NJ school districts seek ways to help students who could face deportation under Trump

President Donald Trump's campaign promise to carry out the largest-ever "domestic deportation" operation in the U.S. — which he highlighted again in his inaugural address Monday — has prompted New Jersey school districts to contact advocacy groups and relief organizations for advice on how to support families facing deportation risks.

They have sought answers to questions with growing urgency: Can Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers question children? Should immigrant families apply for and carry identification papers? And what should school officials do if an ICE officer wants to enter a school building?

Trump declared a national emergency at the United States' southern border with Mexico after he was sworn in Monday for his second term as president. The declaration was part of a series of executive orders aimed at limiting the number of undocumented immigrants in the country, which also included a halt to resettling refugees and ending the right to citizenship for children born in the U.S. to some foreign natives.

Lina Caswell, associate director of children and youth services at Church World Service, spoke to a group of parents in an elementary school in North Jersey to help answer those and other questions a few mornings ago.

Toddlers played as their mothers and fathers listened. School officials interpreted in Turkish, Arabic, Spanish and Ukrainian. They walked among the parents, translating Caswell's words during a Know Your Rights presentation for parents of bilingual students.

School districts cannot legally ask parents for their immigration status, so the administrators who organized the event knew only that parents in the room were refugees resettled from Ukraine, or else immigrants — either undocumented or with some form of legal status — from countries in the Middle East and South and Central America, mostly Peruvians, Ecuadorians, Colombians and Dominicans.

ICE officers must show a warrant to enter private residences, Caswell said. "Don't open your door till you see a warrant," she told the parents. "ICE might take you. They might let you go. If they let you go — do not run. Why are you running?" she said.

Silence fell over the room when Caswell mentioned ICE officers, the federal agents who make immigration-related arrests, often knocking on doors in the middle of the night or early morning.

Schools and bus stops are protected spaces, Caswell told the group last week, where ICE officers may not make arrests unless there is a security threat, according to government guidelines.

In fact, on Tuesday the Trump administration announced that it had rescinded the long-standing policy preventing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from making arrests in or near so-called sensitive locations, including schools, houses of worship and hospitals.

“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest," a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in a statement. 

Families afraid to send kids to school

School officials and board members from the districts in Montclair, West Orange, Millburn, Roseland, Livingston and Clifton attended a similar forum recently on immigration and education organized by Assemblywoman Allixon Collazos-Gill, D-Montclair.

The event was organized "in response to concerns raised about the incoming administration’s stance on immigration and its potential impact on our families and communities," Collazos-Gill's office said. 

Some families will be afraid to send their kids to school, so it was critical that schools "proactively communicate with parents and students" and look for "potentially a rise in bias incidents against immigrant students," representatives from the New Jersey chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, Make the Road New Jersey, and the law firm Lowenstein Sandler told the audience.

Districts should make sure they are on top of all the resources in their communities to protect students, review all crisis policies and have a plan in place if ICE comes to a school, they said.

"I don't know what the next four years will hold, but I do know that there's a lot of fear right now," said Alexander Shalom, a former ACLU attorney who represented two undocumented Indonesian immigrants who were arrested by ICE in 2018 in Metuchen while dropping their kids off at school.

"I want to make sure people understand that the Constitution applies, regardless of their immigration status," Shalom said.

Districts quietly reaching out for help

For guidance, New Jersey school administrators and superintendents are contacting such organizations as the faith-based group Church World Service and the labor advocacy group Make the Road New Jersey.

New Jersey is a sanctuary state that limits how local public entities share information with federal immigration officers, so districts are reaching out quietly.

At least 10 districts from Bergen, Passaic and Union counties, where school populations are highly diverse, approached Make the Road to ask how to support their immigrant and non-English-speaking students under the new Trump administration. None of the districts wanted their names released publicly, a representative for Make the Road said.

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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents apprehend an undocumented migrant they were surveilling in Falls Church, Va. on Jan. 15, 2025. Congress pays for 41,500 immigration detention beds nationwide, and nearly all were filled at fiscal year's end.

Josh Morgan, USA TODAY

ICE officers are required to refrain from making arrests on playgrounds and in other places where children gather, according to 2021 guidelines from the Department of Homeland Security.

But that guidance came too late for Arino Massie, an Indonesian of Chinese descent who was deported by ICE in May 2017, during the first Trump administration. His then-13-year-old American-born son, Joel Massie, learned of his father’s deportation when he returned home from school in Metuchen.

His father had been working in the United States for 16 years and was arrested unexpectedly after a routine check-in with ICE, then deported without warning.

Arrested by ICE while dropping children at school in NJ

A few months later, on Jan. 25, 2018, two other Central Jersey Indonesian men were arrested by ICE while dropping off their children at school. The ACLU intervened, and the men, part of a wave of Indonesian Christians who left their home country to escape religious persecution, ultimately were not deported.

"The result of that arrest was that fewer parents were willing to drop their kids off at school, and that's bad for all New Jerseyans," said Shalom, who represented the two Indonesian men.

School avoidance and absenteeism are at historically high levels in New Jersey and nationwide, a trend that has been linked to the COVID-19 pandemic's disruptions and school shutdowns. Now, district officials say, fear of arrest or separation from their children could further affect attendance — especially among undocumented populations.

"I want to ensure that all students are always protected in the Montclair school system," said district Superintendent Raymond Cooper, who attended Wednesday's training with school principals, an assistant superintendent and Board of Education members.

"We understand that immigration enforcement at or near schools would have a deleterious effect, including on student learning," said Shalom. "We think that the policies that have been in place that protect student learning have been useful."

"As of now we don't know if there will be enforcement at or near schools, but we understand that if there is, the fear will really percolate, and we want to educate people as much as possible," added Shalom, who now works at Lowenstein Sandler and conducted part of the presentation to district administrators in Montclair.

How parents can prepare for the weeks ahead

Similarly, Caswell told the parents at the other recent session, “We’re getting a lot of information through WhatsApp and social media. Sometimes we don’t know what’s accurate and not." She asked her audience to contact attorneys and such organizations as Church World Service, which partners with Rutgers University-Newark's legal clinic and Kids in Need of Defense, or KIND.

A few parents asked how they should prepare for the weeks ahead.

"Keep your documents in one place at all times, including bills, leases, tax documents that show proof of residency in the U.S.," Caswell advised. Make sure to carry your New Jersey state ID with you, and do not carry anything that shows which country you are from, she told them.Even though everything she was saying could change now that Trump is in office, Caswell reminded parents that they are "on American soil," which also gives them due protections through the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

"It doesn’t matter what your immigration status is — you have a voice," she said. "Don’t be afraid to use your story, to seek assistance or to participate, whether in a school board or going to City Hall to express your opinion."