Amid support of deportation, ICE raids also raise concerns about more students avoiding school

Americans have strongly voiced their desire for tougher illegal-immigration enforcement policies, most notably at election booths and in polls, but recent federal deportation raids appear to have also resulted in the unintended consequence of increasing truancy rates in U.S. schools.  

A recent study by Stanford University Professor Thomas S. Dee shows a 22% increase in truancy in the first two months of this year in the Central Valley region of California – where parents living in the U.S. illegally fear they will be detained, resulting in their child or children returning from school to an empty house.

"These increased absences underscore the broader policy relevance of this immigration enforcement in terms of their impact on schools, childhood stress and opportunities to learn," Dee said about his findings, which compare three previous years of attendance records to those in January and February. 

The Central Valley increase, in fact, followed a series of U.S. Customs and Border Protection sweeps – known as “Operation Return to Sender" – in the final days of the Biden administration.

Still, Dee recently told The New York Times the matter represents a "canary in a coalmine" for the U.S. education system as the Trump administration ramps up similar efforts.

"Specifically, these results indicate that these raids increased daily counts of student absences from school by 22 percent, an increase consistent with prior evidence on the impact of immigration raids," he also said.

The situation in the Central Valley does not appear unique. 

When the Trump administration deployed troops to Los Angeles last week in response to violent protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportations sweeps at workplaces, absences reportedly increased, despite the district having tried to reassure families that schools were safe.

Beyond children missing classes and falling behind in their studies, the truancy issue also impacts the state because it receives federal funding based on attendance.

In Denver, public schools Superintendent Alex Marrero recently told USA Today that ICE raids have kept some students out of school for days. 

“No student can learn when they're under stress and anxiety," he said. "My community is living in fear." 

Marrero also noted that ICE disruptions in schools put them at risk for setting back the academic progress made by the students since the pandemic, and similar situations have reportedly been seen in Chicago and Erie, Pa.

To be sure, Americans' dissatisfaction with the Biden administration's handling of border security and illegal immigration in general contributed largely to Trump's reelection. 

Six months into his second term, the president still has voter support for his immigration policies.

Earlier this month, before the ICE raids in Los Angeles, a CBS-YouGov poll found 53% of respondents approved of the Trump administration's plan to deport migrants illegally in the U.S., compared to roughly 47% who disapproved. (The poll was taken June 4-6, just before the raids, with a 2.4-point margin of error.) 

However, a poll released Monday suggests support is on the decline, or at least support for the administration deploying the Marines and National Guard to help control violent protests and provide backup to ICE agents, as it did in Los Angeles.

Forty-seven percent of Americans disapprove of Trump’s decision to deploy the Marines, compared to 34% who approve, according to YouGov polling.  

On the issue of the president federalizing the California National Guard and deploying them against the protesters, 45% of respondents disapprove, compared to 38% who approve, the poll also shows.