Immigrant families across the United States capital are facing the new school year under the shadow of aggressive federal immigration enforcement, with raids and checkpoints intensifying in areas with large Latino populations.
Teachers and community organisers say the atmosphere is one of daily fear, as families preparing for the start of term worry less about pencils and notebooks and more about whether parents will be seized on the way to drop off or collect their children.
‘Most parents’ biggest concern is that something will happen to them on the way to school in front of their children,’ said Hillary, an elementary school teacher in the city.
She asked to use only her first name, explaining that her public activism might make her school a target for immigration authorities.
‘Or it’s going to happen before they’ve been able to pick up their children from school, and there will be no one to come get their kids.’
Her words reflect what teachers and organisers say has become the defining anxiety in many neighbourhoods as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has increased its presence.
Families are weighing whether it is safe to send their children at all, and children themselves are being forced to witness raids and arrests that disrupt the ordinary routine of their lives.
Teachers report that the school system has been slow to offer clear help and in some cases has actively discouraged staff from informing families of their rights.
The surge in activity is directly connected to policy changes made by President Donald Trump.
Earlier this month, Trump signed an executive order deploying the National Guard to Washington.
Shortly afterwards, his administration federalised the local police force and directed it to work more closely with immigration officials.
Even before that, in January, Trump had revoked the ‘sensitive zones’ memo which had previously restricted ICE from conducting operations inside schools, hospitals, and churches.
Its removal has opened up spaces that families once considered safe to the reach of immigration enforcement.
In May, a group of teachers, parents, and community members organised themselves into a rapid response team to counter the increased presence of ICE and homeland security officials. Hillary was among those involved.
They warned families when agents were seen nearby, arranged volunteers to walk children to their parents’ cars, and tried to ensure that no child was left stranded if their parent was unable to collect them.
With the return to school days away, they expect these efforts will need to be expanded.
‘We’re trying to get walking groups,’ Hillary said.
‘So if parents are maybe uncomfortable walking students to school by themselves or picking them up by themselves, we might have school staff, volunteers in the neighbourhood, parents in the school who are providing a safe passage.
‘I know several other schools are pursuing similar efforts.’
Amy Fischer, an organiser with Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid in Washington, has been working alongside teachers and volunteers like Hillary.
She said families were under pressure regardless of their legal situation.
‘So many of the people are asylum-seekers who have pending asylum applications,’ she said.
‘They have a work permit, and under the law, should not be detained because they have a pending asylum claim.
‘But many, many of those people are being picked up.’
For Fischer, the scale and method of enforcement mark a break with what Washington residents have experienced before.
‘We previously never had checkpoints in Washington DC,’ she said.
‘And the previous types of enforcement that we had were much more targeted, so they would be going after a specific individual, not just sort of random pickups on the street.’
This shift has meant that people are being taken in unpredictable ways and at random locations, making daily life unstable.
Teachers and parents described an atmosphere in which no journey feels safe, and where children could see their parents detained in front of them at any time.
Despite this, Fischer said, residents have responded by trying to build systems of mutual aid and solidarity.
Some families and neighbours have offered to walk children to school; others have provided rides for parents who no longer feel able to risk the journey alone.
The collective effort has been visible, but fear remains widespread.
One elementary school teacher helping with these emergency carpools described speaking to a parent who has not left their flat since a raid near their building.
‘They’ve not left their house since over a week ago,’ the teacher said. ‘They weren’t planning on sending their kids.’
The teacher, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of concern for retaliation by the school district or by immigration authorities, said they had offered to arrange for someone else to take the child to and from school.
‘A fear of being detained is kind of consistent across the board,’ the teacher explained.
Some parents, they added, had even suggested that schools should return to remote learning, despite the well-known damage it causes to both educational progress and mental health.
Both teachers said the District of Columbia Public Schools system (DCPS) had provided little support or guidance. One said DCPS had been ‘sitting on their hands’, while Hillary said the district was acting ‘like nothing has really changed, and that we do not have families who are in an increased amount of danger right now.’
In an official statement, DCPS said: ‘Our leaders, educators, and staff care deeply about the safety of our students, and DCPS will continue to share safety guidance and reminders with students as they commute to and from their school campuses next week and beyond.’
But Hillary said the district had told teachers not to share rights information with families on school grounds.
Another elementary teacher echoed that account, saying that while staff had done so earlier in the year, DCPS later made clear it did not support the practice.
‘Unfortunately, the district kind of let it be known that they were not super supportive of us doing that on school grounds,’ she said. ‘So it has had to be in quieter ways that we’re getting that information out to parents, and it’s having to come a lot more through not official channels.’
The teacher added that principals were told ‘not to speak up’ on the issue.
DCPS did not respond directly to those claims but said it had not discouraged parents or carers from hosting information sessions or from organising carpools.
The district reiterated that its schools ‘cooperate with law enforcement officers bearing lawful court orders’ and said principals had been advised to alert the legal team for assistance when necessary.
Hillary worries most about the children whose families feel they cannot risk sending them to school at all.
‘We saw from Covid that even a couple weeks’ absence can have a really big effect on kids’ learning and on their mental health,’ she said.
‘You’re not going to get a chance to build community with your classmates. And then we also know school is a place where a lot of kids get fed.’
Volunteers are stepping forward, neighbours are helping one another, and teachers are using informal networks to pass on vital information.
Yet Hillary also fears the strain of sustaining this effort. ‘Right now people are really activated,’ she said. ‘But how long are we going to be able to keep that going?’
