Don't scare kids away from school: Immigrants are not 'safer at home'

Minneapolis, St. Paul and other Minnesota school districts are telling students they can stay home from school and take classes online if they're scared of ICE raids. This is very bad advice. Children are not "safer at home."

We know that "remote learning" doesn't produce much learning, especially for students from non-English-speaking families. We know anxiety and depression soar when children are isolated. Clashes between ICE officers and anti-ICE activists have created an atmosphere of hysteria. This makes it worse.

We're fairly sure older kids will be out on the streets looking for excitement, not hiding in crowded apartments wondering how their parents will pay the rent without going to their jobs. They'd be far safer from ICE inside school buildings, which -- despite the hysteria -- have not been raided. They might learn something, or, at least, get two free meals a day.

Absenteeism has been a huge problem since schools closed for Covid, and this will make it even worse for the most vulnerable students.

Schools have "observers at parent drop-offs and pick-ups because kids and their parents are terrified of what these masked agents might show up and do," said Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan. That could be useful, if there's no performative whistle blowing.

"Parents and teachers have reported a heavy ICE presence at Minneapolis-area day cares — in particular, Spanish-language immersion programs," writes reports Beth Hawkins on The 74. "Residents in some neighborhoods have set up babysitting co-ops for families of preschoolers scared to use their regular centers or for parents who want to care for their own kids to enable immigrant care providers to stay home."

Some people are bringing food to families who are afraid to go to the supermarket.

All this is useful if ICE goes away in a few weeks, which is unlikely. How long can these very low-income families survive without working? You need heat in the winter in Minnesota. Self-deportation will look better and better.

"Students in most Minnesota districts have yet to return to pre-pandemic academic achievement levels, according to an analysis in the Minnesota Reformer," Hawkins notes.

In Oakland, California, volunteers are giving immigrant students rides to and from school, reports EdSource's Zaidee Stavely. They're also adding to the hysteria by patrolling for ICE agents who never come.