As the Administration Changes, Will Fear Keep Newcomer Students From Schools?

随着政府的更迭，恐惧会让新来的学生远离学校吗？

Lara Evangelista remembers a high school student calling her to say his parents were picked up by immigration officers while selling clothes on the side of the road.

劳拉·伊万格丽斯塔记得一名高中生打电话给她，说他的父母在路边卖衣服时被移民官员带走了。

That was 2017, and Evangelista was then a principal. Now the executive director of Internationals Network, a nonprofit that works with schools to support immigrant youth, Evangelista is spending the final days of the Biden administration helping schools prepare to support newcomer families. That means laboring to help families understand policies and put plans in place for legal issues that may arise during the administration change, such as making sure they are updating and organizing any of their immigration paperwork.

那是2017年，Evangelista当时是一名校长。现在，伊万格丽斯塔是国际网络（Internationals Network）的执行董事，这是一个与学校合作支持移民青年的非营利组织，她正在拜登政府的最后几天帮助学校准备支持新移民家庭。这意味着努力帮助家庭了解政策，并为政府更迭期间可能出现的法律问题制定计划，例如确保他们更新和组织任何移民文件。

In that way, Evangelista is like other advocates who work with newcomer students.

这样，Evangelista就像其他与新生一起工作的倡导者一样。

President-elect Donald Trump has pledged mass deportation, and his plans could impact many of the estimated 13 million families in the country who are undocumented or holding temporary visa status. And as Trump prepares to take office on Jan. 20, his rhetoric has created a climate of fear, according to advocates.

当选总统唐纳德·特朗普（Donald Trump）承诺大规模驱逐出境，他的计划可能会影响该国约1300万无证或持有临时签证身份的家庭中的许多人。支持者表示，随着特朗普准备于1月20日就职，他的言论营造了一种恐惧气氛。

For newcomer students, that may mean more missed school time, advocates warn.

倡导者警告说，对于新生来说，这可能意味着更多的失学时间。

Schools have always been a safe haven for immigrant families, a place that is secure because it’s generally off-limits for immigration enforcement, says Wendy Cervantes, director of the immigration and immigrant families team at the Center For Law and Social Policy in Washington, D.C. If schools no longer feel like a secure environment, it could further prevent immigrant students — or children from immigrant families — from going to school, she says.

华盛顿特区法律与社会政策中心移民和移民家庭小组主任温迪·塞万提斯说，学校一直是移民家庭的避风港，一个安全的地方，因为它通常是移民执法的禁区。她说，如果学校不再是一个安全的环境，这可能会进一步阻止移民学生——或移民家庭的孩子——上学。

Compared to the previous Trump term, the immigration rhetoric is stronger and more focused on active deportations, Evangelista says.

埃万格利斯塔说，与特朗普上一届任期相比，移民言论更加强烈，更侧重于积极驱逐出境。

Students hear adults around them discuss what the incoming administration is saying about immigrants, and they're afraid, says Alejandra Vázquez Baur, director of the National Newcomer Network, a coalition seeking to improve educational access for newcomer students in K-12 public schools and a project of The Century Foundation. It’s not just deportation. From ending temporary protected status to increasing collaborations with local law enforcement, the Trump administration is considering a number of policies that worry newcomers, she suggests.

全国新移民网络(National Newcomer Network)主任亚历杭德拉·巴斯克斯·鲍尔(Alejandra Vázquez Baur)表示，学生们听到周围的成年人讨论即将上任的政府对移民的看法，他们感到害怕。世纪基金会的一个项目。不仅仅是驱逐出境。她表示，从结束临时保护身份到加强与当地执法部门的合作，特朗普政府正在考虑一些令新移民担忧的政策。

Worried that a climate of fear and confusion over immigration policy will harm education for newcomer students, these advocates are helping schools to prepare by bolstering schools’ understanding of rights and obligations under current law and helping students to confront their feelings of fear and hopelessness.

由于担心对移民政策的恐惧和困惑气氛会损害新移民学生的教育，这些倡导者正在帮助学校做好准备，加强学校对现行法律规定的权利和义务的理解，并帮助学生面对他们的恐惧和绝望情绪。

‘A Climate of Fear’

“恐惧的气氛”

Even in the best of times, newcomer students face extra challenges.

即使在最好的情况下，新生也面临着额外的挑战。

It's known that some newcomer immigrant students — particularly from places that have high poverty and potential violence and unstable educational systems — often come with interrupted or limited formal education, says Carolyn Sattin-Bajaj, an associate professor of education at the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Santa Barbara. And it also takes time for people to feel connected to school and feel like it's a safe place, particularly for those who are undocumented and therefore more reticent to engage with public institutions, she says. Students may also have extra familial responsibilities, such as taking care of a younger sibling or acting as translator for household members at doctor appointments, Sattin-Bajaj says.

加州大学圣巴巴拉分校Gevirtz教育研究生院的教育学副教授Carolyn Sattin-Bajaj说，众所周知，一些新移民学生——特别是来自高度贫困、潜在暴力和教育系统不稳定的地方——经常接受中断或有限的正规教育。她说，人们也需要时间来感受到与学校的联系，感觉学校是一个安全的地方，特别是对于那些没有证件的人来说，因此更不愿与公共机构接触。Sattin-Bajaj说，学生也可能有额外的家庭责任，例如照顾弟弟妹妹或在医生预约时为家庭成员担任翻译。

But across a number of districts around the country, absences for English language learners rose higher than for other students during the pandemic. In a particularly stark example in Huntsville, Arizona, highlighted by The 74, language learners saw a four-fold increase in absenteeism during the pandemic, while other students' absenteeism actually decreased during the same period.

但在全国许多地区，在疫情期间，英语学习者的缺勤率高于其他学生。74强调的亚利桑那州亨茨维尔的一个特别明显的例子是，语言学习者在大流行期间缺勤率增加了四倍，而同期其他学生的缺勤率实际上有所下降。

To advocates, these numbers mean that attendance for immigrant populations was hit harder than for other students. They worry that federal actions related to immigration could harm attendance further.

对于倡导者来说，这些数字意味着移民人口的出勤率比其他学生受到的打击更大。他们担心与移民有关的联邦行动可能会进一步损害出勤率。

Cervantes’ organization, the Center For Law and Social Policy, found a link during the first Trump administration between immigration enforcement and absenteeism. Raids by immigration officers and fear of immigration enforcement both had a chilling effect on school attendance, the center concluded. After 2016, there was an uptick in immigration officers raiding work sites and homes, Cervantes says. Her team noticed that for days following a raid, immigrant students wouldn’t arrive at school. Center researchers also heard about immigration officers parking outside of elementary schools and early childhood programs to arrest parents they suspected of violating immigration rules. Fears like that spread, Cervantes says.

塞万提斯的组织法律和社会政策中心在特朗普第一届政府期间发现了移民执法和旷工之间的联系。该中心总结说，移民官员的突袭和对移民执法的恐惧都对学校出勤率产生了寒蝉效应。塞万提斯说，2016年后，移民官员突袭工作场所和住宅的数量有所增加。她的团队注意到，在一次突袭后的几天里，移民学生都不会来学校。该中心的研究人员还听说移民官员在小学和早期儿童项目外停车，以逮捕他们怀疑违反移民规则的父母。塞万提斯说，这样的恐惧蔓延开来。

At the time, the Trump administration argued that it followed Sensitive Locations Policy, a federal rule restricting Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from operating near locations like schools, child care centers and places of worship. Now Trump is reportedly planning to rescind the policy. Cervantes considers it unlikely that they will start raiding schools even if the administration scraps the policy. But simply revoking the policy will instill fear, Cervantes argues. Some would go further than simply increasing immigration enforcement. Texas Gov. Gregg Abbot previously floated the idea of overturning Plyler v. Doe, a 1982 Supreme Court decision that guarantees students access to public education regardless of immigration status. With a conservative Supreme Court that seems willing to throw away precedent, it feels possible, Cervantes suggests. Even the prospect creates confusion for families about who’s allowed to enroll in schools, she adds.

当时，特朗普政府辩称，它遵循敏感地点政策，这是一项联邦规则，限制移民和海关执法局（ICE）在学校、儿童保育中心和礼拜场所等地点附近开展活动。据报道，现在特朗普正计划废除这项政策。塞万提斯认为，即使政府废除这项政策，他们也不太可能开始突袭学校。但塞万提斯认为，简单地撤销该政策会灌输恐惧。有些人会走得更远，而不仅仅是增加移民执法。德克萨斯州州长格雷格·阿博特(Gregg Abbot)此前曾提出推翻普利勒诉多伊案(Plyler v.Doe)的想法，这是最高法院1982年的一项裁决，该裁决保证学生无论移民身份如何都能接受公共教育。塞万提斯表示，保守的最高法院似乎愿意抛弃先例，这似乎是可能的。她补充说，即使是这种前景也会让家庭对谁可以入学感到困惑。

This has only fueled concern that newcomer students will feel less safe at school. When students perceive that their classmates and teachers view them as a problem, they can lose motivation to attend school, says Prerna Arora, an associate professor of psychology and education at Teachers College Columbia University. They are also vulnerable to more bullying, she says. For some students, it can seem a waste of time to attend school if they worry that they won’t be legally allowed to stay in the country, Arora adds. A student once looked at her and asked, “What’s the point?” Arora says. “It really stuck with me.” In the lead-up to the inauguration, Arora hears the sentiment more often. It doesn't help that recent political rhetoric surrounds dramatic proposals such as dismantling the U.S. Department of Education, she adds. The outcomes are far from certain, but instability and uncertainty increase fears, especially in children and family members, Arora says.

这只会加剧人们对新来的学生在学校会感到不安全的担忧。哥伦比亚大学师范学院心理学和教育学副教授Prerna Arora说，当学生意识到他们的同学和老师认为他们是一个问题时，他们可能会失去上学的动力。她说，他们也容易受到更多的欺凌。阿罗拉补充说，对于一些学生来说，如果他们担心自己不会被法律允许留在这个国家，上学似乎是浪费时间。一个学生曾经看着她问道：“这有什么意义？”阿罗拉说。“这真的让我难以忘怀。”在就职典礼前夕，阿罗拉更经常听到这种情绪。最近的政治言论围绕着拆除美国等戏剧性的提议，这于事无补。她补充道，教育部。阿罗拉说，结果还远未确定，但不稳定和不确定性增加了恐惧，尤其是在儿童和家庭成员中。

For advocates, it’s a tense moment.

对于倡导者来说，这是一个紧张的时刻。

Some believe that threats to enrollment could also take away a potential lifeline for public schools. These communities can lift enrollment numbers for schools, which are suffering years of devastating declines, according to Baur at National Newcomer Network. As immigration patterns change, more families have moved across the country and settled in districts that traditionally haven’t seen large immigrant populations, Baur says. These families have reversed some enrollment losses and brought enrollment-dependent money back to public schools. Baur points to a recent Chicago Public Schools’ enrollment increase — buoyed by an 11 percent jump in English language learners. She isn’t alone in this opinion. In September, New York City Schools Chancellor David Banks described immigrant students as a “godsend” for schools, arguing that they staved off budget cuts and school closures. Baur believes immigration rhetoric will impact district budgets if it means immigrant students are too afraid to go to school.

一些人认为，对入学率的威胁也可能夺走公立学校的一条潜在生命线。根据国家新人网络的鲍尔的说法，这些社区可以提高学校的入学人数，这些学校多年来一直在遭受毁灭性的下降。鲍尔说，随着移民模式的变化，越来越多的家庭搬到了全国各地，定居在传统上没有大量移民人口的地区。这些家庭扭转了一些入学损失，并将依赖入学的资金带回了公立学校。鲍尔指出，最近芝加哥公立学校的入学人数有所增加——这得益于英语学习者增加了11%。她不是唯一持这种观点的人。9月，纽约市学校校长大卫·班克斯将移民学生描述为学校的“天赐之物”，认为他们避免了预算削减和学校关闭。鲍尔认为，如果移民言论意味着移民学生太害怕去上学，它将影响地区预算。

But these students are resilient and can bounce back from these challenges, says Arora, of Columbia University Teacher’s College. For her, that means supporting students' goals for their education, including their academic and social-emotional needs. It’s important to connect with members within that community to help build trust and collaboration among newcomer families, as well as to prepare teachers to do this, she says. Students need to know that they are welcome and wanted in the school and that they can achieve their goals by attending, Arora adds.

但是哥伦比亚大学师范学院的阿罗拉说，这些学生很有韧性，可以从这些挑战中恢复过来。对她来说，这意味着支持学生的教育目标，包括他们的学术和社会情感需求。她说，重要的是与社区内的成员联系，以帮助在新移民家庭之间建立信任和合作，并让教师为此做好准备。阿罗拉补充说，学生们需要知道他们在学校是受欢迎和需要的，他们可以通过参加来实现自己的目标。

Confronting Hopelessness

面对绝望

Evangelista, of the Internationals Network, believes that preparing families for the administration changeover will help stabilize attendance. During the last Trump term, the New York City schools Evangelista worked with did not take drastic hits to attendance, which she credits to clear communication about school policies and their plans to follow those policies.

国际网络的Evangelista认为，让家庭为政府更迭做好准备将有助于稳定出勤率。在特朗普的上一个任期内，Evangelista合作的纽约市学校的出勤率没有受到严重打击，她认为这是关于学校政策及其遵循这些政策的计划的清晰沟通。

It's a strategy that many of these advocates have embraced.

这是许多倡导者都接受的策略。

At the National Newcomer Network, Baur is focused on reinforcing immigrant students’ rights in school. One way of accomplishing this is to make sure people are aware of those rights by sharing resources and partnering with school and district leaders to help them implement immigrant protective policies, she says. In 2017, the New York City Department of Education released a regulation that spelled out clear steps for how schools should deal with immigration officers. It also established a process by which you can and should call or contact parents or families or students to let them know what’s going on, and provided training for school security officers and front desk staff, Baur says. The policy is great because it coordinates efforts across the school community to ensure that everybody knows the rights of students, she adds.

在全国新移民网络，鲍尔专注于加强移民学生在学校的权利。她说，实现这一目标的一个方法是通过共享资源并与学校和地区领导合作，帮助他们实施移民保护政策，确保人们了解这些权利。2017年，纽约市教育局发布了一项规定，为学校应如何与移民官员打交道制定了明确的步骤。鲍尔说，它还建立了一个流程，通过这个流程，你可以也应该打电话或联系家长、家庭或学生，让他们知道发生了什么，并为学校安全人员和前台工作人员提供了培训。她补充说，这项政策很棒，因为它协调了整个学校社区的努力，以确保每个人都知道学生的权利。

Schools should let families know that they are open to all children, Cervantes says. And if the Trump administration rescinds the sensitive locations policy — now known as the Protected Areas Policy — schools still have rights and the ability to restrict immigration officers from coming into their building, she says, adding: They continue to have legal obligations to protect the data of all students and families in their systems — that information will not be shared with immigration enforcement agents. None of those policies or rights will change no matter what the administration does on Day One, Cervantes says.

塞万提斯说，学校应该让家庭知道他们对所有孩子开放。她说，如果特朗普政府废除敏感地点政策——现在被称为保护区政策——学校仍然有权利和能力限制移民官员进入他们的大楼，并补充说：他们继续有法律义务保护他们系统中所有学生和家庭的数据——这些信息不会与移民执法人员共享。塞万提斯说，无论政府第一天做什么，这些政策或权利都不会改变。

In anticipation, some districts have released statements that aim to fortify families. For instance, Jason Reimann, superintendent of Hayward Unified, a district in California’s Bay Area, published a statement in November that stressed a desire to support newcomer communities. “During this year’s presidential campaign, immigration emerged as a top issue,” Reimann wrote. “I want to affirm to the HUSD community that—as required under federal law—we are committed to providing all students access to a safe, supportive and whole learning experience.”

在预期中，一些地区发布了旨在巩固家庭的声明。例如，加州湾区海沃德联合区的负责人杰森·雷曼（Jason Reimann）在11月发表了一份声明，强调了支持新移民社区的愿望。“在今年的总统竞选期间，移民成为首要问题，”雷曼写道。“我想向HUSD社区确认，根据联邦法律的要求，我们致力于为所有学生提供安全、支持性和完整的学习体验。”

Some educators have leaned into small acts that make students from immigrant families feel welcome. Many educators have put up posters that say “All are welcome” or which depict a butterfly, a symbol of immigration, Baur says. Others encourage Spanish and other languages during appropriate times in the classroom, she adds. Even small welcoming behaviors like that can have a huge impact on students feeling like learning is for them, Baur says.

一些教育工作者倾向于采取一些小措施，让来自移民家庭的学生感到受欢迎。鲍尔说，许多教育工作者张贴了海报，上面写着“欢迎所有人”，或者描绘了一只蝴蝶，这是移民的象征。她补充说，其他人鼓励在课堂上的适当时间学习西班牙语和其他语言。鲍尔说，即使是像这样小小的欢迎行为也会对学生产生巨大影响，让他们觉得学习是为他们准备的。