President Donald Trump has put an end to a longstanding policy that restricted federal agents from making immigration arrests at sensitive locations like churches, hospitals and schools.
The Migration Policy Institute estimates 733,000 school-aged children live in the United States without legal status.
Chalkbeat reporter Kalyn Belsha says districts across the country are now educating their teachers, students and parents on how this change in policy may affect their schools.
"They're preparing for the possibility that things could be happening outside the school while families are dropping their children off or potentially waiting at their bus stop," Belsha says. "But then also, what would they do if an agent actually knocked on the door and said, 'I would like to come in potentially to talk to a staff member or a parent or a child?'"
The fear has led parents in some cities to keep their children home from school.
3 questions with Kalyn Belsha
Are you hearing of instances of immigration agents showing up to schools?
"We had an incident happen in Chicago on Friday where there were some federal agents that showed up at a school asking to come in to interview an 11-year-old who had posted an anti-Trump video on TikTok.
"They presented their credentials, they said [they were] Department of Homeland Security. The school was confused and said, 'No, you cannot come in.'
"It turned out they were actually from the Secret Service, which does not enforce immigration law, but the school activated its protocol as if it were protecting that student, and said, 'You can't come in because you don't have a signed warrant.'
"It created all kinds of confusion and no one really understood what was going on for hours until we finally got confirmation that it was Secret Service.
"I think that's the kind of example of, even if it isn't an ICE agent, it creates all kinds of chaos for the school and for the school communities. We have not seen a documented evidence yet of an agent coming in to get a student."
What are you hearing of the fears of the parents of students?
"I think that the more common thing we've seen play out has been workplace raids that have had huge ripple effects on children and schools. Sometimes children have gone home and their parent hasn't been there, or the school has had to find an alternate place for them to stay because the parent didn't come pick them up.
"We've also seen teenagers having to step up and be the parent and kind of try to figure out how to explain to their much younger siblings what's going on. Often some family members have been released on humanitarian parole, mothers often, but then some are detained for a really long time and that really affects the family.
"So we're going to have to figure out what happens now, whether or not there are people who are released on humanitarian parole or if family members are detained for much longer periods of time."
Are schools already experiencing effects of this policy change?
"In New York City, a colleague of mine spoke with several parents who were from migrant families who are staying in city shelters, and they said that they kept their kids home for several days last week.
"So I think it's not totally widespread yet, but in certain instances some family members have decided to keep their kids home out of fear."
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Hafsa Quraishi produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Michael Scotto. Quraishi adapted it for the web. This segment aired on Here & Now on Jan. 27, 2025.
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