Fear shadows many children in immigrant families

DENVER Even as immigrants in the US 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

- Jocelyn Gecker, Associated Press

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. 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 6and 3-year-old 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 long trip back to Venezuela. Even as immigrants in the US avoid going out in public, terrified of encountering immigration authorities, families across the country are mostly sending their children to school. That is 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.