President Donald Trump鈥檚 sweeping order that halted residents of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States sent shock waves through some of the nation鈥檚 schools, leaving educators scrambling to assure frightened refugee and immigrant students that their schools should be safe places.
The effort to calm those fears comes as some educators grapple with uncertainty of their own: not knowing the next steps the White House will take on immigration and how it will affect their students. And that uncertainty had heightened even more over the weekend after a federal judge suspended Trump鈥檚 order, allowing those who had been previously banned to enter. That decision was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
"[There are] a lot of unknowns right now,鈥� said Elizabeth Demchak, the principal at Claremont International High School in New York City. 鈥淎nytime you鈥檙e talking about people鈥檚 status in the country, there will be fear. We have to try and give [students] as much stability as possible.鈥�
Based in the South Bronx, Demchak鈥檚 school is home to hundreds of Spanish-, Arabic-, and Bengali-speaking students, along with a growing population of refugees from Yemen, whose citizens are banned from U.S. entry for now under Trump鈥檚 executive order. The school is part of The Internationals Network for Public 69传媒, a nationwide nonprofit that serves about 9,000 newly arrived immigrant students.
Those students represent a sliver of those who may be gripped by fear and uncertainty. Trump has also signed executive orders to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, strip federal funding from 鈥渟anctuary cities鈥� that shield undocumented immigrants, and establish new criteria to make more undocumented immigrants priorities for deportation.
Support for Immigration Orders
Even as many educators publicly express dismay at President Trump, a large number of Americans are supportive of the executive order restricting U.S. entry. In a poll conducted by Reuters/Ipsos a few days after the Jan. 27 order, 49 percent of Americans said they agree with the ban; 41 percent said they oppose it.
Foreign-born students represent 6 percent of the population in American schools, according to the U.S. Department of Education. Influxes of immigrant students鈥攚ho may have large gaps in schooling and whose linguistic and cultural differences can present challenges for educators鈥攈ave at times caused friction in communities where some parents raised concerns that new arrivals negatively impact their children鈥檚 education.
The anxiety over Trump鈥檚 order is particularly acute for students and educators in immigrant-rich communities like Minnesota鈥檚 Somali strongholds, California鈥檚 heavily Latino communities, and blooming Syrian enclaves around the country.
Trump鈥檚 freeze on immigration from seven majority-Muslim countries鈥擨ran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen鈥攊s casting a shadow on immigrant students. Here are the top three home languages in 2013-14 spoken by English-learners with connections to those countries in U.S. public schools.
Source: National Center for Education Statistics
The ban also hit home in places like Houston and Nashville, Tenn., both with a growing number of Islamic students. The districts also have large Kurdish communities, many of whom come from countries targeted in the immigration ban.
In Nashville, at least 1,000 students from affected countries are in the city鈥檚 schools. While schools generally don鈥檛 track the immigration status of students, they often collect data about students鈥� country of origin and home language if it鈥檚 not English.
鈥淭he United States is supposed to be a country of opportunity and we believe that immigrants bring a richness to our country that we should maximize,鈥� Nashville Superintendent Shawn Joseph said. 鈥淚t starts with educating them.鈥�
The Trump administration鈥檚 aggressive stance has made that job tougher, some educators say.
鈥淚t certainly does strain the ability of young people and their families to trust institutions,鈥� said Roberto Gonzales, an assistant professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. 鈥淚t behooves schools to take a much more active role in sowing these seeds of trust and really growing them.鈥�
As the daughter of Dominican immigrants, Principal Nedda de Castro relates to her students at the International School at Prospect Heights in Brooklyn. Like them, she learned English in school. She recalls school as where she explored what it means to be American.
But many of her students are constantly reminded that they鈥檙e not. And some are giving up on school.
鈥淪ome of the students are assuming that they鈥檙e just going to be deported anyway and starting to talk about how there鈥檚 really no point in coming to school anymore,鈥� de Castro said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a lot of lost potential.鈥�
Trump鈥檚 order related to U.S. entry blocks citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen from coming into the U.S. for 90 days. It bans refugees from any country for 120 days and bars refugees from Syria indefinitely.
Fate for Deferred Action
Nearly 39,000 Muslim refugees entered the United States in fiscal 2016, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. State Department data, and more than half hailed from Somalia and Syria. School districts from Southern California to Connecticut have seen a surge in Syrian enrollment in recent years. Somali refugees continue to flow to metro areas like Minneapolis and Seattle, where already established communities exist.
Minneapolis has more than 4,100 Somali students; many are refugees.
The district 鈥渞ecognizes and shares the pain and fear many of them have felt after recent events,鈥� Minneapolis Superintendent Ed Graff wrote to Education Week.
Refugee students face similar obstacles common to some immigrant students new to the country鈥攊nterrupted education and learning a new language, along with adjusting to stigma tied to their race, religion, and skin color, said Gonzales, the Harvard professor.
Over the weekend, a federal district court judge in Seattle temporarily halted Trump鈥檚 order to stop the flow of citizens from the Muslim-majority nations. Trump took to Twitter to lambaste the ruling and the judge who issued it. 鈥淭he opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned.鈥�
Initially, however, Trump鈥檚 effort to reverse the ruling failed, as a federal appeals court upheld the order of U.S. District Judge James L. Robart.
While Trump鈥檚 executive orders play out, many are awaiting the fate of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, an Obama-administration policy that gave temporary deportation reprieves to more than 740,000 undocumented youth.
During the 2016 campaign, Trump promised to repeal DACA. He鈥檚 also repeatedly said his administration will develop a plan for the young immigrants, but has yet to offer specifics. The uncertainty for DACA recipients鈥攎any of them immigrants from Mexico and Central America鈥攊s reverberating broadly in Latino communities.
鈥淭he fear ... is very present, not just for those who are undocumented, but those who are Latino, as well as their teachers and loved ones who have also felt maligned by the rhetoric used throughout the election and since Trump won,鈥� said Marisa Bono, a lawyer with the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
A broad array of K-12 education leaders have called on the Trump administration to continue protections for undocumented immigrant youth brought to the U.S. as children, popularly known as DREAMers.
Richard Carranza, the superintendent in Houston, is one. So is Joseph, the Nashville schools chief. Both men joined more than 1,000 other education leaders in signing a petition calling for saving the DACA policy. The list of supporters also includes Teach For America, the American Federation of Teachers, and charter school organizations.
鈥淚t鈥檚 important to be proactive in reassuring the community that the district is here to educate children, anyone that shows up to our doors,鈥� Carranza said.
Federal Aid at Risk?
Trump鈥檚 order to punish jurisdictions that don鈥檛 cooperate with immigration authorities has put a target on cities that vow to protect their undocumented residents.
Los Angeles Unified is one district anticipating potential fallout for schools that pledge to shield their students. Its school board has been outspoken about its refusal to cooperate with any immigration enforcement efforts.
Slashing federal aid could deal a blow to any district. In L.A. Unified, roughly $700 million in federal funds flow into the district鈥檚 coffers each year. Chicago and Clark County, Nev., may also be at risk for declaring their districts as 鈥渟anctuary鈥� campuses.
Seattle鈥檚 mayor allotted $250,000 for undocumented students in the city鈥檚 schools. The school board directed staff to ban immigration agents from school grounds unless they get permission from the superintendent or the district鈥檚 lawyers.
Even with a range of leaders pledging support for immigrant youth, it鈥檚 hard to allay their fears, said Bono, the MALDEF lawyer.
鈥淲e want to hope for the best,鈥� she said, 鈥渂ut have to expect the worst.鈥�
