U.S. Immigration Enforcement Policy and Its Impact on Teaching and Learning in the Nation's Schools

Educators from more than 730 schools across 24 districts and 12 states participated in a survey on the Impact of Immigration Enforcement on Teaching and Learning in the Nation’s Schools.  Most of these schools were Title I schools serving disproportionately low-income students. Threats to students and their families make a challenging situation even more so.  Data are provided for 3500 respondents. Many hundreds of respondents told us that their immigrant students (whether they were US born or not) were terrified that families and friends, and occasionally they themselves, would be picked up by ICE that it was, at times, very difficult for students to learn and teachers to teach.  90% of administrators reported observing emotional and behavioral problems among immigrant students.  Two-thirds of respondents also reported that the fear and concern for classmates was affecting the education of students who were not targets of enforcement.  More than one in seven respondents from the South reported that concern for classmates was affecting their students extensively. Respondents describe the students’ worst fear being left alone or left to care for their younger siblings and not knowing how they would survive.  Many respondents reported that family members of their students had been deported and that these incidents were well known to the whole class or school community, reinforcing fears many students held about their own situations or those of their friends.  Some educators also reported students suffering deprivation because one or both parents had been deported or lost their jobs due to their immigration status and there was not enough money to buy food or meet basic needs. 

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