New School Year In Washington Marked By Fear Of Anti-migrant Raids

Throughout the city, activists organized chaperone groups, carpools, and patrols amid fears that immigration agents, which have been conducted sweeping raids across the city in recent weeks, could target school campuses (Credit: AFP)

Neighbors, volunteers and parents escorted children to the first day of the new school year across Washington on Monday, vowing to protect students from Donald Trump's deportation drive.

At one elementary school in the US capital, crowds blew whistles, shook tambourines and cheered children on their way to class, ready to fend off any law enforcement action and to support a neighborhood with a high Latino population.