Immigration Fears & School Absenteeism: Impact on Students

Immigration enforcement fears are causing increased school absenteeism, impacting student progress and school funding. Districts are providing support, including legal aid, to address families' concerns. Absenteeism rates remain high post-pandemic.

The advice comes as some areas are experiencing significant increases in persistent absenteeism. A contributing element, some supporters and educators stated, is increased migration enforcement by the federal government– and resulting worries from family members regarding sending their youngsters to school.

Immigration Concerns Impact School Attendance

Some immigrant family members, at the same time, have been hesitant to send their youngsters to school because of fear of immigration enforcement task, according to teachers and immigration experts. In reaction, some institutions have provided lawful aid and other resources to affected households.

Research previously this year from KFF, a health policy company, showed that maintaining trainees home from college because of migration enforcement worries can hurt pupils’ academic progress– and likewise trigger institutions to take a funding hit as a result of decreased enrollment numbers.

Absenteeism Trends Across States

In Ohio, persistent absence price stood at 16.7% in 2018-19, virtually increased to 30.2% in 2021-22 and dropped to 25.1% in 2024-25. In Michigan, chronic absence price in 2018-19 was at 19.7%, enhanced to 38.5% in 2021-22 and then went down to 27.9% in 2024-25, according to FutureEd.

In September, the country’s 2 biggest educators unions joined a claim difficult government migration enforcement on school grounds and other delicate locations. Due to the fact that U.S. Department of Justice lawyers are not permitted to work throughout the federal government closure, that situation is presently on hold.

Support Programs for Immigrant Families

Alberto Carvalho, superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School Area, claimed in late August that the area included bus courses and provided therapists and social employees to support family members after the school day. In addition, Carvalho claimed LAUSD was working with lawful aid for households via its philanthropic foundation.

“Via the execution of an institution counseling program, college counselors can foster a school society that is inclusive, safe and verifying for each and every trainee, no matter ethnicity, migration or race condition,” the organization said in a paper this month.

Legal Rights and Resources for Students

Some areas are providing training to teachers in just how to reply to migration enforcement, as well as how to connect with family members regarding their civil liberties– consisting of that institutions might not reject trainees a complimentary public education and learning based upon their immigration condition, under the united state High court’s 1982 Plyler v. Doe choice.

EdTrust recommends states sustain areas in developing secure and inviting college environments through trauma-informed training, culturally receptive practices and multilingual interactions that are delicate to the tension immigrant families may be encountering. States should additionally much better comprehend version methods within areas and find ways to scale those strategies, according to the organization, which promotes educational equity for pupils of shade and trainees from low-income families.

According to research study from Fwd.us, a not-for-profit social well-being company, about 620,000 K-12 students remained in the U.S. without lawful authorization in 2021. The organization approximated that most states contended the very least 1,000 such pupils in K-12 institutions which some states had much higher numbers, consisting of Texas (111,000), Florida (74,000), and California (72,000).

Impact on K-12 Students Without Authorization

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Lots of states have actually made progression in decreasing persistent absenteeism rates since the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted in-person understanding. Presence degrees in general have not caught up to their pre-pandemic standard, according to FutureEd, an independent think tank at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy.

This website is had and run by Informa TechTarget, part of a worldwide network that notifies, links the globe and affects’s modern technology customers and vendors. Informa PLC’s authorized office is 5 Howick Location, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. TechTarget, Inc.’s licensed office is 275 Grove St. Newton, MA 02466.