“It’s going out each day with fear because there’s a lot of talk at times about how they’re going to come, that they’re going to kick you out, how they’re coming to your house to get you. If you’re stopped by an officer, you’ll get kicked out. Honestly, it makes me fearful. We are all fearful.”
Every day since student Abigail Trejo* (she/her) came to the United States, the threat of deportation has shaped her and her family’s lives. After immigrating through undocumented channels, Trejo and her family applied and were accepted for limited visas. Although these visas allow them to legally reside in the U.S. until 2026, the visas have done little to alleviate the constant uncertainty. Trejo described this stress simply as:
“Ugly.”
This is not a unique experience. Every year, over 100,000 undocumented students graduate high school in the U.S., according to the National Immigration forum. In a study conducted by UCLA on 5,400 school staff nationwide, 85% reported that students have expressed fear of being deported while on school grounds, with 44% describing the impact of this fear as “extensive.” This is in spite of the fact that ICE officials currently consider schools a “protected area” and therefore cannot enter school grounds unless very rare circumstances are met. There is a possibility that the incoming Trump administration may change that, but nothing is confirmed. Even for students from documented immigrant families for whom that fear is not as severe, having parents from another country still impacts their academic experience. For example, student Nelson Campuzano* (he/him), whose parents are undocumented immigrants from Mexico, has found it harder to get help with schoolwork. Campuzano does not attribute this to his parents being undocumented, but rather to them growing up in Mexico instead of the U.S.
“They weren’t able to receive any education in Mexico,” Campuzano said. “So when coming here and then, like me, throughout my childhood, schooling has been a little bit difficult in the sense that it’s kind of hard to get help from them. Most students go to their parents first when wanting to receive help, in school at least. But with me, it’s a little bit difficult because they just didn’t receive that education.”
Language barriers also significantly impact the academic performance and social development of immigrant students, according to a report by the University of Malta that studied immigrant students across two different schools. Trejo struggles with English, and while this hasn’t stopped her from taking the classes she wants, it has made keeping up difficult.
“I feel that people here don’t help you,” Trejo said. “The people who speak Spanish don’t help you. If by chance there are people in the classroom who speak Spanish and the teacher asks if they can help me, they say no. Yeah, it sucks.”
There are resources at Inglemoor and in NSD to support students who face significant barriers to their high school education. The Family Engagement and Resource Center is one such resource, and its primary goal is to create an environment in which disadvantaged students have the resources they need to pursue academic excellence. The assistant director of the center, Dr. Srinivas Khedam (he/him), said that these students face varied challenges.
“Some of those things could be shelter, it could be food, it could be clothing, or it could be other resources that they are looking for,” Khedam said. “Sometimes families struggle to find a home. They don’t have a home because of economic challenges.”
For families’ privacy, the center does not keep a record of undocumented community members, but Khedam said it is reasonable to assume that some immigrant families would benefit from the support the center provides. Moreover, Khedam said that keeping statistics on undocumented families in the area could deter families from reaching out for the support they need.
“What happens is, parents do not want to come forward,” Khedam said. “There’s a stigma associated with it. Obviously, there are worries, right? Always parents, the students, are worried about whether they are going to be reported to the Immigration Services somewhere by the government, right?”
Although Campuzano said that deportation is not a constant fear, having undocumented family members has changed his approach to making large decisions.
“It has really impacted me academically, because with FAFSA you either need to provide your Social Security or your tax ID,” Campuzano said. “And the problem is, my parents just started with taxes and they’re undocumented, so they don’t have a social security number, and they don’t really have their tax ID number yet. So I’m unable to apply for FAFSA, which is a big hit for colleges financially.”
There are resources for students who cannot apply for federal financial aid. WASFA is financial aid provided by the state of Washington, and it does not require a social security number to apply.
The impacts of non-citizenship can also extend beyond academics and into home life. Trejo said her family often decides to hold off on large purchases, such as a home or car, for fear that they will be deported and the money will have gone to waste.
With the incoming Trump presidency, Trejo said this uncertainty is only getting worse. Trump has stated plans to coordinate a mass deportation effort early in his second term. The National Immigrant Justice Center reports that this could include raids on workplaces and neighborhoods and may result in deportation without due process regardless of how long an immigrant has resided in the U.S. It is unclear if Trump will deliver on this promise. Trejo said the prospect of this law is not only frightening but also unfair.
“I feel that, I don’t know if it will go well or badly for us because he talks a lot about how he wants all the Mexicans out, and well, it feels bad because I make an effort to live here and then for them to kick us out like that, in an unjust manner, because he’s judging us without knowing us,” Trejo said.
Despite the numerous challenges immigrant students and students with immigrant families face, Khedam said that supporting these students and their families is not an individual task but one for the community.
“Communities come together to help these families, and you are making a difference in the lives of those families — significant, generational change,” Khedam said. “Humanity is the priority. Everyone is a human being. Everyone has needs. And we, as community leaders and as well as a community — we have to support each other without having to look at their immigration status.”
Financial Resources for college
These sources of aid do not require documentation such as a social security number or proof of residency
- WASFA state financial aid
- Scholarships on Washboard.org that do not require U.S citizenship
- Beyond Dreaming Scholarships specifically for undocumented students
- Immigrants Rising provides tips and scholarship opportunities for students from immigrant families
Sourced from the Washington Student Achievement Council
