After crossing the border for better schools, some parents are pulling their kids and leaving the US

For the last two months of their life in the United States, José Alberto González and his family spent nearly all their time in their one-bedroom Denver apartment. They didn't speak to anyone except their roommates, another family from Venezuela.

- By BIANCA VÁZQUEZ TONESS NEAL MORTON and ARIEL GILREATH and SARAH WHITES-KODITSCHEK and REBECCA GRIESBACH

They consulted WhatsApp messages for warnings of immigration agents in the area before leaving for the rare landscaping job or to buy groceries.

But most days at 7:20 a.m., González's wife took their children to school.

The appeal of their children learning English in American schools, and the desire to make money, had compelled González and his wife to bring their 6- and 3-year-olds on the monthslong journey to the United States.

They arrived two years ago, planning to stay for a decade. But on Feb. 28, González and his family boarded a bus from Denver to El Paso, where they would walk across the border and start the trip back to Venezuela.

Even as immigrants in the U.S. avoid going out in public, terrified of encountering immigration authorities, families across the country are mostly sending their children to school.

That's not to say they feel safe. In some cases, families are telling their children's schools that they're leaving.

Already, thousands of immigrants have notified federal authorities they plan to "self-deport," according to the Department of Homeland Security. President Donald Trump has encouraged more families to leave by stoking fears of imprisonment, ramping up government surveillance, and offering people $1,000 and transportation out of the country.

And on Monday, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to strip legal protections from hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants, potentially exposing them to deportation. Without Temporary Protective Status, even more families will weigh whether to leave the U.S., advocates say.