelor’s degree or higher. And nearly half arrived in this country before their sixth birthday; most of them are now in their 20s.

Hahn highlighted that California is home to the highest number of Dreamers, over 200,000 of them. Half of them are in LA.

LA County Supervisor Hilda Solis joins DACA supporters outside the Edward Roybal federal building in downtown LA on Tuesday morning.

Solis said, “We have to go after every Republican in Congress so they act and pass the Dream Act now. These Dreamers contribute over $460 billion. This is not only about Latinos, it’s Asians, it’s about people who have given so much to this country.”

Judy London, attorney of Public Counsel’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, advised Dreamers to look for legal advice and told them to remain working until their work permit’s expiration date. Most importantly, she said, “Don’t panic!”

Sessions said there will be a six-month delay before DACA’s end for Congress to pass legislation that would grant Dreamers permanency in the country.

“For those who have work permits before March 5th, 2018, you have a 30-day window to renew that work permit. You should not leave the country, and if you’re outside the country, look for legal support. You can demand to be allowed back in the United States.”

The Coalition for Immigrant Human Rights (CHIRLA) has planned rallies and demonstrations to take place throughout the day in Los Angeles, including a 5 p.m. rally in the Placita Olvera in downtown LA. On Wednesday, CARECEN is hosting a town hall for Dreamers, where experts will answer legal questions and tell them how to avoid scammers.

DACA supporters gathered at the Edward Roybal federal building in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday morning to condemn the Trump Administration’s decision to end the DACA program.

Educators and local leaders in Los Angeles came out fast and strong against Tuesday’s announcement ending DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) and in support of the hundreds of thousands of students it has protected.

Many worry about the effect on the families and children in schools. Here is a collection of statements with links to the entire texts of their reactions. Check back throughout the day for more.

In a rare universal condemnation, all seven school board members and the superintendent of the nation’s second-largest school district spoke against the decision in a news release quoting each of them:

• LA Unified is unified. The district reiterated that the schools are “safe zones” for all students, employees, and families and offered a link to services: achieve.lausd.net/weareone.
• LA Unified Superintendent Michelle King: “I am concerned by this decision and its long-term impacts on the students, families, and employees of LA Unified.”
• LA Unified School Board President Ref Rodriguez: “Dreamers, whether they are students or teachers, have worked hard to contribute to this beautiful country and city. They should be celebrated, not turned away.”
• Board Vice President Mónica García: “We call on Congress to abide by its oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution because Dreamers help us form a more perfect union.”
• Board member George McKenna, representing West and South Los Angeles: “I am deeply troubled by the administration’s decision to phase out this vital program, which has benefitted countless children and families.”
• Board member Scott Schmerelson, who represents the West San Fernando Valley: “I am extremely dismayed by the anticipated loss of opportunities for these students who were brought to this country as children and who stand to lose their dreams of becoming adults who would contribute greatly to the civic and economic vibrancy of our city, state, and nation.”
• Board member Nick Melvoin, whose district stretches from the Valley to the Westside: “We will not watch from the sidelines as this White House ignores the catastrophic implications of rescinding DACA.”
• Board member Kelly Gonez, the East Valley representative: “As a teacher and the daughter of an immigrant, I know firsthand the ways in which immigrants, including DACA recipients, have made our country vibrant and strong.”
• Board member Richard Vladovic, who represents the South Bay and South Los Angeles: “It is unconscionable to punish children — who have lived their entire lives in this country and know no other way of life — for the actions of others.”

The Dream Act #DACA has been good for America. It is fair and must be defended. The youth are our future. Don’t let Trump kill the dream.

— Pedro Noguera (@PedroANoguera) September 5, 2017

• Jessica Cuellar, a special education teacher at Community Charter Elementary School in Sylmar and a member of the Educators for Excellence DACA Teacher Action Team: “When a 5th grader is afraid they may be forced to leave a country they have known their entire lives, they cannot focus on learning about their identity and finding their voice as a reader, writer, mathematician or scientist. This action by President Trump makes my job harder and will cause chaos in students’ lives.”
• American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten: “As children return to school, many carry with them constant, crippling terror and uncertainty because of their immigration status.”
• California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson: “Our country made an honest deal with these students—study hard, earn your degree, and you will get a fair chance to compete for college. We should support dreams, not defer and destroy them.”
• California Senator Dianne Feinstein: “California is home to more DACA recipients than any other state, nearly 223,000. They’ve made incredible contributions including to our vibrant tech industry, which spurred a letter of support from Apple, Facebook, Google, and Netflix.”
• Thomas A. Saenz, president and general counsel of MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund): “The fecklessness of the Trump White House and the Sessions Justice Department now endangers countless families, employers, and communities across the country.”

250 of my Apple coworkers are #Dreamers. I stand with them. They deserve our respect as equals and a solution rooted in American values.

— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) September 3, 2017

• Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti: “The President should open his heart to the scores of families anguished by his decision, and reverse a course where he is so plainly on the wrong side of history and justice.”
• John B. King Jr., president and CEO of The Education Trust: “The Trump administration’s decision to end DACA is irresponsible and immoral.”
• Ryan J. Smith, executive director of Ed Trust–West: “Today’s decision to rescind DACA is unconscionable, inhumane, and moves our country backwards.”
• Thomas Wong, Center for American Progress: “Ending DACA now would be counterproductive at best and, at worst, cruel.”
• Michelle Brané, Women’s Refugee Commission: “The president’s decision to end DACA places countless families at risk of being torn apart and puts DREAMers and their children in precarious situations.”
• California Teachers Association President Eric C. Heins: “This is an outrageous breach of faith and a broken promise to these young people who applied for DACA protection and who have met the education and/or military service requirements.”
• Teach For America CEO Elisa Villanueva Beard: “This action deeply impacts not only corps members and alumni with DACA status but also the thousands of students in our classrooms who are undocumented and the thousands of students — regardless of immigration status — who will be left without a teacher.”
• Evan Stone, co-founder and co-CEO of Educators for Excellence: “When children fear that they will be detained and deported to what may be an unknown country or that their family will be pulled apart, it impedes their ability to not only learn, but to achieve the American dream.”
• Eli Broad, co-founder, The Broad Foundations: “All immigrants deserve the right to live and work without fear, so they can continue to strengthen our nation.”
• Roberto Rodriguez, CEO and president of Teach Plus: “Today’s decision to end the DACA program falls short of our nation’s truest values.”
• Sofia Arely Guevara, lead student organizer with Students for Education Reform: “We strongly condemn the actions of Trump, who has once again aligned himself with the hateful values of white supremacists and nationalists who will undoubtedly celebrate this decision.”
• Alexis Morin, co-founder and executive director of Students for Education Reform: “We know that many of our student members have friends and family who will be affected. We call on schools, local municipalities, local police forces, and community leaders to not comply with this order or ICE officials and declare their spaces as a place of refugee for undocumented youth.”
• Dan Katzir, CEO of Alliance College-Ready Public Schools: “We hope Congress moves quickly and recognizes the work that schools like ours do to prepare our scholars to be confident and caring adults—to be leaders, change-makers, and ambassadors of equality, kindness, and empathy.”
• Ted Mitchell, president, American Council on Education: “They are Americans, just like their classmates and friends, in every way but immigration status.”
• Steve Zimmer, former LA Unified school board president: “Those of us who have had the honor of working arm-in-arm with Dreamers know that their courage has inspired a generation. We are blessed and better that they have shared their stories with us.”
• Marcia Aaron, CEO of KIPP LA: “Over the next six months, leaders in Congress will be working on a legislative solution to help Dreamers and to make DACA protections permanent. I assure you KIPP LA will be mobilizing to make sure our voices are heard and I hope I can count on the whole KIPP LA community to join us.”
• Farhana Khera, executive director for Muslim Advocates: “This decision is not only morally indefensible and fiscally irresponsible, but it also proves, once again, Trump’s commitment to the white supremacist platform.”

We’re sickened by the cruel decision to end #DACA. We stand with the #Dreamers and will continue to fight for immigrant communities.

— Parent Revolution (@parentrev) September 5, 2017

• United Teachers Los Angeles: “We all suffer when any vulnerable group is targeted, fueled by hate and intolerance. We must fight vigorously against Trump’s action, to protect these families from further harm.”
• Marielena Hincapie, executive director, National Immigration Law Center: “This September 5 deadline is a political deadline, not a legal deadline. It was completely manufactured by Texas Attorney General Paxton and other extremists within the White House and the Department of Justice, simply to box President Trump into a corner.”
• Marshall Fitz, managing director of immigration, Emerson Collective: “This is a completely manufactured crisis and the White House is playing along.”
• Tyler Moran, managing director, DC Immigration Hub:, “There is no ‘grandfathering’ or ‘heart’ if Trump ends DACA. There is no spin from the White House that can change the fact if he ends DACA the Dreamers lose their protection and are subject to deportation.”
• Jed Wallace, president and CEO of California Charter Schools Association: “Many DACA recipients are attending, have graduated from, or are employed in California charter schools. These young people, along with hundreds of thousands of other Dreamers, have built professional and personal lives that are resulting in vitally important contributions.”
• Frank Sharry, executive director of America’s Voice Education Fund: “It will go down in history as cruel and inhumane, and the first draft of history should reflect this reality. No one should fall for the White House spin that there was a modicum of humanity embedded in their decision today.”
• Myrna Castrejón, executive director of Great Public Schools Now: “We urge everyone who supports fair immigration reform to contact their elected officials and let them know that you support DACA and Dreamers.”
• Community College Association president Lynette Nyaggah, representing the faculty in the California Community Colleges system: “We are dismayed by the decision of the Department of Justice rescinding the DACA program.  We see the benefits of this program daily in our classrooms, where students who were brought to the United States as children strive for a better future for themselves and their families.”

Hundreds of immigration advocates and supporters attend a rally last week in New York in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program also known as DACA. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

The education world was quick and unsparing in its criticism of President Trump’s decision Tuesday to phase out protections for nearly 800,000 undocumented young people through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, more commonly known as DACA.

In a press conference Tuesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the Trump administration was rescinding DACA because the “open-ended circumvention of immigration laws was an unconstitutional exercise of authority by the Executive Branch.” Then-President Barack Obama approved DACA in 2012 through an executive order. That action, Sessions said, occurred after Congress “specifically refused to authorize” similar protections.

“The effect of this unilateral executive amnesty, among other things, contributed to a surge of minors at the Southern border that yielded terrible humanitarian consequences,” Sessions said. “It also denied jobs to hundreds of thousands of Americans by allowing those same illegal aliens to take those jobs.”

Although Trump didn’t speak during Tuesday’s press event, he released a statement that expanded on Sessions’ speech. “I do not favor punishing children, most of whom are now adults, for the actions of their parents,” Trump said. “But we must also recognize that we are a nation of opportunity because we are a nation of laws.”

“We will resolve the DACA issue with heart and compassion — but through the lawful democratic process — while at the same time ensuring that any immigration reform we adopt provides enduring benefits for the American citizens we were elected to serve,” Trump said. “We must also have heart and compassion for unemployed, struggling, and forgotten Americans.”

Under the change, the government will no longer accept new applications. Existing DACA recipients will continue to receive benefits until their exemptions expire. The program required recipients to reapply every two years. New applications and renewal requests that were submitted to the government before Tuesday will be processed, according to the White House, and DACA benefits will begin to expire in six months.

“This is a gradual process, not a sudden phaseout,” Trump said. “I am not going to just cut DACA off, but rather provide a window of opportunity for Congress to finally act.”

Following years of debate in Washington, Sens. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, and Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, introduced the Dream Act of 2017 in July which, in essence, codifies DACA into law.

The “wind down process” will give Congress time to act “should it so choose,” Sessions said. “We firmly believe this is the responsible path.”

Since the election, education leaders across the political spectrum have been largely united in their commitment to protect undocumented students, including the so-called Dreamers granted work permits and protection from deportation under DACA. Per Obama’s 2012 executive order, DACA recipients must have arrived in the U.S. before the age of 16, have clean criminal records and be enrolled in or have graduated from high school or have served in the military. In 1982, the Supreme Court ruled all children have a right to a K-12 public education, regardless of immigration status.

Imposing fear and displacing young people who have never known any country other than the U.S. “lacks the expected compassion and humanity that I think we ought to exercise,” Miami-Dade Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, who was undocumented when he came to the U.S. with dreams of attending college, told The 74. That fear, he said, extends to all immigrant students, not just those with DACA protections.

“In these close communities, everybody is somebody’s brother and somebody’s sister, so it is a threat against the immigrant community and it will be interpreted as threatening to communities that are disproportionately immigrants,” Carvalho said. “I do think it will send shockwaves through communities like Miami, like New York, like Chicago, like Los Angeles, and in many others.”

Jonah Edelman, CEO of the education reform group Stand for Children, called the Trump administration’s decision “absolutely shameful” and a “fundamental breach of our national values.”

“It just doesn’t make common sense, from the standpoint of our economy or our educational system,” he added.

Leaders at the Education Trust, currently helmed by former Obama Education Secretary John King, are “disappointed,” said Will Del Pilar, the group’s vice president for higher education policy and practice.

The decision “takes away pathways for millions of students who have lived here, have gone to school here, have invested in this country and now we’re telling them they don’t belong here,” he said.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said in a statement that with Tuesday’s announcement, Trump is “breaking the promise” to students and educators who thought the president would treat Dreamers with “great heart.” “America will not be stronger or more secure when these young people are torn away from the country they love and call their own,” she said. “America will be diminished—and the toll will be measured by families ripped apart, people cast into the shadows and into poverty, businesses upended, economies weakened and dreams shattered.”

JoAnn Bartoletti, executive director of the National Association of Secondary School Principals, said in a statement that attention must now be turned to Congress for a legislative fix.

“To the young people affected by today’s decision: You belong in school,” Bartoletti said. “Continue to learn and grow and become your best selves. This nation — your nation — needs every bit of the contribution you will make to our common future.”

(The 74: Chiefs for Change Urges Trump to Protect DACA & Immigrant Students, Calling It a ‘Moral Issue’)

Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric on the campaign trail and changes in immigration enforcement policy since his inauguration have had a dramatic impact on schools across America, from the declaration of sanctuary schools and districts to negative psychological impacts on students, even those born in the U.S., to “know your rights” campaigns for students and their families.

(Read The 74’s Mark Keierleber’s three-part series on how the political climate is affecting immigrant students and their families: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.)

Rómulo Avélica-González was arrested in February in Los Angeles as he was driving his children to school, a scene his daughter recorded in a now-viral video. He was released on bond Aug. 30.

“Ending the DACA program would be like erasing their lives. All they know, all they do. Going back to their countries would be like being born again, because most of them don’t know anything about their home countries. They don’t even have some family members there anymore,” Avélica-González told LA School Report.

Approximately 270,000 undocumented school-age children live in California, and 750,000 K-12 students have undocumented parents.

Hanseul Kang, state superintendent in Washington, D.C., was herself an undocumented immigrant from South Korea, information she revealed in an op-ed earlier this year.

Though she’s now a U.S. citizen, the administration’s immigration enforcement actions raised old fears that spurred her to write the piece, she told The 74.

“Feeling that sense of fear in myself, I could only imagine what it was like for people who are currently going through it. I felt like I had a responsibility to speak out and help people understand, to put a real face on this and to share my own story,” she said.

The fears in D.C., which is home to about 800 DACA recipients, are even more widespread.

Kang’s office oversees child care providers in the nation’s capital; some have been working with immigrant families of the very young children they serve to craft powers of attorney or other legal arrangements should one parent be deported, she said.

Carvalho said he had recently seen a DACA recipient who had been in this country since he was a toddler, graduated from Miami schools a few years ago and is now enrolled in college.

“He said, ‘I’m doing well today but I live in 24-hour increments, and I really don’t know what would happen to me. I don’t have family in the country that I could be deported to. … My friends are with me, but if the country turns its back on me, I have no one,’” Carvalho recounted.

(The 74: Q&A: Why Miami’s Superintendent, Once an Undocumented Immigrant, Is Banning ICE From His Schools)

A group of higher education and civil rights groups also wrote to the president Thursday urging him to continue DACA, as have business leaders, mayors and other groups. Nearly two-thirds of respondents to an NBC poll conducted in late August said DACA protections should continue.

House Speaker Paul Ryan said Friday that Trump should hold off on a decision and let Congress come up with a legislative solution. Even though Obama didn’t have the right to grant the deferrals, thousands of young people brought to the country through no fault of their own are in limbo, he said told a local radio station, according to CNN.

Ending the program will immediately impact relatively few students in K-12 schools. Any child in the country may attend public school, regardless of immigration status, and DACA was generally available only to people beginning at age 15.

But it does dramatically curtail future options not only for students whose protections are revoked, but for younger students who can no longer see a viable pathway to college or a career.

Research shows 49 percent of undocumented students already don’t graduate from high school, a number that could rise without the possibilities DACA presents, Del Pilar of Ed Trust said.

“What we see in the literature is a lot of students get very discouraged. They ask the question, ‘Why should I continue? What’s the point in studying hard and working hard if I can’t reap the same benefits?’” he said.

(The 74: Students Fear Trump’s Vow to End DACA Could Mean Deportations – and an End to Their College Dreams)

There are also an estimated 20,000 DACA recipients currently serving as teachers.

Teach for America, which counts more than 100 DACA recipients among its corps, will continue to provide financial and legal support to undocumented corps members and alumni, CEO Elisa Villanueva Beard said in a statement.

“Every student has the right to a safe, welcoming classroom and an education that prepares them for success in life. Teach For America remains committed to these principles, and we will continue to fight for them,” she added.

Denver was the first district to hire DACA recipients as teachers; ending it would be catastrophic for the district and the city, Superintendent Tom Boasberg said in a release Thursday.

“The DACA program has helped bring wonderfully talented and critically needed teachers to our classrooms and has provided peace of mind and legal status to thousands of immigrant children and families who make our city and schools great,” Boasberg said.

The administration was facing a Sept. 5 deadline to end the Obama-era program after the attorneys general of Texas and other states threatened to add it to a pending lawsuit against a companion program granting protections to parents of those young people if the administration didn’t kill it first. Similarly, on Monday state officials in New York and Washington threatened the Trump administration with litigation should DACA be rescinded.

Trump was under pressure to delay the move, a win for his hardest-line supporters, on the heels of Hurricane Harvey, which decimated Houston, home to an estimated 575,000 unauthorized immigrants as of 2014. More than 124,000 DACA recipients live in Texas.

A Republican congressman from Colorado has said he’ll try a rarely used procedural measure to force a House vote on a bill that would grant similar protections as the DACA program.

“Clearly there’s a tremendous urgency for Congress to step up and pass [a legislative fix]. The president has turned his back on Dreamers, but hopefully Congress will not,” said Edelman of Stand for Children.

Reporter Esmeralda Fabián Romero contributed to this report.

This article was published in partnership with the74million.org.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Tuesday morning that protections for young immigrants under DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) will end in six months unless Congress acts before then.

The Obama-era executive order has protected nearly 800,000 children since 2012 who were brought to the U.S. from deportation and allowed them to work legally in the U.S.

LA Unified Superintendent Michelle King and school board members released a statement decrying the Trump Administration’s announcement and urged Congress to establish permanent protections for the young people. It is estimated that about one-quarter of LA Unified students are undocumented or their parents are undocumented. They reiterated that LA Unified campuses are “safe zones” for undocumented students and their families. 

“I am concerned by this decision and its long-term impacts on the students, families, and employees of L.A. Unified,” King said. “These young immigrants have made valuable contributions to the community and the nation they consider their home, and they have earned the right to a permanent place in its history.

“We urge our lawmakers to act with urgency in resolving this issue and extending permanent protections to Dreamers,” she said. “The District will continue to embrace the values and principles of inclusion, and to provide a supportive teaching and learning environment that encourages achievement and success.”

“Dreamers, whether they are students or teachers, have worked hard to contribute to this beautiful country and city. They should be celebrated, not turned away,” school board President Ref Rodriguez said. “We are committed to strong advocacy efforts at the federal and state levels, so that Congress will find the courage to reverse this decision.”

Read our story in Spanish here.  Check back to laschoolreport.com later today for more. 

Romulo Avélica-González with his daughter Fatima one day after his release, at MALDEF offices in Los Angeles.

At the end of six months in detention where he was one step away from deportation, the father arrested by ICE agents outside his daughter’s school celebrated his freedom Friday and urged immigrant parents to fight fear and keep taking their children to school.

“We are here to give our children an education and we must not be afraid,” said Rómulo Avélica-González, 49, who was greeted with mariachi music and applause Friday morning at the Academia Avance charter school in northeast Los Angeles. “This is the basis for a better future for them.”

Although he is 20 pounds lighter because of complications from diabetes while he was in custody, Avelica-González’s eyes shone as he was surrounded by his family again, along with the academy’s staff and 400 middle and high school students.

The national attention his case has attracted since his arrest should serve as an example, Avélica-González told LA School Report in an interview on Thursday, the day after his release, at the MALDEF offices in downtown Los Angeles.

“I am not the example, but my case, so that other families do not go through the same thing. Know your rights and move on. And above all, continue with the routine of taking your children to school every day. It is their right.

“You come to this country to look for a better future for your children, to have access to an education that in Mexico they could not have,” said the father of four girls. “I have always told my daughters their education comes first, and they know how far I am willing to support them. Now more than ever.”

His joy, however, was tempered as his community waited to hear whether the Trump Administration would terminate DACA, the Obama Administration order that has shielded hundreds of thousands of undocumented students from deportation.

“If they remove DACA, it is like taking away a young man’s chance to be good, to exchange a good life for a bad one,” he said. “It would be like erasing their lives and having to be born again if they are returned to a country that many of them do not even know, where they no longer have a family.”

Romulo Avélica-González is joined by his attorney Alan Diamante, center, his wife Norma Avélica, left, and other supporters on Friday morning outside Academia Avance in Highland Park.

The Mexican immigrant, who arrived in the United States more than 25 years ago, believes that his arrest occurred in the wrong way and place. “It should not happen like this” outside a school, he said.

Recalling Feb. 28 when his daughter, Fatima, captured the arrest on video makes his voice break. “I still remember it and it makes me want to cry.”

“The first time I saw the video, I was already in the detention center and there was a television going with the news, and that was when I saw the video and I heard Fatima crying, and my heart broke.”

Avélica-González was released on bail late Wednesday from the Adelanto Detention Center, but his case is still in process. His wife, Norma, has applied for a U visa that would also protect him and allow both of them to stay in this country. The U visa is awarded to people who have been victims of violent crime, as his wife was last December.

“I am so grateful to the entire school community and the director of Academia Avance, Mr. Ricardo Mireles, for all the help they provided us,” Avélica-González said. “They did not let my family go down and helped them get by.”

The choice of Academia Avance was “to get better care” for the girls, as the school is considered “the best neighborhood option,” Norma Avelica said.

“It had been recommended to us a lot and we did not mind having to drive a little further,” Avelica-Gonzalez said. “Two of my nieces graduated from Academia Avance with excellent grades and went on to college, and I want the same for my daughters.”

That Avélica-González’s arrest occurred outside a school caused much indignation in the immigrant community, as well as among educational and civic leaders.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti wrote a letter in support of Avélica-González after the arrest. “The sensitive locations policy is vital to ensuring that immigrant and mixed status families feel safe sending their children to school. The national attention drawn by Mr. Avélica’s arrest — and potential deportation — heightens fears among immigrant communities that could prevent children from attending school,” Garcetti stated in the letter.

UTLA, the Los Angeles teacher union, expressed similar concern in a statement released in June. “The manner in which ICE pursued Mr. Avélica near schools caused a great disruption to the school community.”

The Avélica family listens to mariachi music during the Academia Avance school assembly on Friday morning at the Highland Park Presbyterian Community Church.

Charter schools and LA Unified have acted to calm fears among immigrant families with a series of resolutions and resources to ensure safety within schools and by declaring them “safe areas.”

“Starting in February, we decided to be more proactive as a school at Avance to help our families be ready for this kind of situation,” said Mireles, who joined with other charter school leaders to form the California Schools Are Sanctuaries (CASAS) coalition.

Zenzontl Kuauhtzin, director of parent engagement for PUC Schools (Partnerships to Uplift Communities) and co-founder of CASAS, said during Friday’s school assembly that the Avance community was an inspiration to many educators in Los Angeles and throughout California.

“All the schools, all the students, all the educators were inspired by you. We join in calling for all school districts in the state to adopt the ACLU resolution and the toolkit to implement school regulations that will ensure that no families are afraid in our schools,” Kuauhtzin said.

During the school event, Mireles noted that he could see a difference in Fatima, whom Mireles refers to as “the Rosa Parks of this era.” Her face shone with smiles, which he said had been erased during the time her father was in custody.

“In addition to my teachers and Mr. Mireles, my friends and many of my classmates knew my dad and gave me a lot of support,” said the ninth-grader, who has already chosen her career path.

“I’m interested in being an immigration lawyer because I don’t want anyone else to go through this. I want to help other families not to suffer.”

Romulo Avelica-González with two of his daughters.(Courtesy: NDLON)

*UPDATED

An immigration judge on Wednesday approved the release of Rómulo Avélica-González, who posted a $6,000 bond and was reunited with his family after he left an Adelanto detention facility.

Avélica-González’s case drew national attention after he was arrested while dropping off his 12-year-old daughter, Yuleni, at Los Angeles public charter school. Another daughter, Fátima, also a student at the school, caught the arrest on her phone and the video went viral.

Armando Carmona, a spokesperson for the Avélica family, told LA School Report he would be home in Los Angeles by the end of the day.

Avélica-González received the release order Wednesday morning during a scheduled hearing that was attended by his wife and children as well as supporters who gathered outside the court. He has been held for six months, since his February arrest by ICE officers outside his daughters’ Highland Park middle school, Academia Avance.

According to a statement by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), immigration judge Amy T. Lee recognized that Avélica-González merits “discretionary release from custody” because of his longstanding ties to the community and critical ties to this country.

“I have gained strength from all who have stood alongside me these past months. I have courage and a new calling having spent six months detained and alongside many who are still fighting for their freedom,” sAvélica-González said immediately after his release order was granted, according to the news release.

“I will savor every minute with my family. I will fight for my right to remain with them and in this country. And I will never again be able to look away from how deportations are tearing families apart.”

Earlier this month, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) ended his deportation order. One of his attorneys, Alan Diamante, said then that Avélica-González still had a pending immigration case that has been returned to a local immigration court, including his pending U visa application. Resolving the case could take years because of the immigration court proceedings backlog.

The U visa protects undocumented victims of violent crimes who cooperate with law enforcement. Avelica-González’s wife, Norma Avélica, was a victim of a crime that occurred in Los Angeles in 2016. If granted a U visa, she and her husband could remain in the country.

“Today is a new start for Rómulo and his family, but his case is not over. He continues to ask USCIS and the court for immigration relief,” said Diamante after today’s bond hearing. “We hope that the court will consider all of the evidence and allow him to stay in this country. This family has suffered enough.”

Avélica-González emigrated to this country 26 years ago from Nayarit, México. He had a DUI in 2008 and a conviction for receipt of stolen property after getting a faulty vehicle registration. Both misdemeanors were settled in June.

“We have all learned from Rómulo and his family, and these past six months, that we must not look away. To look away as families are being torn apart normalizes the brutality of mass deportation,” said Chris Newman, legal director of NDLON.

“I almost cannot believe that my father will be back home with us,” said Fátima Avélica in the news release. “This has been the most devastating six months of my life. But I have learned the power and strength of my family and community united. I will never unlearn that.”

According to Carmona, Avélica-González and his family are planning to attend a school assembly at Academia Avance on Friday morning, to thank the school community for the support he received during the past six months.

Ricardo Mireles, executive director of Academia Avance, said that “Rómulo Avélica is returning to where he belongs — home with his family to support his children’s goals to graduate from college and contribute to their community. And we all return even more motivated to continue the struggle for justice.”

*This article has been updated to correct the bond amount and to add his release.

Schoolchildren in Postville, Iowa. (Photo by Mark Keierleber)

This is the third article in a series produced in collaboration with The Guardian examining the climate affecting immigrant school children and their parents as the new school year begins. See a version of this article at TheGuardian.com.

Gathered around a camera in their family’s kitchen, the four Duarte children pleaded for help. When their undocumented parents were picked up by border patrol agents outside their home in National City, California, the full-time students, ages 12 to 19, were unable to pay for food, let alone rent.

Yarely and Aracely, 12-year-old twin sisters, had watched it happen. The girls were eating breakfast last May when their father, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, went outside to grab a newspaper and was swarmed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. When their mother went outside to investigate all the commotion, she, too, was arrested.

“It was pretty traumatizing for my little sisters,” said 19-year-old Francisco Duarte, the oldest of the four siblings. “They just took them right in front of them. One day everything was normal, and the next day, my parents were gone.”

To raise money for their living expenses and their parents’ legal fees, the children, who are all U.S. citizens, launched a GoFundMe campaign and released a Youtube video about their experience.

For the estimated 1 million undocumented children in the U.S. — and the roughly 4.5 million young people born here who have at least one undocumented parent, like the Duartes — President Trump’s immigration crackdown is creating high levels of psychological distress. As students head back to school this fall, school officials from New York to New Mexico are preparing for increased anxiety and absenteeism among students of immigrant families.

“Kids start lagging behind academically, having social stress, anxiety, depression,” said Lisseth Rojas-Flores, an associate professor of marital and family therapy at Fuller Theological Seminary in California. “With the new administration and all the threats for deportation that are so vivid and so real, and all the rhetoric that’s going around, the anxiety escalates to a point that can be very paralyzing for some of these kids, who don’t want to go to school, or who go to school and sit in there and still worry about their families.”

Across the country, school administrators are taking bold steps to protect students and their families. Superintendents and school board members from districts including Miami; Milwaukee; Chicago; New York City; Des Moines; Portland, Oregon, and many others are declaring their schools “sanctuaries” from Trump’s immigration policies. While these policies vary, sanctuary schools are offering workshops to students and their families about managing visits from immigration authorities, vowing to shield students’ personal data from officials, and promising to block federal agents’ access to school property unless they present a warrant.

(The 74: As Immigrant Students Worry About a New School Year, Districts & Educators Unveil Plans to Protect Their Safety — and Privacy)

Since Trump took office, immigration arrests have increased 38 percent, and deportation orders have climbed 31 percent. Because more than 90 percent of those detained and deported are men, many immigrant families are losing their breadwinners, with the very real possibility of economic hardship.

“We are seeing more and more students dropping out,” Tania Romero, a social worker at Flushing International high school in Queens, New York, said at a panel discussion in May. “Young people are choosing to leave schools to work and save money in case they’re deported anytime soon.”

In a statement, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Jennifer Elzea, said the agency was committed to ensuring that enforcement actions did not “unnecessarily disrupt” undocumented parents with underage children — but that authorities “will no longer exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement.”

(The 74: Immigration Agents Inside Schools? Why Some Activists Are Warning Undocumented Students About Trump’s Policy Shifts)

In the wake of the Duarte family arrests, immigration officials defended their actions in the face

of widespread local protests. Authorities said the children’s parents, Francisco Duarte-Tineo and Rosenda Perez-Pelcastre, were connected to a stash house for human smuggling. The family denied those allegations, and no criminal charges have been filed. Perez-Pelcastre was released on bond in June with an ankle bracelet, but the children’s father was denied bond.

A July report by the Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank, found that emotional distress and economic insecurity can derail the future success of undocumented children and those with undocumented parents, as families are separated and immigrant communities are targeted by heightened enforcement.

The symptoms are most profound among those — like the Duarte family — whose parents have direct contact with the authorities, according to research by Rojas-Flores.

The lessons of Postville

Postville, Iowa, has become a destination for researchers looking to study the effects of immigration enforcement on youth. The small farm town of roughly 2,000 became a staging ground for one of the largest immigration raids in U.S. history near the end of the school year in 2008, when immigration agents descended on the town in helicopters, SUVs, and buses. They arrested 389 workers at a kosher meatpacking plan, to cries of “la migra, la migra.”

Postville, Iowa, became the staging ground in 2008 for one of the largest immigration raids in U.S. history. The bust remains an omnipresent force in the town’s schools. (Photo by Mark Keierleber)

After arrests, criminal convictions, and deportations, the community was left in shambles. Immigrant families not displaced by the raid skipped town in fear. Many of the high school’s current upperclassmen were young children when the raid took place; one teen recalls 19 children hiding — for weeks — in the family’s basement. Others claimed sanctuary in a local Catholic church.

The raid had far-reaching effects on the student population. In a 2011 report, researchers at the University of Northern Iowa documented that students stopped coming to class, while schools found increased behavioral issues among the children who remained.

A report in the International Journal of Epidemiology recorded how heightened anxiety from the raid affected Postville’s Latino children before they were born: Nine months after the incident, babies born to Latina mothers were 24 percent more likely to have a low birth weight than those born the previous year.

‘La Migra’

Though it’s been nearly a decade, the 2008 raid haunts Postville’s youth, and Trump’s immigration crackdown has renewed anxiety. After immigration agents made an arrest in a neighboring town this spring, fear echoed through classrooms and school hallways over rumors that ICE had returned to Postville.

The high school principal contacted federal authorities and announced over the intercom that no enforcement activity had been confirmed in Postville. But still, kids were afraid to walk home, said Joy Minikwu, the district’s English as a second language instructional coach.

A school official’s undocumented mother barricaded the front door to her home and hid inside. Others packed their bags and fled.

Students in Postville, Iowa, board buses at the end of a school day last spring. Shortly after President Donald Trump called for ramped-up immigration arrests, a rumor circulated around town that federal agents had returned to their community. (Photo by Mark Keierleber)

One student said he went into “alert mode” every time he spots a helicopter. Another told his neighbor, first-grade teacher Lisa Acevada, about his plan should the government deport his parents back to Guatemala: “Mom and Dad said that if they’re taken, we’ll have to live with you.”

Noe Gonzalez, a 14-year-old freshman born in Iowa to undocumented Mexican immigrants, said the thought of his parents being deported preys on his mind. “I don’t know what would happen, if I would be deported too or if I’d go to a foster home,” he said. “I’d like to stick with them, but yet I don’t want to leave the U.S.”

In response to this heightened anxiety, educators in Postville and elsewhere have worked to find ways to protect their students. Minikwu said she approached school leaders and pushed them to create a concrete emergency plan, should federal agents ever return. Details are still being discussed.

“My concern is that if something like this were to happen again and we’re taken off guard again, it’s our own fault for not being prepared,” she said. “I think it’s something that is pertinent to our families and for us to be as good of a support as we want to be.”

This story was published in partnership with The74Million.org.