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With President Donald Trump’s changes to immigration policy, many immigrant parents in Michigan fear it is no longer safe to send their children to school and are preparing emergency plans for who will care for their children if they are detained.
“A lot of people lost hope,” said Samantha Magdaleno, executive director of One Michigan, a youth-led immigrant rights organization. “They feel nobody wants to protect them.”
With uncertainty about how the new policies and directives for mass deportations will play out, schools and educators across the state are grappling with what their legal and ethical obligations will be if immigration agents come into their buildings.
On Tuesday, the Trump administration ended the decades-old practice of treating schools and child care centers, along with churches and hospitals, as “sensitive” or “protected” locations.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials announced that they had reversed the latest version of the policy, which was issued by the Biden administration in 2021. That policy added places where children gather, like after-school programs and playgrounds, to the “protected” areas.
“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,” a statement from the department read.
The change means undocumented parents and students may be detained by federal immigration officers during school pick-ups and drop-offs.
Julie Powers, executive director of Immigration Law & Justice Michigan, said no one knows how the new policy will be enforced yet.
“Our biggest concern is that there may be attempts by immigration staff to enter schools and even go into private places like bathrooms and attempt to remove children,” she said.
The order will likely be challenged in court and it may take months for a legal resolution, Powers added.
Federal immigration agents can already conduct warrantless stops in Michigan within 100 miles of the U.S. border to Canada.
The potential impacts of Trump’s new immigration policies could upend education for thousands of Michigan students.
The Migration Policy Institute estimates in 2019 there were around 91,000 undocumented immigrants living in the state. Nearly 4,000 undocumented Michiganders were between the ages 3 and 17 and enrolled in school. There were around 29,000 undocumented immigrants in Michigan who have at least one child under 18 with U.S. citizenship.
There were 4,430 recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program in Michigan in September, according to the MPI. The organization estimates there were nearly 12,000 people in the state eligible for the program in 2023.
The program gives temporary protection to undocumented people who came to the U.S. as minors.
State Superintendent Michael Rice said in an email he is “deeply concerned” the change in immigration enforcement will negatively impact school attendance, and by extension, student achievement.
“Chronic absenteeism has become a serious problem nationally during and after the pandemic,” he said. “Michigan has made progress in improving school attendance and chronic absenteeism, but there is much room for further improvement.”
During the 2023-24 school year, 29.5% of Michigan students were chronically absent — meaning they missed 10% or more of the school year. The number is still significantly higher than it was in the last pre-pandemic school year, when 19.7% of students were chronically absent.
How are schools responding?
A December report detailed the Trump administration’s plans to axe the “protected” sites policy. Since then, schools and educators began preparing.
The Michigan Department of Education on Jan. 16 sent a memo to school district leaders providing guidance on their legal responsibility to provide public education to students regardless of their immigration status.
“All students have a right to a free public education regardless of their citizenship, immigration status, race or national origin,” the memo read. “As educators, we have a responsibility to protect that right.”
The memo cited the 1982 U.S. Supreme Court case Plyer v. Doe, which said public schools cannot deny an education to undocumented students, and the Michigan Elliott Larsen Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race or national origin.
It also cited the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which limits public access to student records.
“A district should consult with counsel on the requirements to access student records, such as a valid court order or subpoena in compliance with FERPA or other laws and regulations,” the memo read.
The MDE sent updated guidance to superintendents Thursday addressing the change in the “protected” locations policy.
“This action could cast a shadow on students’ right to a free public education under Plyler,” the memo read.
The state recommended districts establish internal processes to follow if immigration enforcement approaches staff for access to students or their records.
“School staff, like students, should be able to focus on teaching and learning and not have to navigate thorny legal issues that could harm children’s right and ability to access a free public education,” the memo reads.
The correspondence also addressed Trump’s executive order calling for an end to birthright citizenship, noting it would not retroactively impact children already born in the U.S. (A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked the order.)
Local school districts in the state have not shared much information about how they plan to respond.
At a recent board meeting, Detroit Public Schools Community District Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said most community immigration advocates advised “it’s best to wait and see rather than to say something that would place us with a larger Bull’s-eye on this possible new administration.”
DPSCD already has a policy in place that bars Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, and Border Patrol agents from entering its schools.
Rick Joseph, a teacher leader at DPSCD’s Harms Elementary School, which serves as a site for the district’s newcomer program to support students who recently arrived in the U.S., said the guidance makes it clear the district is committed to protecting students.
But he said there’s still uncertainty about how Trump’s policies will affect students and families.
“No one knows the extent to which ICE will be present around sensitive areas,” he said. “We don’t know the ways in which each local ICE office is going to interpret and enforce the federal guidance.”
In Southwest Detroit, which is home to many immigrant families, educators and parents participated in a “know your rights” training on Jan. 15, said Detroit City Council member Gabriela Santiago-Romero.
“Our schools are on the frontline of support and protections for our residents,” said Santiago-Romero. “People think of our government as the frontline. But at these times, it’s flipped. It’s residents, teachers, organizations who need to be educated about our rights and how to protect them.”
Elizabeth Orozco-Vasquez, CEO of Freedom House Detroit, a nonprofit that supports asylum seekers and refugees, said every school district should update internal policies around how it interacts with federal immigration enforcement.
For example, she said internal policies should only require school staff to allow ICE agents into schools if they have warrants signed by judges.
In Colorado, one charter operator said if agents show up with a valid judicial warrant, it would clear school hallways and keep kids in their classrooms until the agents left.
There will likely be legal clashes over the extent to which schools can block immigration officials from entering school grounds.
Kelli Dobner, chief growth officer of faith-based statewide nonprofit Samaritas, said schools should have open communication with families and build community plans for any scenario.
Advocates are also asking districts to consider offering virtual or hybrid learning again to accommodate undocumented students or kids from mixed-immigration status families.
How should families prepare?
Many immigrant families are now afraid that sending their kids to school could mean they will be separated from them, said Veronica Thronson, clinical professor of law at Michigan State University and director of the college’s Immigration Law Clinic.
“People are having to make these very tough decisions about what they will do now,” she said. “Will they leave together as a family or leave their kids behind?”
Thronson said her clinic is advising parents to update emergency contact information at their children’s schools to someone they trust who has citizenship.
Other parents are setting up powers of attorney with other family members so someone can pick up their kids from school if they are detained or deported.
In the past, some families set up guardianships for older siblings to watch over younger children.
The political rhetoric around immigration also hurts students and families in the country with legal status, said Orozco-Vasquez.
As was the case historically, many immigrants fear racial profiling could lead to their unlawful detention in mass raids. Authorized immigrants and U.S. citizens are being advised to always carry their documentation with them at all times.
Magdaleno said her organization is advising parents to get “kids to school however you can.”
“You don’t want to face truancy charges either,” she said. “You want to avoid anything that can get you flagged to get immigration involved.”
The advocate said parents should also have frank conversations with their children about how the changes in policy could impact their families.
It will also be essential for both parents and children to know their rights when it comes to interacting with immigration officials, advocates say.
With fast-changing policies and potential legal challenges looming, families will need to keep up with the news from reputable sources to know where the law stands, said Thronson.
Micah Walker contributed to this report.
Hannah Dellinger covers K-12 education and state education policy for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.
Micah Walker is a reporter with BridgeDetroit.
