John,
One day, a student is present in class and actively engaged. The next, their seat is empty, and the student is nowhere to be found — with no explanation, only questions.
Public schools are supposed to be places of stability and learning, but ICE enforcement near schools is turning them into sources of trauma and fear. For children, that fear is not abstract. It is the excruciating terror that a parent might not come home, that a caregiver could disappear while dropping them off at school, that no one comes to pick them up from the bus stop that day.
This chronic stress directly interferes with learning, memory, attention, and emotional regulation — especially for young children and adolescents, whose minds and brains are rapidly changing and developing.
Washington DC child psychologist, Allison Bassett Ratto, describes children’s states of mind when ICE descends on a community:
“What they see are their classmates, their family members, their neighbors often being apprehended in violent and confusing ways...This, for children, creates a sense that nowhere and no one is safe. The stress, the anxiety, and the trauma…can become chronic, leading to both immediate and long-term damage to children’s mental and physical health.”
In Minnesota, ICE activity near public schools on the same day Renee Good was killed sent shockwaves through entire communities. Armed Border Patrol agents tackled faculty and pepper sprayed bystanders on the grounds of Roosevelt High School that very same day, prompting schools to cancel full days of classes. Families kept children home, fearful for their safety and not wanting to be apart.
Tell your state Attorney General to take legal action, issue binding guidance, and make it clear that schools and their surroundings are off limits to ICE enforcement.
That sense of constant danger does not disappear when the school bell rings. A 2025 University of California, Riverside, report finds that “even the threat of separation can generate profound emotional harm” for children of immigrant families, including anxiety, depression, and behavioral problems.
The ongoing fear that a parent or sibling could vanish at any moment leads to absenteeism, academic disengagement, and emotional shutdown. ICE has detained teachers and parents near schools. Agents have operated near and raided daycares. Teachers report children withdrawing, attendance plummeting, and families disappearing overnight.
In major cities, parents are pulling children out of school entirely because they no longer trust that school grounds are safe. This crisis has been fueled by the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to rescind the “sensitive locations” memo, which used to discourage immigration enforcement in schools, churches, and hospitals.
Protecting children’s ability to learn requires protecting their sense of safety — and their certainty that their parents will still be there when the school day ends.
Tell your state Attorney General to keep ICE out of public school and protect all students now.
Thank you for standing up for our children.
Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action
