FAVIOLA AMBRIZ WORKS with preschool children in Oxnard and received frantic calls from parents 15 minutes before school started one day last month. ICE agents had been spotted near the school — news that spread rapidly through the local radio station.
Ambriz called as many parents as she could, informing them about possible Immigration and Customs Enforcement presence nearby.
“I’ll just make a run for it,” Ambriz recalls one parent, who was already walking near the school, told her in Spanish. “I’m like, no, no, no, please don’t do that. Just stay calm.”
Only four out of the 24 students showed up that day. The nonprofit Ambriz works for, which works with students in the area and did not want to be identified for fear of the ramped threat of deportation of undocumented immigrants, has struggled with low attendance numbers since President Donald Trump’s inauguration, often hovering around six to 12 students each day. The kids who do show up often struggle to focus.
“They’ll be playing in the little house, and they’ll be asking each other, ‘Oh, do you have papers?’” said Ambriz, who works with kids aged three to four. “They’ll just grab little stacks of papers, (asking) ‘You have papers? I have papers. Do you want a paper?’ They’re hearing these conversations, obviously at home, and it’s reflecting in the way that they’re playing.”
Ambriz’s concerns are echoed in schools across the state as educators work to maintain and rebuild relationships with immigrant families, who increasingly fear for their safety in schools following Trump’s series of executive orders.
Schools, along with churches and healthcare facilities, had long been considered protected areas from immigration enforcement. However, almost immediately after taking office, Trump moved to rescind the decades-old distinction, potentially widening ICE agents’ abilities to make arrests in these areas.
They’ll be playing in the little house, and they’ll be asking each other, ‘Oh, do you have papers?’ … They’re hearing these conversations, obviously at home, and it’s reflecting in the way that they’re playing.”
Faviola Ambriz, Preschool teacher
Under California law, school officials aren’t required to allow ICE agents onto their campuses without a warrant. Many school districts won’t allow ICE agents on campus without superintendent approval, unless they have a judicial warrant. This, however, doesn’t stop the fear of deportation from spreading among immigrant families, educators say.
“A lot of work will need to be done — damage control for things we didn’t do, and we’re not responsible for,” said Michael Tominaga, an instructor at the San Joaquin County Office of Education. “As educators, that’s not our business. That’s not our job. We’re there to educate students.”
This fear was also largely prevalent during Trump’s first presidential term, said Patricia Gándara, a professor and co-director of the Civil Rights Project at UCLA. Eighty-five percent of educators said students were expressing overt fear about ICE, in a study co-authored by Gándara in 2019. Over half noted increased absenteeism in their classrooms.
Students most impacted were overwhelmingly U.S. citizens themselves and from Title 1 schools, which receive federal funding to help students from low-income families, the study found. Immigration enforcement concerns also often affect the entire classroom, even those without a direct connection to immigration, Gándara said.
Avoiding a paper trail
Although many reported ICE sightings in the state over the past month have proven false, the fear often lingers among communities. Alex Quezada, principal of Los Robles-Ronald McNair Academy in East Palo Alto, said the families in his school often struggle to tell the difference between real and false immigration reports.
Some families, Tominaga noted, have started to avoid adding their names to sign-up sheets at schools for fear of a paper trail. Others, like a student he just worked with in January, avoid enrolling in school altogether.
The student, who is undocumented, had been in the country for three years without enrolling in school for fear of deportation. The student had arrived at the county office to enroll in high school in January but almost immediately left. The county office, Tominaga said, reminded the student of a government office.
Tominaga ultimately met with the student and their family in a public space nearby, eventually gaining enough of their trust to get the enrollment papers signed.
“The fact that he was afraid to enroll, it shouldn’t happen,” Tominaga said. “I don’t know how many others there are, who are missing out on their opportunity to get a free education.”
The 1982 Supreme Court case Plyer v. Doe ruled states can’t prevent undocumented students from enrolling in K-12 public schools. Schools in California aren’t allowed to gather information on immigration status, including Social Security numbers.
Quezada has started advising parents to ensure their emergency contact information is up to date and have a plan in place in case they are undocumented and abruptly face deportation.
“We don’t want to just tell families, ‘Oh, don’t worry about it. You’re fine. Nothing’s going to happen to you.’ Because we actually don’t know,” Quezada said. “But we also don’t want to say never come to school at this point and just stay home.”
Educators also note that reports of deportation raids have deep mental and emotional impacts on students. Many students, regardless of their immigration status, fear for their family members’ safety, which makes it difficult for them to actively participate in the classroom.
Quezada, who leads an elementary school, said younger children often have an especially difficult time regulating their emotions and can act out in the classroom more often. He has found that sticking to a routine has helped his students stay on track.
“Part of our job is to make sure that we are that kind of anchor and that we’re that security,” Quezada said. “That’s what helps them … knowing that we’re going to be there tomorrow to, you know, scold them about eating hot Takis (tortilla chips) in the morning, right? That’s what they need.”
District responses
Various districts have sent messages to their communities reaffirming their commitment to student safety.
Fremont Unified School District — which enrolls one of the highest rates of immigrant students in the state — recently created a landing page on its website with various immigrant resources.
The district also plans to distribute red cards across its 41 schools. The cards, which are increasingly found in classrooms across the country following Trump’s inauguration, state the constitutional rights held by undocumented immigrants: they don’t have to open the door to immigration agents without a search warrant, answer any questions posed by immigration agents, or sign anything without speaking to a lawyer.
The back of the card, which is available in various languages, includes a statement that immigrants can use to respond to any law enforcement agent.
Fremont Unified has also reemphasized its mental health resources to teachers across their schools to address the anxiety that students might face due to immigration raids, said Anh Pham, the district’s interim public information officer.
A memo sent by Hayward Unified School District to its staff in late January details the steps staff must take if an ICE agent comes to their campus.
The memo instructs staff to immediately notify the school accountability director if an ICE agent shows up at their school. The staff members must also collect the documentation that would authorize school access, which can include a warrant or subpoena. A staff member can’t authorize the visit without consulting a district administrator, the memo states.
Educators shouldn’t, however, “attempt to physically impede an officer, even if they appear to lack authorization to conduct activities,” the memo states.
California’s Attorney General Rob Bonta also issued a statement early February providing guidance to teachers, which included suggestions similar to those offered by Hayward Unified. Staff must receive direction from a local educational agency administrator before allowing an immigration officer to come into campus, according to the statement.
The directive also asks educators to inform the state’s Department of Justice of any attempt by a law enforcement officer to enter a school site with the intent of immigration enforcement.
“I am the community we’re talking about … I don’t get to take my brown off when I leave work or put it on when I go home.”
Michael Tominaga, San Joaquin County Office of Education instructor
“We can’t do everything, but we can offer resources and a guarantee that we’ll do everything we can to protect the rights of our students,” said Michael Bazeley, a public information officer for Hayward Unified.
Other districts, like Redwood City School District and Santa Clara Unified, have sent messages to their communities that reaffirm their commitment to ensuring student safety and sharing immigration resources.
Tominaga, who is Mexican American, has constantly dealt with racism and microaggressions over the past decade as a K-12 educator. Now, he fears his identity can make him a target and has considered carrying his passport while at work.
“I am the community we’re talking about … I don’t get to take my brown off when I leave work or put it on when I go home,” Tominaga said. “So, these issues, they impact my community at a very different level, and you can’t separate the two.”
Itzel Andrea Luna reported this story as part of a class with the Stanford Journalism Program.
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