If immigration agents arrive at the doorstep of a New York City public school, principals have been told what to do. Have the cops wait outside and call a school district attorney.
The school system has enrolled about 40,000 recent immigrant students by 2022. Now, as President-elect Donald J. As Trump prepares to take office with promises to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, the district shared with school staff a protocol to try to protect students who have weak legal status.
In a December letter to principals, Emma Vadehra, the district’s chief executive officer, wrote, “We hope that the use of this protocol will never be necessary.”
But New York and some other school districts across the country are preparing teachers and immigrant families for a possible wave of deportations.
Public schools serving groups of immigrant children have already faced a dizzying array of challenges in recent years as an influx of hundreds of thousands of immigrants crossed the southern border. Some educate students who speak indigenous languages and may never have previously enrolled in formal education. Others try to motivate teenagers in the classroom when they may face intense pressure to earn money. And many have helped newly arrived families by finding shelter, food and winter clothing.
Now, those schools face an added challenge: persuading parents to send their children to class when some are so worried about deportation that they are reluctant to be separated from their children for even part of the day.
“We have parents who are afraid,” said Adam Clark, superintendent of the Mount Diablo Unified School District, northeast of San Francisco. “We try to inform them of their rights.”
About 20 percent of students in the Mount Diablo district are still learning English, meaning they are likely recent immigrants, according to Dr. Clark. After Election Day, attendance dropped, he said, though he stressed it was unclear exactly why the students were absent.
Later this month, the district will host a legal information session for parents. His social workers have explained to families that under current law, children of undocumented immigrants have a right to a public education, and federal immigration agents generally cannot detain students or family members at schools. They also noted that American public schools do not routinely track students’ immigration status.
But like other educational leaders, Dr. Clark recognized that there was only so much reassurance he could offer.
A longstanding policy prevents Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from making arrests in schools and other sensitive locations, such as hospitals and churches.
However, the advocates of the political right in Mr. Trump, including the authors of Project 2025, a plan created for the new administration, pushed to overturn the policy, arguing that to speed up deportations, agents should be able to exercise judgment about where I operate. That has left many educators worried that federal agents could arrive at their doors.
“We will follow the law whether we agree or not,” Dr Clarke said. “If they have the proper documents to carry out their legal duties, we will work with them.”
The Trump transition team did not respond to a list of detailed questions about immigrant students and deportation. However, in a written statement, Karoline Leavitt, representative of Mr. Trump, said the president was ordered to deport criminals and terrorists.
In communities across the country, local officials have debated how much they should cooperate with the incoming Trump administration on deportations. New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, has repeatedly expressed frustration with the number of immigrants living in the city and has recently taken a more conciliatory approach to Mr. Trump.
Mr. Adams runs the New York City school system. But district officials have told principals and school security staff to immediately call a school district attorney if ICE agents show up and demand access to a school — in part because it can be difficult for non-experts to discern a warrant from other types of bureaucracy.
Absent a court order, the district “does not consent to non-local law enforcement access to school facilities under any circumstances,” the official policy states.
For educators concerned about their students being deported, the city has directed them to online information sessions hosted by Project Rousseau, a nonprofit that provides legal services to immigrants.
At one of those meetings, Bethany Thorne of Project Rousseau said teachers should tell families worried about deportation to keep their children in school and not miss a single court date, even if they don’t have a lawyer.
Losing court “is a surefire way to get out,” he said.
In Chicago, which has enrolled as many as 17,000 recent immigrant students, issues related to the influx have become a factor contract negotiations between the teachers union and the public school system.
The district is struggling to retain staff amid a budget deficit. But because of the many needs of recent immigrant students, schools need more investment in both smaller class sizes and more bilingual teaching assistants and social workers, argued Rebecca Martinez, campaign director for the Chicago Teachers Union.
Among the immigrant students are those “who have never been to school or are in seventh grade and last went to school in second grade,” he said. “Everything that’s in a classroom and that’s the pressure that teachers face.”
The school district declined an interview request, but issued a written statement underscoring its commitment to serving all children in Chicago, regardless of immigration status or language.
In addition, the district said it planned to review with principals related laws and policies, such as the need for federal agents to show a warrant or prove an “imminent threat to public safety” before entering a school.
In Denver, another center for recent immigrants, Tricia Noyola, CEO of the Rocky Mountain Prep charter school network, said many families were fearful since Election Day but also “resolute” in their desire to stay in the country and keep children in school.
While Mr. Trump often talks about recent immigrants as threats, she said, and she and her team have noticed how vulnerable they are — with some parents falling victim to scams in which they are given fake checks for construction work or asked to put down a down payment on an apartment. which is not implemented.
Dr. Clark, the superintendent in California, noted that rumors of deportation have dampened the district’s efforts to educate children of recent immigrants.
To make it easier for immigrant students, mostly from Guatemala, to work part-time, the district opened a half-day program at the high school. Encouraging participation is a priority, but it is more difficult when families fear the authorities.
“It’s frustrating that we have to have these conversations,” Dr. Clark said. “This conversation going on is distracting.”
