Giving Compass' Take:

• Patricia Gándara and Joy Ee surveyed educators across the United States and found that immigration enforcement has significant negative impacts on public education. 

• How can funders help to mitigate these negative impacts? 

• Find out how education funders can support immigrants. 

While we have all heard stories of the impact of immigration enforcement on individuals and even children, there has been no systematic attempt to study the impact of immigration enforcement on teaching and learning in our nation’s schools. Because educators all over the country are concerned about this issue, more than 730 schools in 24 districts and 12 states opened their doors to our study. What we found is that those schools that struggle the most to close achievement gaps are hit the hardest by this enforcement regime. The additional burden of trying to educate children, who are often U.S. citizens, and are living in terror of losing their families, may simply be too much to ask of educators, who are themselves stressed, sometimes to the breaking point. And it is not just the children of immigrant parents who are affected. The immigration enforcement regime is affecting all students in schools that are disrupted by fear-inducing tactics.

This national survey of teachers, administrators, and other school personnel was conducted between late October 2017 and mid-January 2018. There were a total of more than 5400 responses from the Northeast, South, Midwest, and West. Two thirds (64%) of respondents reported they had observed an impact of immigration enforcement in their schools, and about 3500 educators completed surveys.

Overall, we found that:

  1. Schools in the South were the hardest hit, with high percentages of respondents noting a very negative impact on their schools;
  2. The higher the percentage of immigrant students in the school, the greater respondents reported the impact to be.