The apprehensions and removals occurred in a 10-month period between Jan. 1 and Nov. 19, 2025, according to figures released by DHS in response to a query from Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin.

It reveals for the first time that this group, who were granted protected status during the Obama administration and whose fate has been the subject of ongoing litigation, have been swept up by President Donald Trump鈥檚 aggressive immigration enforcement. 

It’s unclear whether more have been detained or deported since November, a period of time that saw immigration sweeps in Charlotte, North Carolina, New Orleans and Minneapolis.

DACA recipients took a chance when they registered their biometric data with the government starting in 2012 as part of the application process. Immigrant advocates say they are sickened to see this information used against them in a campaign that has brought chaos, terror and, in some cases, death, to U.S. cities.

鈥淎s someone who worked in those early days of the DACA program to ease fears and encourage youth to apply, it breaks my heart to see the trust they put into the process betrayed more than a decade later,鈥� said Wendy Cervantes, a director at The Center for Law and Social Policy. 鈥淚t’s simply wrong, like setting a trap for young people who have grown up here and have done everything possible to be able to remain in the country they call home.鈥�

DACA recipients are lawfully present in the United States during the period of deferred action and also receive work authorization, although this right is . In multiple states, DACA recipients have under the Affordable Care Act 鈥� and in some places no longer qualify for

Nearly had obtained lawful permanent resident status as of March 31, 2024, according to the Congressional Research Service. Some have DACA status. There were active DACA recipients as of December 31, 2024. 

Alejandra V谩zquez Baur, a fellow at The Century Foundation, a progressive think tank, called the government鈥檚 targeting of DACA recipients shameful, saying it reflects a greater, solvable problem.  

鈥淚t underscores the importance of providing a path to citizenship for DACA recipients as their protections were temporary and insufficient in the first place,鈥� she said. 鈥淚mmigrants 鈥� all immigrants 鈥� deserve dignity. Congress can and must restore that dignity to the system in the face of such abuses of power as we鈥檝e seen in the last year under this administration.鈥�

including Trump, who has . Yet a path to citizenship remains elusive for this group. Last summer, DHS urged DACA recipients to . 

Juliana Macedo do Nascimento, a DACA recipient and deputy director of federal advocacy for United We Dream, said the government鈥檚 reversal is devastating. 

鈥淭his is obviously unacceptable, unconscionable and a betrayal of the promises made by the U.S. government,鈥� she said. 鈥淒ACA is a lawful program that does provide legal protection from detention and deportation which has been , no matter what this current administration says.鈥� 

DHS, in its to Durbin, said that of the 261 DACA recipients arrested, 241 had 鈥渃riminal histories.” Trump has said he is targeting 鈥渢he worst of the worst鈥� for deportation, but records show less than 14% of those arrested by ICE in his first year back in office had

DHS said, too, in its letter, that DACA does not offer protection from deportation.  

鈥淒ACA, like all forms of deferred action, is a temporary forbearance from removal within the authority of the Secretary of Homeland Security,鈥� the letter states. 鈥淚t comes with no right or entitlement to remain in the United States indefinitely. Aliens with certain criminal histories will not be considered for DACA. Further, those who violate the terms are also subject to termination and removal.鈥�

But immigrant advocates say the government is not acting in good faith. 

鈥淭here is a process to rescind DACA status but this government is not going through that,鈥� said Macedo do Nascimento. 鈥淣o matter what that number is, any detention and deportation of DACA recipients on valid status is unlawful.鈥� 

The crackdown comes as the government is failing to meet its promise of deporting millions quickly. Immigration agents are struggling to satisfy a stated goal of . 

The United States was home to in 2023, of whom were undocumented, according to Pew Research. 

Records show live in California, 17% in Texas, 5% in Illinois and 4% in both New York and Florida, with the remainder spread across the country. More than 80% are from Mexico, 4% are from El Salvador and 3% are from Guatemala.

Applicants had to be under 16 at the time of entry into the United States, younger than 31 on June 15, 2012 and either enrolled in school 鈥� or have graduated 鈥� , among a host of other requirements. They had to submit to background checks, reapply to the program every two years and pay hundreds of dollars in fees to participate. 

The government stopped processing new DACA requests in late 2017. But Cervantes sees another way forward. 

鈥淒ACA recipients represent the best of us: they are teachers, doctors, business owners, and leaders in their communities,鈥� she said. 鈥淢any are parents who have built a life here, with more than a quarter of a million U.S. citizen children with at least one parent with DACA. The success of the DACA program has proven what is possible when policymakers choose humanity and opportunity over hate and cruelty.鈥�

Updated Jan 22: As of Jan 21, the Department of Homeland Security has  its 鈥渟ensitive locations鈥� policy, allowing immigration raids where children gather including schools, hospitals and churches.

Parents showing their children where passports and other important legal documents are hidden at home. 

Mothers and fathers signing affidavits outlining who their childrens鈥� caregiver would be. 

Guardians making arrangements with schools for dismissal in the event they have been picked up by federal agents in a deportation sweep.

These are the daily conversations and heartbreaking realities mixed-status families 鈥� where not all kids, parents or grandparents hold American citizenship or legal status to reside in the U.S. 鈥� are rehearsing in case children come home to an empty house.

With Donald Trump鈥檚 border czar Tom Homan pledging to operate the largest deportation operation in American history in just days, parents, advocates, lawyers, and educators nationwide are working nonstop to protect and prepare families and school staff. 

鈥淪tudents can鈥檛 focus on learning when they鈥檙e worried about whether their parents will come home at the end of the day, when they see themselves dehumanized in the press, or when representatives of the federal government come to their city to say, 鈥榊ou鈥檒l be first in line for removal,鈥欌�� Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates said last month. The union has rolled out a 鈥淪anctuary Training Series鈥� for staff and parents on how to protect kids from federal raids.  

社区黑料 interviewed dozens of people working with some of the nearly six million families facing ongoing dehumanization and to understand how deportation plans are affecting schools and students. 

School leaders throughout the country have begun sharing : Ensuring bus drivers and front office staff are trained on legal policies; providing simple scripts for what to say when interacting with federal law enforcement; explaining what鈥檚 next if the worst happens and families .

Educators, like healthcare workers, are sharing tips on for interacting with federal agents. Immigrant coalitions and parents are leading “” trainings in schools. Some schools are increasing mental health offerings as widespread increases along with anti-immigrant hate. 

鈥淲e need to let you know, if you are a student who is undocumented or a family who is undocumented, we will take care of you,” former teacher and board member Scott Esserman vowed at a Denver school board meeting in . “That’s our responsibility.鈥�

When pressed on what the Trump administration’s plans would mean for millions of families with young children, officials have advised deported parents to take their American citizen children . If their home countries won鈥檛 accept them, the administration has reportedly where they will be permanently displaced 鈥� places where they may have no cultural, linguistic connection to.

Immigration enforcement operations will start in , Illinois and , Colorado, just outside of Denver, Trump administration officials have said.  

In response, school districts including , , , , and have reiterated resolutions passed during Trump鈥檚 first term and are training staff on how to protect families鈥� privacy in any interactions with immigration enforcement. 

, the nation鈥檚 largest, has a clear cut policy: If immigration enforcement officers do arrive at a school building, staff must keep them outside, notifying the districts鈥� legal counsel to first verify any warrants or subpoenas.

“Protecting immigrant students in and around school is not only moral 鈥� it’s the ,鈥� said Alejandra V谩zquez Baur, co-founder of the National Newcomer Network and fellow at The Century Foundation. Accessing free education, regardless of immigration status, has been protected as a constitutional right for 42 years. 

And like hospitals, schools, afterschool programs and chldrens鈥� bus stops have long been considered 鈥渟ensitive locations,鈥� protected from federal immigration raids without appropriate approval. Dozens of families sought refuge in while immigration arrests spread during the last Trump administration. 

Today, advocates are preparing for a different ballgame. The Trump administration鈥檚 include scrapping the Homeland Security鈥檚 sensitive locations policy, a move legal experts expect would be challenged. 

鈥淲e don鈥檛 want people with contagious diseases too scared to go to the hospital or children going uneducated because of poorly considered deportation policies,鈥� Lee Gelernt, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union told . 

While the legal logistical challenges to operate mass deportations are predictable and being planned for 鈥� Texas, for instance, has pledged for deportation centers – immigration law scholar Hiroshi Motomura expects a wildcard: the public鈥檚 political will. 

鈥淲hen you have the rhetoric and focus on the wall and on the border, it’s easy to stick with this idea that immigration law is to protect 鈥榰s鈥� from 鈥榯hem,鈥欌�� Motomura told 社区黑料. 

鈥淏ut it really is different when you start depriving employees of their families, and kids see their classmates deported,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t completely shifts the political vulnerability and what’s going on here.鈥�

社区黑料 spoke with school staff, advocates and lawyers in states with the highest volume of mixed-status families about what they expect and how they鈥檙e preparing for the Trump administration鈥檚 mass deportation plans: 

Priscilla Monico Mar铆n

Executive Director of the New Jersey Consortium for Immigrant Children 

Reality set in for Mar铆n and her New Jersey-based team over the summer: Trump鈥檚 second presidency was a distinct possibility. To reach as many immigrant youth as quickly as they could, they started brainstorming, identifying a new district partner, Jersey City Public Schools.

Mar铆n felt 鈥渃alled鈥� to support families like her own when anti-immigrant rhetoric resurged, swapping her career as a bilingual teacher to become an immigration lawyer. 

鈥淣o one wants to be defined by your hardest day,鈥� she said, adding too often undocumented students are not defined by their 鈥渉umor, their curiosity, or their strength,鈥� but instead their status and trauma.

Her team leads workshops and shares resources for classes of multilingual learners, so that they can secure immigration case support, access to social services and help others work past barriers to school enrollment.

The current situation has created a sense of urgency to what Mar铆n and her team do. 

After she leaves the schools, older students start calling their hotline for assistance to secure visas and more stable immigration statuses, and to ask, 鈥淚鈥檓 undocumented. How do I enroll in healthcare?,鈥� while some navigate the web of government bureaucracy as the only bilingual person in their families. 

Prerna Arora

Columbia Teachers College Faculty, New York

鈥� a professor who studies the mental and physical health impacts of immigration on children 鈥� is witnessing a culture of fear and pain that鈥檚 limiting learning as fears of deportation loom. 

Working with 100 immigrant youth and asylum seekers throughout New York City, she has seen more hesitance and skepticism to share their emails or names in recent months than ever before. 

Many expressed feeling 鈥渦nderestimated鈥� People may expect them not to have any language skills or fewer than they have.鈥� Arora said. 鈥�…A lot of them spoke up to say, 鈥榳e want people to know that we actually do want to try, we do care.鈥欌�� 

In addition, several noted bias, hate and harassment from both children and adult K-12 school staff. 鈥淢aybe it’s a comment in passing that nobody realized how harmful it was.鈥� Students are especially hurt when teachers say nothing at all after an  incident. 

Particularly to curb absenteeism, Arora emphasized schools need to focus on providing several tiers of mental health supports, ranging from school-wide workshops to small group and individual counseling, and establishing a sense of safety so that 鈥減arents and kids feel like the school can be trusted.鈥� 

Miguel Bocanegra

Immigration Lawyer with Cornell University鈥檚 Path2Papers Program, California

A small team of lawyers have held over 500 free consultations since launching one year ago, quickly mobilizing to move as many working DACA recipients toward more permanent legal residency before the Supreme Court or Trump鈥檚 administration upends the program鈥檚 fate.

Their approach is 鈥渙ffensive as opposed to defensive 鈥� to assist people in getting visas, to move in a positive direction that would not keep them in permanent limbo,鈥� said Bocanegra, who has been practicing immigration law for over two decades. 

Bocanegra anticipates the Supreme Court may put an end to DACA as soon as late 2025, though it . The Obama-era policy has enabled more than 700,000 鈥渄reamers鈥� brought to the country as children to attain temporary legal status and work authorization. 

Today, he hosts confidential consultations with teachers and on campuses and over Zoom, helping them and their employers secure sponsorship and more permanent statuses like H-1B visas.

Roughly 82% of the people they鈥檝e worked with are eligible for more stable statuses via employment or humanitarian visas. 

鈥淲e’re advising employers to educate themselves and make decisions one way or the other about whether they can move forward with these visa options while there鈥檚 still some time.鈥�

Alejandra V谩zquez Baur

Co-founder of National Newcomer Network, New York

A former south Florida teacher who grew up in a mixed status household, V谩zquez Baur has witnessed generations of kids live with fears of deportation that often led to school absenteeism. 

While the incoming administration鈥檚 agenda seems more willing to target families and threaten kids鈥� right to education, she urged school leaders to remember, 鈥渢he law is still the law, nothing has changed yet.鈥�

The fear school staff may experience when encountering federal law enforcement is  only mitigated by knowing what to do. Some have begun printing out and language that front office staff, bus drivers and security agents can use: 鈥淲e follow district policy and cannot provide any information without consulting legal counsel.鈥�

Maribel Sainez

Aspire Public Schools鈥� Director of Advocacy & Community Engagement, California

Sainez, who also grew up in a mixed-status household, is urgently spreading a resource she recently learned of: , where families can report if they鈥檝e seen ICE agents, inquire about sightings in a given area, or get support after an interaction with the agency. 

She and her charter network that serves many undocumented students are partnering with local organizations to offer Know Your Rights trainings, which include exercises for families on how to interact with federal agents. 

鈥淚 constantly draw on my own lived experiences,鈥� said Sainez. 鈥�… How can we counter that fear and panic and really promote a sense of solidarity, awareness, and power building?鈥�

In Los Angeles, citizenship expert Motomura has analyzed decades of policy, and resistance to change it. He鈥檚 among thousands advocating for reforms to the immigration system, stuck in congressional limbo year after year.  

鈥淭he world has changed, the economy has changed,鈥� Motomura said. 鈥淭he only way we’re going to get out of it is to make it not about how high the border wall is, but ask ourselves why there are 11 million people in the country who are without papers.鈥�

Blanca wants to know what鈥檚 next. 

She was brought to the United States as a child after leaving her home in Acapulco, Mexico, and is now preparing to graduate from Delaware State University.

She鈥檚 worried. 

For nearly four years, she鈥檚 been able to pursue a degree at DSU while undocumented through , a national program that provides scholarships to undocumented students. 

The program鈥檚 full-ride  has granted the 21-year-old college junior, who asked not to use her full name for safety concerns, the freedom to attain higher education without financial or citizenship restrictions.

But her graduation looms and that tenure is coming to an end. Without work authorization in America, she may be limited to entrepreneurship, business ownership or independent contract work 鈥� all while possessing an undergraduate degree.

鈥淲hat are we going to do after college, you鈥檙e just gonna have a degree with literally nothing behind it,鈥� Blanca asked. 

She鈥檚 not alone in asking the question. 

Blanca is one of at least four fully undocumented students at DSU who have received TheDream.US scholarship and are preparing to leave its benefits behind 鈥� sparking anxiety and worries about what comes next. 

The Opportunity Scholarship was created by TheDream.US, a national nonprofit scholarship program backed by the New Venture Fund, for undocumented students who live in 鈥渓ocked out鈥� states where they largely have no access to higher education 鈥� either because they鈥檙e forced to pay out-of-state tuition or because their state will not admit them into universities. 

The scholarship covers up to $100,000 for bachelor鈥檚 degree tuition, housing, meals and fees, at five partner colleges in another state, including DSU.

The students are part of a growing population of thousands of scholarship recipients who are studying while fully undocumented. 

About 74% of the over 4,500 TheDream.US scholars enrolled in college during the 2024-2025 academic year are fully undocumented, according to Hyein Lee, chief operating officer of TheDream.US. This means that three out of every four scholarship scholars are attaining higher education without any form of temporary protected status (TPS). 

The fears and anxieties of undocumented students have only been amplified by the precipice of a second Trump administration. President-elect Donald Trump has promised to enact  against undocumented immigrants during his second administration. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 really like, what鈥檚 next,鈥� Blanca asked. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 really the main question after college, 鈥極K, now what?鈥欌��

Seizing an opportunity 

TheDream.US launched in 2014, two years after then-President Barack Obama created  (DACA) through executive action. DACA was intended to provide temporary relief from deportation to thousands of young immigrants who were studying or working in the country. 

A requirement of DACA was to be in school, however, higher education was largely out of reach for many undocumented students because they did not have access to federal financial aid and limited access to state aid. TheDream.US was created to help these students attain higher education. 

Initially, the program was only open to students who had DACA or , a designation that temporarily protects people who cannot return to their country safely. 

The program was expanded to include fully undocumented students after then-President Trump鈥檚 administration  DACA in 2017. 

Today, there鈥檚 been over 260 TheDream.US scholarships awarded to DSU students, according to Lee. 

Blanca is one of  who meet the eligibility criteria for DACA but have been barred from entering the program because it鈥檚 been tangled in federal litigation since 2017. With new applicants barred from entering and rigid eligibility requirements in place, DACA recipients have aged and the program鈥檚 population has continuously decreased over the years. 

The percentage of fully undocumented scholarship alumni without work authorization  from 3% to 8% over two years, according to the 2024 TheDream.US alumni survey report. Many of the current scholars arrived in the country after the June 2007 cutoff date, making them ineligible for DACA under the original rules.

鈥淓ven if the program were to be operating today, many of those students would not even be eligible for the program in the first place,鈥� Lee said. 

Two days after Trump won the presidential election last month, DSU President Tony Allen sent a letter to the university鈥檚 undocumented students. Allen, who is a close ally to President Joe Biden, described being among the people who were 鈥渄eeply troubled鈥� by the election result, and underscored the university鈥檚 support for undocumented students. 

鈥淎bsolutely nothing that has happened on a political level has changed or will change the University鈥檚 position of support,鈥� the letter stated. 鈥淵ou are not alone, and help is and always will be here.鈥� 

Allen encouraged students to fill out a form to receive free legal consultation from the , an advocacy group of university and college leaders. 

鈥極K, now what?鈥� 

Receiving the scholarship was like repeating a cycle for Elizabeth. Her mother left her family in Veracruz, Mexico, to migrate to the U.S. in search of a better life for her and her daughter. 

Now Elizabeth was preparing to do the same. 

Elizabeth, who also asked not to use her full name, would have to leave her family and home in North Carolina behind to study in Delaware while undocumented. 

鈥淚 had to do it,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e young, we鈥檙e leaving everything we鈥檝e known, our whole comfort zone, our whole comfort city, everything to come to this state where we don鈥檛 know anyone.鈥�

Now, after nearly four years of studying in Delaware, Elizabeth doesn鈥檛 want to return to North Carolina. She wants to see her years of study pay off 鈥� but she doesn鈥檛 know what鈥檚 next. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 scary,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he last thing we want to do is do all this and go back where we came from.鈥� 

Jahaira, a 21-year-old sophomore at DSU, cried when she received the Opportunity Scholarship. She came to the U.S. when she was 13 years old after being separated from her cousin at the U.S.-Mexico border near Eagle Pass, Texas.

She was sent back to Mexico where she remained in the custody of the Mexican government for six months. Her mother, who lived in Myrtle Beach, S.C., had to return to Mexico, retrieve Jahaira and cross the border again without authorization.

Sometimes, the thought of the future pops into her mind. 

鈥淲hat if I graduate and I can鈥檛 find a job, or no one can let me apply for a job?鈥� Jahaira said. 

TheDream.US offers  for undocumented students to be able to be paid for non-employment based opportunities at partner institutions. TheDream.US grants a stipend for the partner institutions to be able to pay undocumented students for professional development fellowship and internship roles. 

This year, 500 such TheDream.US scholars participated in the program.

Jahaira has two years left in her business management degree under the scholarship. She has plans to open a painting company with her father, who has been painting for nearly 15 years, in order to have him eventually retire and 鈥渢ake it easy.鈥�

Until then, she鈥檚 optimistic about her future after the scholarship ends.

鈥淚 still have hope,鈥� Jahaira said. 鈥淗opefully it can get better.鈥�

Incoming president Donald Trump has vowed to .

For students who are eyeing college, his presidency represents a potentially brutal Sophie鈥檚 Choice if they have undocumented parents: Risk exposing them to a possible immigration dragnet by completing the federal Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, or leave thousands of dollars in cash for school on the table. 

While researchers and advocates have yet to hear anything concrete from Trump representatives about using financial aid data to target undocumented residents, they know families are afraid.

鈥淔ront line staff that work directly with students are reporting that students and parents are asking them if the FAFSA is safe鈥� given Trump鈥檚 campaign promises of mass deportation, said Marcos Montes, policy director for Southern California College Attainment Network, a coalition of nonprofits that help students apply for college admission and financial aid.

The National College Attainment Network said those fears are justified. It 鈥渃annot assure mixed-status students and families that data submitted to the US Department of Education, as part of the FAFSA process, will continue to be protected,鈥� a read late last month.

That fear is exacerbated by  that the only way to deport undocumented parents whose children are citizens is to have the whole family leave. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to be breaking up families,鈥� Trump said. 鈥淪o the only way you don鈥檛 break up the family is you keep them together and you have to send them all back.鈥� How Trump can force out citizens, including those with parents not born in the U.S., is unclear; experts say .

An estimated 3.3 million Californians , including 1 in 5 children under 18, according to data from Equity Research Institute, a USC research group.

A California workaround

Experts say California students eligible for financial aid can minimize the possible harm to their undocumented parents. Unlike the FAFSA, the state aid application is not shared with federal agencies. That policy is  in place under California鈥檚 so-called 鈥渟anctuary鈥� laws  the use of state resources to . Several legal experts told CalMatters the Trump administration would have to clear a high legal bar to gain access to those state records and that court cases have put restrictions on how wide a net immigration enforcement agencies can cast in their search for data. 

Because the deadline for state financial aid is in March 鈥� though there are plans to move it to April 鈥� and the federal deadline , Californians attending college here should complete the state application first, said Montes. Then they should wait to see if the Trump administration will break precedent and begin using the federal financial aid data for immigration enforcement purposes.

That strategy is also endorsed by Madeleine Villanueva, the interim higher education director at Immigrants Rising, a California-based advocacy and research group focused on undocumented residents. She stressed that there鈥檚 a bevy of analysts and immigrant rights advocates who鈥檒l be watching for updates from the Trump administration.

鈥淯nfortunately, we can鈥檛 say what鈥檚 going to happen federally,鈥� she said. But the California state aid application, known as the California Dream Act Application, is an 鈥渆xtra layer of safety when it comes to applying for financial aid.鈥�

The California Student Aid Commission, an agency with the sole goal of getting students more money, suggests students may need to forgo federal aid given the risks to their families. The agency, which runs the state鈥檚 financial aid programs,  that completing just the state aid application is a 鈥渧iable option鈥� for students in mixed-status homes who have 鈥渇ears of adverse action by federal immigration enforcement.鈥�

However, taking a wait-and-see approach with federal aid means California campuses won鈥檛 have a full picture of how much aid a student is likely to get when they send out financial aid estimates to admitted students in the spring. The University of California鈥檚 central office worries that students may not complete the FAFSA and lose out on aid. Both UC and the California State University indicated to CalMatters they鈥檒l process either form students submit and will work with students who file their federal applications later.

About , which waives tuition at the public universities and partially at private colleges. That grant plus the state鈥檚  can add up to more than $17,000 in aid in one year. The state aid application ensures students fearful of the federal application can still receive the state support for which they鈥檙e eligible.

The University of California鈥檚 undergraduate student government is also on edge about FAFSA. The lack of a firm firewall 鈥渃ould put certain students at risk,鈥� said Saanvi Arora, external vice president for UC Berkeley鈥檚 student government and a board member for the systemwide student government.

Understanding the FAFSA risk

Students who are  are eligible for up to $7,400 in Pell grants and access to federal loans that come with repayment protections that are often stronger than what the private sector offers. To receive this aid, students who live with their parents need them to fill out portions of the federal aid application. More recently,  have been asked to indicate they lack one and then must answer a set of questions about their identity.

The U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Homeland Security, which also oversees the country鈥檚 immigration enforcement, have a regularly renewed . Because students need to be citizens or permanent residents to get financial aid, a signed agreement between the two departments states that students鈥� information they submit for FAFSA will be matched against an . It鈥檚 one that hundreds of state, local and federal agencies use to determine whether an individual is eligible for federal benefits. Neither SAVE nor the agency that operates it, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, are used for immigration enforcement purposes. 

Conceptually, it鈥檚 not hard to use that federal financial aid data for enforcement purposes, according to experts who spoke with CalMatters. However, doing so would be a major break from current protocol. 

Under the Biden administration, the U.S. Department of Education 鈥渉as not provided and will not provide information gathered through FAFSA to any federal immigration-related agency for law enforcement activities,鈥� wrote in an email James Kvaal, who holds the number two spot at the U.S. Department of Education and is the top higher education officer in the federal government. However, he wrote, 鈥渟tudents and their families should make the decisions that are right for them.鈥�

That does not 鈥渟ound like a robust encouragement to go ahead and fill out the FAFSA,鈥� said Bob Shireman, who was a senior higher education official in the education department during the Obama administration.

The agreement between the departments 鈥渋s not much of a firewall, it is more like a picket fence,鈥� Shireman said in an interview. The agreement can be changed in a matter of months, he said, 鈥渟o if the next administration wants to use education department records to identify people who may have an immigration status that could subject them to deportation, I don鈥檛 see anything preventing that from happening.鈥�

Federal laws limit the data sharing that can occur between the U.S. Department of Education and law enforcement agencies, said Shelveen Ratnam, a spokesperson for the California Student Aid Commission. Ratnam said that current law 鈥渟trictly prohibits鈥� agencies in possession of personally identifiable information, like parental data, from releasing that information, with few exceptions. Some other laws and policies also apply and the gist is that an agency can only use the personal information of others in ways that support the mission of that federal agency.

But if the U.S. Department of Education gets subpoenaed for information, the department鈥檚 鈥渞esponses and likelihood of challenging the demand for information are unknown,鈥� according to Ratnam.

Even analysts who say using parental FAFSA information is an inefficient way to find possible undocumented parents urge caution. They say it鈥檚 not out of the question that a Trump administration could try to make use of that data for immigration enforcement purposes.

While 鈥渋t鈥檚 sort of methodologically flawed as a way to identify individuals,鈥� said Corinne Kentor, an , 鈥渢hat doesn鈥檛 mean that it won鈥檛 be attempted. But I think it is probably harder and more work than other avenues.鈥�

California Dream Act Application is safer

The California Dream Act Application has more protections than the federal application. Though originally designed to allow undocumented students who are California residents to apply for state college benefits, the application in 2024 was modified to permit any student who ran into problems with the federal application to at least apply for state grants. The change stemmed from colossal data issues with the federal application this year that  from completing the FAFSA.

According to a , 鈥渢he government can鈥檛 enforce a subpoena that is just 鈥榝ishing鈥� for data about undocumented people,鈥� said Ahilan Arulanantham, a scholar on immigration law at UCLA. That鈥檚 in contrast to 鈥渢rying to gather information on a particular individual that the government has reason to suspect is here in violation of the immigration laws.鈥�

Arulanantham also said that a federal agency asking California鈥檚 financial aid agency to search databases for undocumented students could run afoul of the 10th Amendment.

Finally, the state鈥檚 financial aid agency could challenge a judicial order or subpoena that seeks student records on the grounds that it鈥檚 not specific enough and violates the Fourth Amendment鈥檚 protections against unreasonable search and seizure, Ratnam said. 

Now what does all this mean for students with undocumented parents who already submitted FAFSA information last year? Their information is already in government systems. Should they continue to file their FAFSA? Experts had few answers. They said that鈥檚 a decision that only families can decide together given the varying protections available.

Arora, the UC student government member, is sympathetic to those households. It鈥檚 鈥渁bsolutely a tough question,鈥� she said. That鈥檚 one reason she wants UC officials to bolster existing immigration legal aid services, such as bringing in more lawyers. 

It鈥檚 one answer she has to her own question: 鈥淗ow do we mitigate retribution that鈥檚 likely to happen against those students?鈥�

This was originally published on .

Last week, I set out to write a quick news hit on the  鈥� a pilot program that will pump $200 million toward next-gen firewalls and other tools.

But that鈥檚 when things got weird. 

I came upon a new listing on a notorious dark web forum 鈥� the Amazon for stolen data, if you will 鈥� that offered millions of files purportedly stolen from the Los Angeles Unified School District for a thousand bucks.

LAUSD officials said they鈥檙e investigating the anonymous threat actor鈥檚 claims and a threat intelligence executive told me the district must carry out a full incident response to verify if the files are real.

Or new. 

It isn鈥檛 d茅j脿 vu: America鈥檚 second-largest school district fell victim to a massive ransomware attack in 2022. Thousands of students鈥� mental health records and other sensitive files found their way to the dark web. It鈥檚 possible that the LAUSD data got a facelift of its own, with the same data repackaged to make a quick buck. 

Read more about the latest LAUSD incident 鈥� and about the FCC鈥檚 new effort to thwart similar attacks nationally 鈥� here. 

In the news

Today in Florida, workers are set to demolish the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School building where a gunman killed 17 people in a 2018 rampage. |

Relatives of 17 children killed during the 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, have sued state law enforcement officers who waited 77 minutes before confronting the gunman at Robb Elementary School. |

Special report: Through an unprecedented trove of dispatch call data for 852 California school addresses, reporters offer a rare look at 鈥渢he vast presence of police in schools.鈥� A third of calls 鈥渨ere about serious incidents that reasonably required a police presence.鈥� |

New York lawmakers approved landmark rules that ban social media companies from using 鈥渁ddictive鈥� algorithms to customize children鈥檚 feeds. Here鈥檚 a strong rundown on how the rules work. |

SWATted down: A Washington man has been sentenced to three years in prison for calling in hoax police reports in more than 20 states, including inciting false school shooting panic, leading to frantic lockdowns and massive police responses. |

First they came for the books. Next they came for the books about book bans. |

A new program in Illinois to help low-income families pay for the funeral costs of children killed by guns was designed to ease grief and financial burdens. After a year, just two families have been compensated. |

Prioritizing 鈥榩rofit over the wellbeing and safety of children鈥�: Residential treatment companies that provide behavioral health services have put children at risk of sexual abuse and dangerous physical restraints, a new Senate committee report argues. |

First comes marriage, then comes homeroom: Missouri lawmakers failed to pass legislation that sought to prevent anyone under 18 years old from getting married, keeping in place the state鈥檚 minimum age of 16. |

A Tennessee school district where officials failed to prevent rampant racist bullying against a Black student will overhaul its anti-harassment procedures after reaching a settlement agreement with the Justice Department. Federal investigators found the student鈥檚 classmates passed around a drawing of a Ku Klux Klansmen, added him to a bigoted group chat and sold him to white peers in a mock 鈥渟lave auction.鈥� |

New York City school bathrooms could soon have 鈥渧ape sensors鈥� following a court settlement with tobacco company Juul that鈥檒l direct $27 million to the city鈥檚 schools to combat youth vaping. |

Research & advocacy

鈥楴ew Jim Code鈥�: Federal officials have failed to deter the civil rights harms that artificial intelligence in schools poses to students of color, a new report argues. |

DACA recipients are more likely than migrants without deportation safeguards to ask the police for help, suggesting the program increases engagement with police and reduces fear among crime victims. |

DACA recipients are more likely than migrants without deportation safeguards to ask the police for help, suggesting the program increases engagement with police and reduces fear among crime victims. |

ICYMI @The74

• Report: Higher Rates of Depression, Anxiety for LGBTQ Teens Forcibly Outed
  
• LA Schools Chief Carvalho Warns Student Homelessness Across City Worse Than Data Shows
  
• Psychologist Peter Gray Sounds the Alarm About Excessive Adult Oversight & What It鈥檚 Doing to Kids鈥� Mental Health

Emotional support

I promised you a new pup. I bring you a new pup. 

Sinead, editor Kathy Moore鈥檚 new emotional support companion, surveys her domain. 

For more school safety news,聽subscribe to Mark’s School (in)Security newsletter below.

Esquivel didn’t know it, but the outing was a wellness retreat for undocumented immigrant youth put together by a group called . Brought to the United States from Mexico as a small child, Esquivel had been hiding his legal status for years. Up in the mountains, though, his new companions talked openly about being undocumented 鈥� and celebrated their roots. 

鈥淭hey were so connected to their culture,鈥� he recalls. 鈥淭he food, the way they talked. They had a guitar and they were singing songs, old Mexican songs, around the campfire.鈥�

鈥淪in papeles, sin miedo,鈥� they said.

Without papers, without fear.

Esquivel cried the entire weekend. After so long guarding his family鈥檚 secrets 鈥� fleeing drug gang violence in Chihuahua, taking refuge in a relative’s garage in Albuquerque 鈥� everything about the experience moved him. His undocumented status was just the heaviest layer of the shame he鈥檇 been accumulating ever since he was 7 years old. 

Esquivel returned home profoundly changed, convinced there was tremendous empowerment in speaking his truth. 鈥淚 was hooked,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 was like, I want to do this. I want to be this.鈥� 

Soon after, as a newly minted Dream Team organizer, Esquivel found himself speaking to a classroom of teens at Rio Grande High School, on Albuquerque’s south side. In the group was 15-year-old Michelle Murguia, who had been invited by a bilingual aide in one of her freshman classes. At first, she found Esquivel terrifying. With his long hair and shaggy beard, he didn鈥檛 look like the kind of authority figure who got speaking invitations. 

鈥淚t was the first time I heard someone say, 鈥榊es, I am undocumented. And I am here to stay,鈥� 鈥�
鈥擱io Grande High School student Michelle Murguia

鈥淢y first thought was, is he crazy? Why is he saying he鈥檚 undocumented?鈥� Murguia, now 23, recalls. 鈥淲hy is he telling this story? He doesn鈥檛 know the people in this room. They could call ICE鈥� 鈥� Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

But like Esquivel on his outing in the mountains, Murguia found that fear was quickly followed by overwhelming relief. Maybe spilling your secrets was, in fact, the first step on the path to freedom.   

鈥淚t was the first time I heard someone say, 鈥榊es, I am undocumented. And I am here to stay,鈥� 鈥� she says. 鈥淲hen Eduardo came into the room, I was like, I want to do this. I want to be able to tell my story and to empower people not to be afraid.鈥�

Today, eight years after that cathartic conversation, Esquivel is a co-director of the Dream Team and Murguia is field manager. The organization boasts a number of initiatives, but its bedrock is organizing in middle and high schools and on college campuses. Right now, the Dream Team has 13 chapters in schools in Las Cruces, Santa Fe and Albuquerque, providing a system of support that helps students push past shame and isolation. This fills an important gap for educators who know that unmet mental health needs and trauma can impede academic success but rarely have any idea what a given child鈥檚 circumstances are 鈥� particularly if a student is working hard to keep that background a secret.

Team organizers provide professional development to K-12 teachers and college faculty to educate them about the particular challenges facing immigrant students. Feedback from participants is overwhelmingly positive, group members say, with teachers reporting that their eyes are opened to experiences they would otherwise know nothing about. As these relationships develop, K-12 teachers and administrators often invite Dream Team leaders into their schools. But while an educator may arrange an initial meeting between students and a team member like Esquivel, the school groups are run by student leaders 鈥� many of whom go on to become organizers after they graduate. 

Beyond its K-12 outreach, the Dream Team works to eliminate barriers to higher education, health care, basic services and permanent residency for immigrants just like them. Citizenship is a goal, of course, but there are more immediate objectives to increase stability in the community. Last year, for example, group members pushed for and won a state law allowing individuals without permanent U.S. residency to obtain the licenses their nursing, medical or other professional degrees would otherwise qualify them for. 

Early in the pandemic, the Dream Team was one of three nonprofits the city of Albuquerque tapped to help undocumented residents address COVID-related challenges 鈥� unemployment, lack of access to tests and health care 鈥� and the group raised and distributed tens of thousands of dollars to people not eligible for many public benefits. 

Dream Team members also pushed New Mexico鈥檚 immigrant communities to participate in the 2020 census, demanded the release from U.S. detention of a transgender asylum petitioner from Mexico and raised funds to help immigrants denied even basic COVID-19 relief by the Trump administration. 

The grassroots organization, formed by students at the University of New Mexico in 2013, was a response to the creation of the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and named for Dreamers 鈥� undocumented young people brought to the U.S. as children. Esquivel and his colleagues believe the Dream Team, unlike most immigrants-rights groups over the years, is the first such organization in New Mexico led by people who are undocumented or in mixed-status families 鈥� in which some members are permanent residents or citizens and others are not.   

Although members put their own New Mexican framework on their activism, the Dream Team is part of a loose network of youth-led groups around the country that broke away from what was then the mainstream immigrant advocacy community some 15 years ago. While those activist organizations had relied on non-immigrant U.S.-born leaders or organizers with legal status, the people behind the new movement felt the time had come for undocumented youth to tell their own stories. 

This identity-focused organizing strategy is a lineal descendant of the gay rights movement of 20 years ago. And many of the new groups share a particular focus on the needs of undocumented LGBTQ youth, who often risk being cut off from the support of their families. Having experienced one kind of coming out as empowering, the queer women of color who founded the Dream Team and its sister organizations recognized the potential of a support system for undocumented people wanting to step out of the shadows. 

鈥淚 saw what was possible when you’re supported, and you’re loved, and what it means to not be,鈥� says Esquivel. 鈥淚 want to make sure other immigrant youth are able to develop these skills, are able to develop a healthy identity, have safe spaces to tell their truth and are able to grow into their own power.鈥�

‘I would cry because I saw little me’

The story of Esquivel鈥檚 undocumented journey starts, as it does for many of his Dream Team colleagues, with the takeover of his home city by gangs of drug traffickers. A menacing presence on the streets of Chihuahua City, located some 200 miles south of the U.S. border, men in SUVs paid several visits to the auto repair shop owned by Esquivel鈥檚 father, demanding money in exchange for 鈥減rotection.鈥� After his father refused, the same cars tried to force Esquivel and his mother off the road as she drove him to school.

Somehow, the family got temporary visas and moved into a great-uncle鈥檚 garage in Albuquerque. It was less dangerous, but hardly peaceful. The new neighborhood had its own gang problems, and other kids 鈥� even Esquivel鈥檚 cousins 鈥� taunted him about his dark skin and legal status. 

鈥淚 don鈥檛 know if I understood we were here forever,鈥� Esquivel says. 鈥淎s a kid, I wondered, is it really any better here?鈥�

Now the Dream Team鈥檚 education justice organizer, Esquivel’s younger brother Andres recalls hearing so much teasing about Eduardo鈥檚 skin tone that as a 4-year-old he asked his parents if his brother belonged: 鈥淲hy can鈥檛 Lalito go back to Mexico and stay?鈥� he asked, using the family鈥檚 nickname for Eduardo.

鈥淚 was deeply ashamed to be Mexican, deeply ashamed of my immigration status. I pushed it down. I was determined to learn English with no accent that would identify me, so no one would know.” 
鈥擡duardo Esquivel

School was a mixed bag. Esquivel connected with a number of teachers of color, including one from Chihuahua who, on finding out that Esquivel was involved in music at church, made sure the boy joined his guitar club. He was identified as gifted, which opened doors to opportunities. He took honors science, learned to weld and competed on a mock trial team at the University of New Mexico School of Law. 

鈥淏ut there was still a lot of bullying,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 was deeply ashamed to be Mexican, deeply ashamed of my immigration status. I pushed it down. I was determined to learn English with no accent that would identify me, so no one would know. My identity, it was completely destroyed.鈥� 

Esquivel鈥檚 senior year brought two significant experiences. He took a Chicano studies class, where he learned about the Mexican-American War, the U.S. lynching of Mexicans and the of the 1940s, in which servicemen, off-duty police and others in Southern California clashed with young Latinos known as pachucos. 

鈥淚 started to understand that [being undocumented] is not my fault, that this is something that happened to me,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hat started breaking down the walls I had built up.鈥�

At the same time, his U.S.-born friends were making plans to attend colleges all over the country. 鈥淚 was afraid to tell my counselors that I didn鈥檛 have a Social Security number,鈥� he says. 鈥淪o I pretended. I was like, ‘Yeah, maybe I’ll go to California,’ knowing very well that my family could not afford that and I couldn’t even fill out those applications.

鈥淚t was worse after I took my ACT. The schools were sending me all these packets in the mail and I couldn’t even feel proud of myself. I just felt really, really shitty.鈥�

The state has policies designed to make college possible for undocumented immigrants, so Esquivel enrolled at the University of New Mexico. His first two years were pretty miserable. He studied biology even though he was far more interested in continuing Chicano studies.

He was in a dark place and coping by self-medicating, Esquivel says, when his dad got a call from someone at his old elementary school, seeking a volunteer to work with fourth graders in music and science. He signed on through a university community engagement initiative and loved it.

鈥淪ometimes,鈥� Esquivel recalls, 鈥淚 would cry because I saw little me.鈥�

A staff member from the program stopped him one day to invite him to go camping in Chama. 鈥淲e have a cabin,鈥� the man told him. 鈥淎ll you got to bring is a sleeping bag.鈥�

If a wellness retreat seems like a strange place to birth a hard-edged political movement, it鈥檚 important to understand that a near-universal experience among undocumented people is living in constant fear. Even DACA recipients, with their temporary permission to remain in the U.S., can be removed from the program at any time, and their loved ones who didn鈥檛 qualify are at constant risk of deportation. Research has to the program鈥檚 uncertain future and the lack of a path to permanent residency. 

鈥淢exican individuals who immigrated to the U.S. before age 13 have a significantly higher risk of developing mood and anxiety disorders than those who do so later in life,鈥� a Fordham University scholar of existing research. 鈥淭his may be because of their fear of being deported and separated from their family.鈥� 

Add to this, the report continues, an 鈥渋ntense fear of 鈥榖eing hunted鈥� by immigration officials [that] may never disappear, which can significantly affect their long-term mental health.鈥� 

Asked about Esquivel鈥檚 leadership, Dream鈥嬧�� Team members praise his willingness to share 鈥� about his struggles with depression, his history of self-medication and his youthful shame about his skin tone 鈥� and say it makes them feel safe in opening up.  

Esquivel is particularly gifted at helping young people connect their personal circumstances with the upheaval that pushed their families to abandon their homes, says Felipe Rodriguez, his Dream Team co-director: 鈥淓duardo is an educator by nature.”

‘There are 30 me鈥檚 right here’

Like many team members, Murguia was brought to this country as a child to escape drug gang violence. Born just across the border from El Paso, Texas, in Ciudad Juarez, she was terrorized by drug gangs, or narcos, who conscripted and sometimes killed young children, leaving their bodies in open lots to intimidate people. Her single mother, terrified to leave her three kids home alone while she worked, moved them to Albuquerque when Murguia was 10. 

Talking about the secrets she had bottled up until Esquivel鈥檚 visit to her high school, Murguia starts to cry. She had never talked about having to take care of her siblings when her mother鈥檚 trauma became overwhelming. She had never told anyone she had been abused. But because of what had happened, she avoided wearing girls鈥� clothes. 

鈥淲hat鈥檚 wrong with you?鈥� relatives would ask. 鈥淓res macha?鈥� 

Are you butch?  

鈥淚 had no one to talk to,鈥� she says. 

Murguia thinks of the secrets as rocks she carries in a bag strapped to her back. Telling his story at her high school, Esquivel lightened her load. And strong as she now feels, she has learned from him to let her colleagues help when she鈥檚 overwhelmed.

鈥淓very day I listen to people鈥檚 stories, and it鈥檚 traumatizing,鈥� says Murguia. 鈥淲hat we do, there is no one else to do it.鈥� 

Now the team鈥檚 campaigns manager, Fernanda Banda was born in Cuauht茅moc, Chihuahua. Her mother carried her across the border when she was 1. When she was in the eighth grade, her father was deported. Her mother didn鈥檛 want her two daughters to be scared, but they were.

Her freshman year at the University of New Mexico, Banda took a deep breath and approached a sociology professor who had given her an assignment that involved identity. She confessed her undocumented status, and the professor suggested she check out the campus Dream Team chapter.

Banda鈥檚 family was slow to accept her activism. 鈥淭hey were like, 鈥榃hat is this organization making you do? Why are you so bold?鈥� ” she recalls. 鈥淏ut they adapted. Now my mother gets really proud when she sees me on TV.鈥� 

When Banda first met Esquivel, she says, 鈥渢he sense of belonging was immediate. It was when I realized, 鈥極h, there are 30 me鈥檚 right here.鈥� 鈥� He is very good at helping youth reframe their experiences, she says, undercutting the popular narrative 鈥� especially loud during the Trump years 鈥� that undocumented people are criminals.

For Banda, internalizing a different story about her legal status was the first step toward learning to talk to lawmakers and other people in positions of power about the needs of undocumented people. Esquivel, she says, taught her to see storytelling as a source of both personal healing and political strength. 

Linking activists鈥� health to their effectiveness in the public arena is exactly what Esquivel is seeking to do, he says. 鈥淲hat we are trying to do is build people power,鈥� he explains. 鈥淲e do that through the process of building identity.鈥� 

A light-bulb moment

Soon after his experience in the mountains, Esquivel was invited to a training at Georgetown University to learn to use his story as an advocacy tool. At the time, the Dream Team was part of United We Dream, a national network of youth groups descended from early, LGBTQ-led efforts. Esquivel took some convincing. 

鈥淚 was so scared,鈥� he recalls. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know I could travel. I had been told I couldn鈥檛.鈥�

New Mexico residents don鈥檛 need immigration documents to get a driver鈥檚 license. Using his, Esquivel got on a plane for the first time in his life. When he arrived in Washington, D.C., he walked around in awe, taking in the National Mall and then the Georgetown campus, 鈥渨hich looked like Hogwarts.鈥� 

Just as astounding was the training itself. Calling themselves the UndocuHoyas, the university鈥檚 organizers were educating faculty on barriers immigrant students face getting into and succeeding in college. It was every bit as stunning as hearing his new colleagues speak their truths in the woods, except these students were talking to authority figures. 

The Georgetown organizers weren鈥檛 telling their stories to bond or to heal, he quickly noticed. His hosts were framing things in a way that would illustrate, to affluent professors presumably insulated from experiences like his own, the practical realities of being undocumented. It was effective in its context, Esquivel says, but he couldn鈥檛 quite see how it would work in New Mexico, with its distinct history and demographics. 

The state has a very different posture toward its immigrant population than many other places, starting with the tenor of the public discourse. While officials in neighboring states demonize immigrants, many elected leaders in New Mexico talk about the contributions immigrants make to the state鈥檚 civic and economic health. 

According to the , as of December 2021, some 5,400 New Mexico residents had DACA status and an estimated 9,000 more were considered 鈥渋mmediately eligible,鈥� whether they have applied or not. There are more undocumented youth 鈥� it鈥檚 unclear how many 鈥� who do not qualify.

All told, the nonprofit estimates there are 60,000 undocumented state residents. Using the Individual Taxpayer Identification Number provided by the IRS to people who can鈥檛 get a Social Security number, they pay nearly $68 million in state and local taxes a year. 

Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham tapped Dream Team members to serve on a racial justice council she convened in the wake of George Floyd鈥檚 murder by Minneapolis police. And before being appointed the first Native American secretary of the interior, Democrat Deb Haaland had represented Albuquerque in Congress. During her time in office, she invited the group to numerous conferences and public events to share, among other topics, how Dreamers fill jobs in health care, education and other short-staffed fields in the state.

New Mexico鈥檚 architecture, food and tourist industry all celebrate the state’s Latino and Indigenous roots. One in 10 New Mexicans are immigrants, and one in nine have an immigrant parent. The thousands of residents who have naturalized over the last decade 鈥� mostly women from Mexico 鈥� constitute enough of a voting bloc to swing tight local or state elections.   

When Esquivel got home from Georgetown, he took an anti-racism workshop put on by the People鈥檚 Institute for Survival and Beyond, which offers training throughout the country, and a light bulb went on. 鈥淭hat shattered me,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t was like 鈥楾he Matrix.鈥� It was fully life-changing.鈥�

Suddenly, he saw a relationship between the U.S. war on drugs and the violence that had driven his family 鈥� and those of Murguia, Rodriguez and countless other Dream Team members 鈥� from their homes in a different light. In Esquivel鈥檚 new understanding, neither he nor his parents had initiated a shameful chain of events.

A different kind of coming out

In 2001, when the Dream Act was introduced, a young, undocumented LGBTQ woman from Chicago was scheduled to testify before Congress. Then, the 9/11 attacks upended everything, and Tania Unzueta never got the chance to speak. But a movement had been born, led in part by who saw the gay rights movement as a model. 

Nationwide, an estimated 267,000 undocumented people identify as LGBTQ, according to the Williams Institute at UCLA. Approximately 81,000 are Dreamers. In the eyes of many of their families and neighbors, coming out as undocumented is just as taboo as coming out as queer. 

Undocumented people, the new leaders among them believed, could benefit from their own coming-out process. Not only does one person speaking up embolden others, but personal stories are a powerful tool.

Soon after 9/11, administrators at a Santa Fe high school began towing cars belonging to undocumented students who, because they lacked driver’s licenses, could not get parking permits, Esquivel recalls. Activists fought to change state law so any New Mexico resident could drive legally. On the heels of that victory, they succeeded in winning access to the higher education system and to state financial aid.

When President Barack Obama authorized DACA in 2012, the group that would become the Dream Team was born. New Mexico immigration rights activists held a series of clinics to give prospective applicants legal and financial help; signing up for the program is complicated and expensive, and the status must be renewed every two years. As of March 2020, some 1.8 million people meet the eligibility requirements, but just 800,000 are enrolled, according to the Center for American Progress. 

In addition to sponsoring chapters in different parts of the state, the organization hosts frequent training sessions for educators, an effort spearheaded by Andres Esquivel. He uses a curriculum he and his brother developed that mixes material from the National United We Dream network with an anti-racist framework Eduardo Esquivel created to tailor the approach for New Mexicans. 

Two of the group鈥檚 workshops are now a regular part of Albuquerque Public Schools鈥檚 teacher training. In the future, Dream Team leaders want to be able to offer educators continuing education credits 鈥� something they believe would draw more participants.

In an era when school boards are under tremendous public pressure to prove they are not exposing students to the graduate-level academic framework of Critical Race Theory, it may sound improbable that a network of undocumented activists is invited into K-12 schools. But Dream Team organizers are typically welcomed by school administrators, Esquivel says. 

鈥淭hey see the issues, but they don鈥檛 know what to do,鈥� Esquivel says. 鈥淥nce they understand what we do, they want us there.鈥� 

Holding feet to the fire

Jocelyn Barrera came to the United States with her mother when she was 3. The week before starting middle school in Santa Fe, she was finally supposed to meet her father, who was on his way to see her in person after years of FaceTiming. 

鈥淗e was in El Paso, and then in one quick second everything changed,鈥� Barrera says. 鈥淗e stopped calling鈥�. Someone had reported him.鈥� 

His deportation scared Barrera into withdrawing from lots of everyday activities. She had never told anyone what had happened to her father for fear of exposing herself and the other undocumented members of her mixed-status family. Joining the Dream Team brought her out of her shell.  

Now 22, Barrera works with students in four Santa Fe schools and is trying to build relationships with youth in two other communities, Espa帽ola and the Pueblo of Pojoaque.

In February, Dream Team members were among outside the New Mexico School for the Arts. A poster in a display about missing and murdered Indigenous women that had been created for Native American Heritage Month had been defaced, the letters rearranged to spell out a slur. Students were angry at what they saw as administrators鈥� tepid response to a pattern of racist incidents. 

Coincidentally, the 25 to 30 students carrying banners and posters showed up outside the school while a staff training on cultural responsiveness was happening inside. An administrator came out to try to convince the students that the session was aimed at addressing their concerns. 

Then, the consultant running the session stepped outside for a break. Hearing the protesters鈥� concerns, he volunteered to facilitate a conversation with the staff inside. Students and faculty emerged with several agreements: a public apology from administrators; a safe room reserved for Native American students; the hiring of more people of color; and the creation of a garden commemorating lost Indigenous women, among other measures.    

Dream Team members were pleased, says Barrera: 鈥淏ut we let the principal know we would be there every Friday with more and more people if they don鈥檛 do it.鈥�

鈥淲e can鈥檛 become one of those organizations that have the same leadership for 20 years.鈥�
鈥擡duardo Esquivel

‘Building a better world’

In a few months, Esquivel will turn 28. Rodriguez is the same age, and the two have been talking about stepping down in the next few years to ensure that the organization remains truly youth-led. Because student chapter members often stay with the Dream Team and go on to organize others, the group has a built-in pipeline of future leaders, he says. 

鈥淔or me and Felipe, it鈥檚 not much longer we鈥檙e going to be here,鈥� Esquivel says. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 become one of those organizations that have the same leadership for 20 years.鈥�

When he leaves, Esquivel wants to go back to school to earn a teaching license and a principal鈥檚 credential. He plans to teach science at a charter school the Dream Team will open next fall with the , an organization that helps people open schools in Native American communities. NACA stands for Native American Community Academy, which operates .

Like the Dream Team, the school network prizes a healthy sense of identity and holistic wellness for students and families. Many undocumented Latinos come from Indigenous communities or are not far removed from them, and the two organizations have had a close relationship since the Dream Team鈥檚 early days.

鈥淲e share a lot of the same oppressors, we鈥檙e very connected to the land,鈥� says Esquivel. 鈥淔or us, it is important for our youth to develop an indigenized identity.鈥�

After several years of planning, the new K-5 school is scheduled to open in August in the city鈥檚 International District, a densely populated, diverse neighborhood that is home to immigrants from many countries, not just Latin America. The school will start with 60 students in kindergarten and first and second grades. 

One goal is to see what happens when an entire staff starts with the same vision and set of beliefs, and is able to help younger immigrant and Indigenous students grow up with pride and a sense of empowerment.    

鈥淚 don鈥檛 believe anyone accomplishes anything on their own,鈥� says Esquivel. 鈥淚 want as many people as possible to join us in building a better world.鈥� 

Immigrant-rights activists rallied outside a Houston courthouse on Monday demanding the Biden administration act swiftly to protect them after a federal judge halted an Obama-era program that provides deportation relief and work permits to hundreds of thousands of undocumented residents brought here as children.

鈥淚t hurts deeply that my home state, the place I鈥檝e grown up in and have grown to love, is the one leading the charge against me and my right to live and work,鈥� Susana Lujano, a 28-year-old Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient, said at the gathering organized by the immigrant-rights group United We Dream. Lujano, who has lived in Texas since she was 2, called the latest ruling 鈥� one in a long series that has left the fate of the so-called Dreamers in turmoil 鈥� 鈥渃ruel and vindictive.鈥�

On Friday, barred any new applications to the DACA program, creating uncertainty for thousands of first-time applicants who sought its protection. While Judge Andrew Hanen of the U.S. District Court in Houston let the status of the more than 600,000 current DACA recipients stand, the George W. Bush appointee found the Obama administration overstepped its authority when it created the program in 2012.

Referring to DACA as an 鈥渋llegally implemented program,鈥� Hanen wrote that 鈥渢he public interest of the nation is always served by the cessation of a program that was created in violation of law.鈥� His position echoed that of the Trump administration, which sought to end DACA under the premise that it was illegally created by the Obama administration without congressional approval. Though polls have consistently found , immigration reform has stalled in Congress for years.

President Joe Biden has the case brought by Texas and other Republican-led states. Under what the president called a 鈥渄eeply disappointing鈥� ruling, current recipients aren鈥檛 immediately affected but the Department of Homeland Security is prohibited from approving new applications. The move is particularly damning for those young people whose applicants were awaiting approval but were snagged in a backlog caused by the pandemic.

Among them is Andrea Anaya, who was born in El Salvador and raised in Maryland. Anaya said she applied for DACA for the first time in February but was still waiting on U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to process her application.

Friday鈥檚 ruling 鈥渕eans I continue to be exposed to the threat of deportation and don鈥檛 know if my DACA application will ever be approved,鈥� she said in a media release. 鈥淚 shouldn鈥檛 have to fight to prove that my life and my existence matter.鈥�

Joe, I鈥檓 tired of hope and your well wishes. I want certainty of my livelihood. Do something, you鈥檙e THE President of the United States. Keep your promise.

鈥� Andrea Anaya (@andreajanaya)

Lujano said she was 鈥渉eartbroken鈥� that those who applied for DACA protections for the first time this year 鈥渨on鈥檛 be able to have the same peace of mind that I had when I was approved.鈥�

The administration鈥檚 intent to appeal means DACA could make its way back to the U.S. Supreme Court absent congressional action. In a statement, Biden called on Congress to pass legislation that provides permanent protection to DACA recipients. Greisa Martinez Rosas, executive director of United We Dream, urged Congress to include a pathway to citizenship in its upcoming budget.

鈥淭oday鈥檚 ruling is evidence that DACA is not enough,鈥� she said in a press release. 鈥淭he program has always been temporary, leaving hundreds of thousands of lives vulnerable to the next attack.鈥�

DACA recipients 鈥� and young immigrants applying for the program for the first time 鈥� have lived in a state of limbo since the Trump administration announced efforts to end it in 2017 and its fate has been the subject of back-and-forth court decisions. In June 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration failed to provide 鈥渁 reasoned explanation鈥� for its decision to terminate DACA and failed to consider how ending it could affect its beneficiaries.

Meanwhile in Washington, D.C., on Monday, immigrant rights advocates marched to the White House, where they demanded that Biden include a pathway to citizenship for undocumented residents in the American Jobs Plan.

Critics of the Obama-era immigration policy were quick to cheer on the Texas ruling. Robert Law, director of regulatory affairs and policy at the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that supports restrictive immigration policies, praised the ruling, but said the judge鈥檚 unwillingness to terminate the program for current recipients 鈥渘euters the impact of his decision.鈥� The federal judge noted that hundreds of thousands of DACA recipients and their employers rely on the program and therefore 鈥渋t is not equitable for a government program that has engendered such a significant reliance to terminate suddenly.鈥�

鈥淓stablishing a 鈥榬eliance interest鈥� for an illegal program for illegal aliens takes the winds out of the sails of advocates for the rule of law,鈥� Law wrote in a press release. Allowing current recipients to keep their benefits makes the ruling 鈥測et another mostly symbolic victory.鈥�

As lawmakers in Washington debate the Dreamers鈥� fate, Lujano made clear at the Houston rally that the status quo is unsustainable.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to be here temporarily anymore. This is my home. I鈥檝e grown up here, I love this state,鈥� she said, pointing to her pink hat embroidered with the word 鈥淗OME鈥� and a Texas illustration. 鈥淚t hurts to love it so much. It hurts to love it when it seems to hate me.鈥�