When immigration enforcement shows up in the neighborhood, students don’t just miss class. They vanish from classrooms and fear replaces learning.
The anxiety that gripped immigrant families during Donald Trump’s first term has resurfaced for many in 2025. Students shouldn’t have to live in fear for themselves and their family just because the president is a xenophobic racist.
No one is surprised by Trump keeping his promise to crackdown on immigration, but masked thugs who refuse to identify themselves as federal agents violently snatching Latinos off the streets can turn the school morning into a gamble families can’t justify. Parents cancel drop-offs, siblings stay home to watch younger ones and attendance slips because getting home matters more than being at school.
In 2025 nowhere is safe in the sprawling heart of southern California. Any preconceived ideas about ‘sanctuary’ are lost.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in the immediate vicinity and in Southern California have become routine.
For some, that’s reason enough to keep kids home. Even if agents aren’t on school grounds, just knowing they’re near and eager to seize any child fluent in Spanish can be reality-shattering.
And no one can blame them. For many immigrant families the fear of separation isn’t hypothetical. It has become reality.
LAUSD has vowed to protect students and trained staff for encounters with immigration agents. Yet families say sightings near schools undercut that message, with campuses reporting dips in attendance.
Some parents pull out their students, others switch to online options. For families weighing the risks, attendance isn’t just about funding. It’s about safety.
LAUSD’s “safety zones” and staff training help on campus but it can’t control what happens in the neighborhood.
The school itself may be safe, but the walk to school may not be.
For students who may be at risk, GPA can’t compare with the fear of a family member not coming home.
The district can file statements and pass resolutions as much as it wants, but without trust, it loses something more than funding – it loses students’ presence and voices.
It’s easy to criticize school districts. It’s harder to fix an impasse built on fear and policy.
Seeing ICE agents rounding up children and their families is terrifying enough. What’s harder to accept is how quickly the country has normalized that fear, and how slowly we respond when classrooms empty out.
Long after President Trump leaves office, his policies and the public’s shifting attitudes may linger, continuing to threaten students who just want to learn.
This article originally appeared in the Fall 2025 print edition.
