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Immigrant support organizations, who wished to remain unnamed due to concerns of being targeted, throughout Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts say they’ve received a large number of calls and messages from parents who are concerned that their children may be apprehended by ICE either at school, or on the way to and from their schools.
Officials from school districts in the region said it was too soon to confirm whether attendance has gone down. But Helena DaSilva Hughes of the Immigrants’ Assistance Center in New Bedford says she’s heard from teachers in Fall River and New Bedford who are seeing a noticeable drop in attendance.
“They’re afraid of everything right now. I mean, that’s why I think that what this will create is this – these families will go further underground,” DaSilva Hughes said. “And they are not going to be calling the police if there’s anything that happens to them, or if they get robbed.”
This comes at a time when the Trump administration is issuing sweeping reforms to immigration policies via executive orders and the first bill of the administration, the Laken Riley Act, a bipartisan bill that greatly expands the scope of who can be arrested, detained and deported by federal immigration officers. Other recent changes include Trump putting an end to many temporary status programs from the Biden era and threatening to revoke legal status to migrants who arrived under Biden.
DaSilva Hughes said rumors on social media are inflaming the fears of a community being targeted by the Trump administration. But she said it’s important for parents to be wary of misinformation, and keep kids in school.
“The safest place for your children to be is in school, and we need to make sure that they’re in school because then what happens is, if you don’t just send your kids to school, then now the DCF is going to get involved, right?” DaSilva Hughes said.
Rhode Attorney General Peter Neronha’s office has issued guidance for schools to help clarify where ICE agents can and cannot enter without a judicial warrant.
While ICE agents do have the ability to enter schools, they would still need a judicial warrant to go into non-public areas. Despite some rumors online, there has been no ICE presence reported at schools in Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts. Leaders and advocates, like DaSilvia Hughes, recommend living as normally as one possibly can and seeking out local immigrant assistance organizations to get more information.
