Around the country, groups of undocumented students say they think their school has helped get them on the radar of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Schools have the power to be safe havens for undocumented students, or they can be large sources of fear and anxiety.
The stories of two different students illustrate this point. One student was nervous to reveal to her school that she was undocumented, but trusted that the adults at her public school in New York City would keep her safe. One of the deans at her school later connected her with an attorney to help her gain legal status.
In a different case, a student had been in the process of applying for a green card when he was suddenly arrested and detained by ICE. A few months before, an officer at his public school in Boston sent an incident report to the ICE, in which he accused the student of gang violence. Despite the accusation proving false, it put him on the radar and on the path to deportation.
These vastly different outcomes are representative of the current immigration climate, months after Betsy Devos said that it was up to schools to call ICE on students.
Source: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/undocumented-students-ice_us_5b7dc9c6e4b0348585fd137a
