A powerful new article from Madison Thacker and Olamide Olumide at Van Nuys High School in California captures the daily anxiety immigrant classmates face in Los Angeles. It describes what it feels like to walk the hallways fearing an encounter with immigration officers or to sit in class while wondering if a parent will be taken before the end of the day.
The piece paints a vivid picture of how immigration enforcement policies ripple through families, school attendance, and entire communities. It’s a rare chance to see this crisis through the eyes of students themselves — raw, unfiltered, and urgent.
Editorial Reflection
It’s one thing for immigration officials to carry out enforcement actions. It’s another to bring their presence into schools. Even when ICE agents don’t detain anyone, showing up with uniforms, vehicles, or dogs has the effect of instilling fear. Students absorb that fear — and many choose not to attend class at all, worried they’ll be next or that a family member won’t be home when they return.
This environment is the opposite of what schools are meant to provide. A classroom cannot be a safe place for learning if the threat of deportation hovers over every lesson. Whether or not raids are “demonstrations,” the message is clear: intimidation works. The cost is borne by children whose only offense is trying to go to school.