Immigrant students across the US have experienced increased bullying, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) crackdowns causing declines in attendance and a “culture of fear” among immigrant students in public schools, according to a new survey of high school principals.
Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles’s Institute for Democracy, Education and Access (Idea) conducted a “nationally representative” survey of more than 600 principals about the toll of raids and deportations, and how schools were responding.
Many principals described a “climate of distress”, the report found, with 70.4% reporting that students from immigrant families have “expressed concerns about their well-being or the well-being of their families”. A majority of public high schools experienced declines in attendance and learning of students from immigrant families, the report said, with 57.8% of principals reporting that immigrant parents and guardians had “left the community” during the school year.
Some principals reported that they were “unsure what had happened to a few of their students from immigrant families”, the report said. And 63.8% of principals said students had missed school “due to policies or political rhetoric related to immigrants”.
Principals said students were impacted by ICE enforcement efforts in their communities, but also by a growing anti-immigrant atmosphere among the student population. More than one-third of the principals said students from immigrant families had reported being “bullied or harassed”, with one Minnesota principal saying: “There has been definitely an uptick in comments made by white students, white male students, to our Hispanic students: ‘Can I see your papers?’”
A Nebraska principal described an increase in students’ “use of hostile and derogatory language” toward Latino students, with taunts like: “Go back home”. A Michigan principal recounted students saying: “Your parents are border hoppers,” adding that she had taken disciplinary action against bullying.
The survey, conducted over the summer, also found the vast majority of schools were taking actions to address the needs of their immigrant populations “as best as they can”, with 77.6% of principals saying they “created a school plan to respond to visits from federal agents”. Nearly half of the principals said they had plans to address the needs of students if their guardians are deported.
“Principals are telling stories of students being dropped off at school and worrying that will be the last time they see their parents. It’s devastating,” John Rogers, Idea director and lead researcher, said in an interview. He said he was struck by the fact that so many school leaders were preparing for that outcome: “It speaks to a normalization of a system that is being put in place that creates extraordinary trauma.”
One principal compared the stress of worrying about ICE showing up to the anxiety of fearing mass shooters.
Rogers said he expected to see these concerns in a city like Los Angeles, which has a large immigrant population and has been an aggressive target of the federal government. But the survey found consequences in schools across the nation in a diverse range of communities, he said.
“High school principals are charged both by professional standards and moral obligation to ensure that students feel safe, and it’s clear students feeling safe at school is essential for their learning,” Rogers said. “At the same time, they realize their power is limited … they can’t control what is going on outside of school.”
A Massachusetts principal surveyed said: “There is something just so fundamentally wrong about this – we continue to strive to make school a safe place where all students can thrive, but this task has become increasingly challenging.”
ICE and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the report on Tuesday.
