Student rolls across nation are plunging amid ICE raids

School districts have tens of thousands fewer pupils, including foreign newcomers.

- BY HOWARD BLUME AND KATE PAYNE

Last school year, this Roybal Learning Center junior was doing well and making excellent grades.

This year, as a senior, she’s almost dropped out several times and has talked of leaving the U.S. and reuniting with her mother, who was deported over the summer to Guatemala.

So far, the girl has remained in school, says teacher Guadalupe Carrasco Cardona. But many students in similar situations have not.

Across the nation, immigration raids and border restrictions have led to a drop in K-12 enrollment that appears to number in at least the tens of thousands, affecting Los Angeles, San Diego, Miami and elsewhere, based on figures provided by school district officials.

The drop also reflects the lack of non-U.S.-born students, or “newcomers,” entering the nation’s public school systems.

For students who had already been attending U.S. schools, the decline is an indicator of disrupted learning - and, in some school districts, financial shortfalls.

“These declines reflect a climate of fear and instability created by ongoing immigration crackdowns, which disrupt family stability, housing and mobility,” said L.A. schools Supt. Alberto Carvalho.

“When families are afraid to be seen, or when they cannot afford to remain in their communities, they are less likely to enroll, reenroll, or stay in public schools.”

At the Edward R. Roybal Learning Center just west of downtown L.A., there are at least 200 fewer students than anticipated, said Cardona, who teaches ethnic studies and serves as coordinator for a film and television magnet program. Before this year, she said, programs at the school had a waiting list.

“We're not too sure if some students are sheltering in place, if they’re working, or if they got deported or self-deported,” Cardona said.

“We've done our best to help them with resources but with a lot of the kiddos, we just don’t know what happened to them.”