If immigration agents arrive on the doorstep of a New York City public school, principals have been told what to do. Ask the officers to wait outside, and call a school district lawyer.
The school system has enrolled about 40,000 recent immigrant students since 2022. Now, as President-elect Donald J. Trump prepares to take office with promises to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, the district has shared with school staff a protocol to try to shield students who have a tenuous legal status.
In a December letter to principals, Emma Vadehra, the district’s chief operating officer, wrote, “We hope using this protocol will never be necessary.”
Still, New York and some other school districts across the country are readying educators and immigrant families for a potential wave of deportations.
Public schools serving clusters of migrant children have already dealt with a dizzying set of challenges in recent years, as an influx of hundreds of thousands of migrants crossed the southern border. Some are educating students who speak Indigenous languages and may have never before been enrolled in formal education. Others are trying to prod teenagers to class, when they may face intense pressure to earn money. And many have assisted newly arrived families with finding shelter, food and winter clothes.
Now, these schools are facing an additional challenge: convincing parents to send their children to class when some are so anxious about deportation that they are reluctant to separate from their children for even part of the day.
“We have parents who are afraid,” said Adam Clark, superintendent of the Mount Diablo Unified School District, northeast of San Francisco. “We are trying to inform them of what their rights are.”
About 20 percent of students in the Mount Diablo district are still learning English, meaning they are most likely recent immigrants, according to Dr. Clark. After Election Day, attendance fell, he said, though he emphasized that it was not clear exactly why students were missing.
Later this month, the district will host a legal information session for parents. Its social workers have explained to families that under current law, undocumented immigrant children have the right to a public education, and federal immigration agents generally cannot arrest students or family members at schools. They have also noted that American public schools do not typically track the immigration status of students.
But like other education leaders, Dr. Clark acknowledged that there was only so much reassurance he could offer.
A longstanding policy prevents Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from making arrests at schools and other sensitive locations, such as hospitals and churches.
But right-leaning policy advocates in Mr. Trump’s orbit, including the writers of Project 2025, a blueprint created for the new administration, have pushed to rescind the policy, arguing that to speed deportations, agents should be able to exercise judgment on where they operate. That has left many educators worried that federal agents could arrive at their doors.
“We’re going to follow the law whether we agree with it or not,” Dr. Clark said. “If they have proper documentation to execute their lawful duties, we will work with them.”
The Trump transition team did not respond to a list of detailed questions about migrant schoolchildren and deportation. But in a written statement, Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Mr. Trump, said the president was given a mandate to deport criminals and terrorists.
In communities across the country, local officials have debated how much to cooperate with the incoming Trump administration on deportations. New York City’s mayor, Eric Adams, a Democrat, has repeatedly voiced frustration with the number of migrants living in the city, and has recently taken a more conciliatory approach to Mr. Trump.
Mr. Adams runs the New York City school system. Nevertheless, district officials have told principals and school security staff to immediately call a school district lawyer if ICE agents show up and demand access to a school — in part because it can be difficult for nonexperts to distinguish a judicial warrant from other types of paperwork.
In the absence of a judicial warrant, the district “does not consent to nonlocal law enforcement accessing school facilities in any circumstances,” reads the official policy.
For educators concerned about their students being deported, the city has directed them to online information sessions hosted by Project Rousseau, a nonprofit that provides legal services to immigrants.
In one of those meetings, Bethany Thorne of Project Rousseau said teachers should tell families anxious about deportation to keep their children attending school, and to not skip a single court date, even if they do not have a lawyer.
Missing court “is a surefire way to get yourself removed,” she said.
In Chicago, which has enrolled as many as 17,000 recent immigrant students, issues related to the influx have become a factor in the contract negotiations between the teachers’ union and the public school system.
The district is struggling to maintain staffing amid a budget deficit. But because of the many needs of recent immigrant students, schools need more investments for both smaller class sizes and more bilingual teaching assistants and social workers, argued Rebecca Martinez, campaign director for the Chicago Teachers Union.
Among the migrant students are those “who have never been to school, or are in seventh grade and last went to school in second grade,” she said. “All that exists in one classroom, and that’s the pressure educators are facing.”
The school district declined an interview request, but issued a written statement emphasizing its commitment to serving all children in Chicago, regardless of their immigration status or home language.
In addition, the district said it planned to review with principals relevant laws and policies, such as the need for federal agents to display a warrant or demonstrate that there is an “imminent threat to public safety” before entering a school.
In Denver, another hub for recent immigrants, Tricia Noyola, chief executive of the charter school network Rocky Mountain Prep, said that many families had been fearful since Election Day, but also “resolute” in their desire to stay in the country and keep their children in school.
While Mr. Trump often talks about recent immigrants as threats, she said, she and her team have noticed how vulnerable they are — with some parents falling prey to scams in which they are given fake paychecks for construction work or asked to put down a deposit for an apartment that does not materialize.
Dr. Clark, the superintendent in California, noted that rumors about deportation have detracted from the district’s efforts to educate recent immigrant children.
To make it easier for migrant students, mostly from Guatemala, to work part time, the district has opened a half-day high school program. Encouraging attendance is a priority, but is more difficult when families fear the authorities.
“It’s disappointing that we’re having to have these discussions,” Dr. Clark said. “This talk taking place is a distraction.”
