UCLA Brief Sheds Light on Immigration Enforcement’s Impact on Latinx Students

A new research brief, The Impact of a Broken Immigration System on U.S. Students and Schools shines a bright light on the harmful impact of immigration enforcement on Latinx children of undocumented immigrants, spotlighting the need for comprehensive reforms that ensure the well-being of all students, regardless of the immigration status of their parents. 

The project, led by UCLA education professor and Center for the Transformation of Schools co-faculty director Lucrecia Santibañez, and published as part of an innovative collaboration between UCLA’s Latino Policy and Politics Institute, the Center for the Transformation of Schools, and Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles, details findings from an earlier Civil Rights Project study reporting that two-thirds of educators surveyed reported a negative impact of immigration enforcement in their schools.  The brief updates those findings with new data from more recent studies, and includes specific findings highlighting concerns over academic indicators such as student achievement, attendance, grade retention, and dropout rates, as well as factors such as instances of bullying, feelings of safety at school, school climate and engagement, and the impacts on educators themselves. 

“This research makes clear our broken immigration system breeds uncertainty and fear among Latinx students and the children of other immigrants, their friends and peers, their teachers, and ultimately, entire school communities,” said Santibañez. “If we want all students to succeed, we need to take concrete steps to end the fear they face on a constant basis.”  

The new brief builds upon earlier research by UCLA education professor Patricia Gándara, co-director of the Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles, who was the principal investigator and co-author (with Jongyeon Ee) of a 2018 study of U.S. Immigration enforcement policy and its impact on teaching and learning, as well as a subsequent book, Schools Under Siege: The Impact of Immigration Enforcement on Educational Equity. In the research, overall, two out of three survey respondents observed a negative impact of immigration enforcement in their schools.

“With all of the hysteria about the ‘crisis at the border’, attention has shifted away from the decades-long problem of a broken immigration system that is having a catastrophic effect on the children caught in the middle,” Gándara said.  “This brief is an attempt to shed light on these schoolchildren across the country - 90% of whom are U.S. citizens - who fear for their families’ safety because of immigration enforcement actions that simultaneously compromise their educational trajectories.”

The brief urges policymakers to support all students in our schools by instituting safeguards that shield school-age children from immigration enforcement actions, and by creating an environment where education remains a priority over fear, and provides specific recommendations for doing so.

The Impact of a Broken Immigration System on U.S. Students and Schools is a project of UCLA’s Latino Policy and Politics Institute, Center for the Transformation of Schools, and Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles. The authors of the brief include Patricia Gándara, Lucrecia Santibañez, Jongyeon Joy Ee, and, Julieta Rico. The brief is available online.

A news summary highlighting specific findings of the research brief is available on the Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles website.