How Fresno families and schools cope with fear of deportation

In early 2025, the Donald Trump administration rescinded the protected areas policy, allowing immigration authorities to detain undocumented individuals in places like churches, schools, and hospitals. This measure has generated great concern in the Fresno County community. Dr. Carlos Castillo, interim chief academic officer for the Fresno Unified School District, explains how this policy change is affecting school attendance and how the district is responding to this situation.

We’ve heard of cases where families have moved from Fresno, perhaps to another country. Some families aren’t sending their children to school for fear of deportation, and other cases have been significantly affected by immigration.

Dr. Castillo explains that, unlike the previous school year, this year more students are missing classes, and with greater frequency.

It was really after the inauguration of the new president on January 20th of this year that we began to see a decline in student attendance.

In addition to student absenteeism, participation in after-school programs has also decreased, as has parent attendance at school meetings. Because of this, the school district is feeling a financial blow, says Dr. Castillo.

Many have not come to school out of fear, and that’s really going to cost us. So we’re going to lose several dollars, and those dollars are actually going to resources for programs and educating our students.

For their part, some parents are exploring alternatives for their children, such as enrolling them in the FARBER program, an online alternative school program. This alternative was suggested as an option by the Fresno School District in preparation for the immigration change. When the election happened in November, we in the district mobilized to contract with CIVIIC, ILF, and other organizations to provide workshops for our parents and students.

Immigration and family preparation workshops, organized periodically in collaboration with local/Central Valley immigration resource organizations, are part of the Fresno School District’s effort to prepare families in the event of deportation. Francisco, whose children are enrolled in Fresno schools, recently participated in an immigration workshop at Roosevelt High School to seek the help of a lawyer to help him sort out his immigration status. He told us about his feelings about the current immigration climate.

And with a little fear, don’t think so… just worried about the families, and about myself too, because he worries about the families who go out to work.

Francisco says that, although his children are young and don’t understand much, they also worry about what could happen. However, he is grateful that the school district is offering these resources. Well, you feel embraced by God because they’re helping Mexican people—not just Mexicans, but those who need it, like visas, and who don’t know about these programs.

In addition to immigration workshops for families, the Fresno School District also began training teachers and administrative staff on how to act in the event of encounters with immigration agents at schools. Chief Academic Officer Dr. Castillo states that the district’s stance on immigration matters hasn’t changed since 2017

The only way officers can actually enter and detain a student [would be] if they have a warrant, or perhaps something signed by a judge, telling us they have to enter. And in fact, to date, that hasn’t happened in any of our schools. But beyond that, we’re not going to really cooperate with officers to detain students if they don’t have the proper documentation.

In the Fresno Unified School District, Latino students represent the majority, making up 70% of the student population. Dr. Castillo emphasizes the importance of education, even in times of uncertainty.
Whatever happens, we will be here to protect them as much as possible and to educate them. Your children will always be better off with an education. So, the more they can be educated, the better. And now is really the time to focus on school, because that will truly be the future for us to get through this.

Graveyard:

But although student attendance is low due to the fear of deportation, Principal Dr. Castillo also says they are experiencing an influx of newly arrived students from other states and other countries…

Perhaps they are from other states that are not like California, which protects them, and perhaps they are coming to California, is part of what we think.