Texas students worry ‘no one is going to be home for me' amid deportation push
Under President Donald Trump's renewed administration, Texas has emerged as a key frontline in the push for aggressive immigration enforcement and widespread deportations. Texas residents – regardless of immigration status – feel the ripple effects in the economy, schools, healthcare systems, courts and public safety services. To better understand these challenges, KXAN spent the first 100 days of Trump's second term producing 'Undocumented,' a comprehensive project diving into the real-life consequences of related policies and proposals.
KYLE, Texas (KXAN) – Two days after President Donald Trump took office for his second term, staff at Lehman High School were fielding calls from panicked parents.
The new head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had just rescinded a 2011 policy that ensured immigration enforcement actions did not occur in or near sensitive locations, such as schools and churches, unless necessary. The shift, according to DHS, was to 'not tie the hands' of law enforcement.
EN ESPAÑOL: A los estudiantes de Texas les preocupa que 'nadie vaya a estar en casa para mí' en medio de la ofensiva de deportación
More than 80% of Lehman's student body is Hispanic. Data show that on the first day of school following the inauguration and the policy change, attendance across the entire school district — Hays CISD — dropped.
It's unclear whether the lack of attendance was solely caused by fear of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid on schools, but longtime teacher Carla Perez said faces were missing from her classroom, and parents were scared.
'We had a lot of teachers having conversations with parents, saying we don't know if we want to send our kids,' Perez said.
An hour away in San Antonio, Viridiana Carrizales was getting similar calls and texts. Carrizales leads a nonprofit organization that supports immigrant students – including those who are undocumented – navigating the public education system.
I want to take her out of school, one text read.
Another parent said her kids asked if ICE was coming to the school.
Is this true?
'I started hearing from teachers, and from some of our district partners, who we have been working with for the past several years, who said, 'We can't locate some of our students,' Carrizales said.
KXAN analyzed attendance data at several school districts in Central Texas to try to understand the impact of the policy change. We requested the daily attendance rates for districts with the highest and lowest Hispanic student populations in the days leading up to and after Trump's inauguration.
In districts with the highest Hispanic student populations, attendance dipped the day after the policy change was announced. In Del Valle ISD, where Hispanic and Latino students make up about 83% of the student population, attendance dipped from around 90% the week before the inauguration to 85% on Jan. 22. Other districts with high Hispanic populations, like Lockhart ISD, Elgin ISD, Bastrop ISD and Hays CISD, saw similar drops.
This chart shows the daily attendance rate at school districts between Jan. 13 and Jan. 24, 2025. Districts with a high Hispanic student population saw a short-lived drop in attendance after President Trump's policy change, while those with low Hispanic populations did not. Source: PEIMS attendance data obtained via public information request to each district (KXAN Interactive/Christopher Adams)
It's unclear if fears over ICE raiding schools were the cause of the attendance dip. Other factors may have played a role, like high instances of the flu and other seasonal illnesses. Schools were closed on the day of Trump's inauguration because of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and a winter storm on Jan. 21 — the day of the policy change — forced most schools in the KXAN viewing area to close, except a few in the Hill Country.
But while other factors may have played a part, it's also true that attendance dropped in districts with high Hispanic student rates but not in those with low Hispanic populations. In Dripping Springs ISD, Eanes ISD and Lake Travis ISD, attendance stayed flat — or increased — the day after the policy change. In each of those districts, Hispanics make up less than a quarter of all students. In Eanes ISD, they make up only about 15% of the student population.
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The drop in attendance seen in some districts was short-lived, and rates rebounded somewhat on Jan. 23. In Del Valle ISD, for example, attendance was back up to 90% that day, then about 88% on Jan. 24.
'The kids were like, 'Oh, I am afraid when I come to school that I am going to try to go home, and no one is going to be home for me,' Perez said, referring to concerns that family members could be deported while the students are away. 'Usually, school is a safe space for them, and now they are hearing it might not be – it throws off the entire academic success that they are having.'
Months after DHS rescinded the policy – and even as college campuses around them began to feel the impact of ramped-up immigration efforts – districts across Central Texas reported ICE made no attempts to come onto campuses.
In February, leaders from Alice Independent School District in South Texas stated they had received information indicating that border patrol agents might attempt to board school buses at highway checkpoints, but later retracted the warning.
On an episode of Fox & Friends, U.S. Border Patrol Chief Mike Bank called the idea of agents targeting school buses 'absurd.' ICE told Nexstar Border Report correspondent Sandra Sanchez, 'ICE enforcement resources are based on intelligence-driven leads and ICE officers do not target persons indiscriminately.'
School districts across Central Texas told KXAN they have not received any requests for student information or any attempts to access school campuses from immigration enforcement officials since the policy change on Jan. 21.
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The more present concern for staff at Lehman High School is what will happen to students' families while they are at school, as immigration officials work to deport more people living in the U.S. illegally – and in some cases, those who are in the country legally.
'I have a student. His mom was deported. He was at school, got home, and she was gone,' Lehman High School Mental Health Counselor Jessica Salcido said.
Carrizalez said she's aware of Texas parents who have been detained by immigration authorities while dropping off their kids at school.
'People are vanishing. They are scared. They are hiding, and as a result, they are not taking their children to school,' Carrizalez said.
After a traffic stop over expired tags near Dobie Middle School in Austin late last month, ICE sent a family of five to Mexico. The parents and oldest child were undocumented, and officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said the mother chose to take her two younger children – both of whom the family's legal team said are U.S. citizens – with her when she deported. Texas Department of Public Safety troopers initiated the traffic stop. The state agency told KXAN they were part of a 'regional tactical strike team' collaborating with federal authorities on immigration enforcement at the direction of Gov. Greg Abbott. Abbott's office has not responded to KXAN's request for comment on the matter. According to AISD, 80% of the campus's students are Hispanic, though officials had no further information since the incident was not on school grounds.
SOURCES: ICE sends family of five to Mexico, including US-born kids, after DPS detainment near Austin school
Salcido and Carrizalez both said they are encouraging families to update their children's emergency contacts at their schools in case immigration authorities detain their parents. They are also trying to encourage parents to bring their children to school, despite concerns about separation.
'In many ways, our children are more protected at school than they are at home. If immigration comes to the school, there's a protocol, and they are going to be speaking with attorneys in the school district. When they come to the home, they are going to be speaking with us,' Carrizalez said. 'That also instilled a sense of urgency to make sure schools, in fact, had those protocols in place.'
School districts in Central Texas like Austin Independent School District and Hays Consolidated Independent School District, have published policies or resolutions explaining how they will handle immigration authorities if they were to come onto campuses.
In the publicly posted policy, Austin ISD instructs district staff to contact a school resource officer and to request law enforcement identification or a badge along with documentation explaining why they are on campus. Staff are then instructed to call the district's legal team to review the identification and other documentation.
The guidance states if the district's legal team 'deems the paperwork valid, the school shall permit the law enforcement officer to perform the action authorized in the paperwork.' An Austin ISD official later added that the district would not interfere with any law enforcement action, including if an agency comes with a valid warrant.
But not all school districts in the state have taken a public or proactive approach in the event ICE decides to enter their schools.
In January 2025, when DHS rescinded the federal policy around sensitive locations, the Mexican American Legislative Caucus wrote a letter to the Texas Education Commissioner asking that his agency release guidance for every school district on how to respond to any federal immigration authorities that might try to collect data on students or come onto campus.
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'Please, Commissioner Morath, respond to our letter, and tell us how you, too, are working to protect our Texas kids,' MALC President State Rep. Ramon Romero, D-Fort Worth, said in a video published on X.
In response, Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath wrote back, saying the state expects school districts to 'follow the law' – including maintaining secure facilities and not allowing visitors without a legitimate reason to be on campus. Morath also wrote, 'Campus personnel must not impede federal officials.'
'Well, with what component? If they have a warrant? Or just comply with whatever their actions are,' Romero said in an interview with KXAN. 'It was the most vague, simple response.'
The Texas Education Agency declined KXAN's request for an interview but stated that it had also sent the same guidance to any school district that requested it.
'It is important that schools know, one, students have rights and legal protections,' Carrizales said. 'The only way that a law enforcement official, including immigration, can have access to a student's record is if they present a judicial warrant.'
Higher education has already felt the impact of ramped-up federal immigration enforcement. Since March, college campuses across Texas confirmed to KXAN the federal government has revoked visas or terminated the legal status of more than 100 foreign students, leaving them vulnerable to deportation or detention. Our reporting partner, the Texas Tribune, reports the number is at least 252 statewide.
This map shows the number of students affected by visa revocations or Student and Exchange Visitor Information System record terminations at universities across Texas. Source: University spokespeople (KXAN Interactive/Christopher Adams)
Court records show the federal government has restored the legal status for hundreds of students after several federal lawsuits were filed challenging the decision. The federal government announced in multiple court hearings in April that it intends, at least for now, to restore the legal status of students it had terminated from the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or SEVIS, earlier this year.
The statement, which was read aloud in court by a government attorney, stated, 'ICE is developing a policy that will provide a framework for SEVIS record terminations. Until such a policy is issued, the SEVIS records for plaintiff(s) in this case (and other similarly situated plaintiffs) will remain Active or shall be reactivated if not currently active, and ICE will not modify the record solely based on the NCIC finding that resulted in the recent SEVIS record termination.'
University of Texas at Austin spokesperson Mike Rosen confirmed multiple visa reactivations in the SEVIS database, but clarified that not all students who were terminated since March had their legal status restored.
Rice University confirmed all five of its affected students had their visas reinstated.
The federal government has not specified how it determines which students' statuses should change. However, DHS said in a press release that it would 'consider aliens' antisemitic activity on social media and the physical harassment of Jewish individuals as grounds for denying immigration benefit requests.'
Court records show that in one case, a man from India, who had recently completed his master's degree at the University of Texas-Arlington and was granted authorization to work as a full-time data engineer, was notified that his immigration status had been terminated in SEVIS.
The termination reason was listed as 'otherwise failing to maintain status,' and it further stated that the individual was identified through a criminal records check. According to the lawsuit, he was previously arrested for misdemeanor driving while intoxicated and had already completed the terms of his probation.
According to the lawsuit, the former student received no warning of the termination or opportunity to respond to the allegations.
There are several federal laws protecting student records, including the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. Federal law also prevents schools from collecting or requesting immigration status information from students upon enrollment.
The Plyler v. Doe Supreme Court ruling in 1982 established that undocumented students have a right to a free public education, and states cannot deny them access to education.
But some Texas lawmakers have sought to pass legislation requiring school districts to collect information on undocumented students.
Texas State Sen. Bob Hall, R-Rockwall, proposed Senate Bill 1205, which would require school districts to document students' immigration status and report that information to the state. The bill would also prohibit school districts from receiving state funds for the education of students who are not lawful permanent residents of the United States.
KXAN emailed and called Hall's office repeatedly, but they declined our requests to set up an interview.
'They're scoring political points. They're saying, 'Me, too! I can do it. I can show how tough I am on these undocumented families!' Unfortunately, they're not thinking about the trauma that's occurring,' Rep. Romero said.
Employing undocumented workers in Texas is illegal, but rarely enforced
Perez has spent decades teaching in Texas. Before this latest administration, she had already seen the impact of a child being separated from a parent due to deportation.
She recounts that several years ago, a third grader's father was deported. Perez describes how he went missing from school for several days and how, upon his return to class, he told her about his mother's efforts to keep the family together and make ends meet in the United States.
'It is really, really difficult to have to deal with policies that affect our kids directly,' Perez said with tears in her eyes. 'I just don't know what is going to happen in the next few years.'
KXAN Investigative Photojournalist Richie Bowes, Graphic Artist Wendy Gonzalez, Director of Investigations & Innovation Josh Hinkle, Investigative Photojournalist Chris Nelson, Digital Special Projects Developer Robert Sims, Digital Director Kate Winkle and WFLA Bilingual Digital Producer José Acevedo Negrón contributed to this report.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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