Schools and other organizations serving undocumented students are taking their activities underground, fearful of revealing all they do to help newcomers navigate life in America 鈥� lest they be targeted and shuttered by the Trump administration.

Some have asked staff to use secure messaging systems like Signal instead of text and email to keep sensitive conversations from public reach. Others say such discussions should happen only over the phone. 

A few are reconsidering the distribution of once-standard , afraid they could overstep some unclear federal boundary about immigration enforcement, while others are scrubbing the names and locations of their sites from the internet. 

No matter the strategy, the goal is the same: avoid federal audits, funding cuts and closures that could be prompted by their work with undocumented students and families, but also the administration鈥檚 edict against diversity, equity and inclusion.

鈥淏ecause of the threats from the federal administration about revoking the of nonprofits, we want to keep ourselves from being targeted,鈥� said one man who asked not to be identified because he works for an organization that serves undocumented youth. 

Groups like his can lose their IRS status, which allows them to collect tax-deductible donations, if they engage in political activities. For this reason, he said, they are carefully policing staff members鈥� speech in public and in private. Political discussions or commentary on social media are forbidden.聽

鈥淎nything that could be perceived as obstructing or challenging federal immigration policies, we don’t put in writing,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nything that could be seen as a criticism of the administration 鈥� or anything that could be seen as partisan 鈥� we鈥檙e going to completely avoid.鈥�

An administrator for a small Illinois school district that serves mostly Hispanic children said that while it still provides help to all families 鈥� including connecting them to rental and tax-preparation assistance 鈥� staff are more guarded about publicizing their efforts. Any high-profile association between the school and these types of services can be a flag to their families鈥� immigration status.

鈥淲e鈥檙e not trying to draw attention,鈥� she said, asking that she not be identified in order to protect her students. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want any light shining on our district.鈥�

Her fears around immigration were heightened in February, she said, when she received two letters addressed to her office from the Department of Homeland Security, asking for the whereabouts of two children. 

鈥淚 ignored them,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 just pretended like it didn鈥檛 happen. I did not respond in terms of providing the information and so far, nobody has followed up.鈥�

Those early efforts took place just weeks after Trump returned to office and are among the administration鈥檚 first known attempts to target and locate undocumented children. Reports of federal agents undertaking welfare checks on young immigrants who crossed the border unaccompanied did not surface until months later. 

Some of those visits have led to . Hundreds of kids, their caretakers hauled away, have been placed in in recent months. 

Many schools, including the one in Illinois, are curbing the use of words like 鈥渄iversity鈥� and 鈥渆quity,鈥� in all their communications. They鈥檙e worried they could be accused of obstructing the law: Trump has likened the use of these terms 鈥� 鈥渋nclusion鈥� among them 鈥� to a type of he will stamp out by withholding the offending group鈥檚 .   

These schools and advocacy organizations are also barring staff from participating in protests or rallies related to immigration 鈥� or student detainment. 

And they said school-sponsored events, like a normally well-attended spring family night for the parents of English learners, have been nearly empty 鈥� or worse, cancelled 鈥� since Trump took office and immigrants avoid large gatherings.

Catherine Lhamon, executive director of The at the University of California, Berkeley, argued that now is not the time to retreat. Lhamon, the head of the Education Department鈥檚 civil rights division during both the Obama and Biden administrations, said efforts to avoid Trump鈥檚 dragnet have proven futile. 

“The impulse to keep your head down and hope that you will escape notice has been demonstrably ineffective during the first months of the Trump administration,鈥� she said. 鈥淔ulfilling your mission, doing the things that took you to this work, standing for your principles, that鈥檚 what each of us should do.”

Lhamon said, too, that discouraging staff from speaking out publicly in defense of their students erodes the bond between the two. 

鈥淚t also strikes at the core component of schooling, that is to teach people how to think critically, how to question authority,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hat is the function of schooling. Curtailing that is a mistake.鈥�

And while Trump has threatened Harvard University with the loss of its 501(c)(3) status, the Nonprofit Alliance notes his , although House Republicans are . 

Whether Trump鈥檚 threats are idle or actual, their impact has changed how immigrant-focused entities operate. 

Barbara Marler, a long-time educator-turned-consultant in Illinois, has worked with newcomer students for decades. She鈥檚 now offering school districts and other education-focused clients the option of combing through their records to find and erase any DEI-related terms an AI bot could flag as troublesome. 

Such wording could trigger Freedom of Information requests that Marler described as 鈥渘efarious鈥� and one school administrator, already inundated by them, deemed harassment.

鈥淣ever, in my career of over 40 years, have I felt the need to do this,鈥� said Marler, adding that a majority of school districts in vocal, right-leaning communities feel compelled to adopt these precautions. 鈥淭hey want to do right by their [English learners], but are worried that legal challenges would bankrupt them in the worst-case scenario 鈥� or board meeting harassment would be triggered in the best-case scenario.鈥�

Alejandra V谩zquez Baur, a fellow at The Century Foundation, a progressive think tank, and director of the notes most of the people who work for organizations that serve immigrants want to draw attention to children and families who’ve historically been cast aside.

鈥淲e know exactly what it feels like to feel ostracized by a system that was not built for us,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e come into this work to amend that. And so the reality of the situation at this moment is heartbreaking. We do not join these fields to mince our words and hide our intentions.鈥�

Some groups, including those that operate inside immigrant-friendly states or cities, with big budgets and robust legal defense, might feel emboldened to push back, she said. But small organizations, particularly those run by immigrants, who might themselves be undocumented or whose staff have mixed status, can鈥檛 afford that risk. 

Trump himself was forced to close his own 501(c)(3), a private foundation established in 1987, as part of a 2018 after his family was found to have used money earmarked for charity to further the president鈥檚 . Trump, who was $2 million in damages, called the investigation 鈥渉arassment.鈥� 

Antero Godina Garcia, professor at Stanford University鈥檚 Graduate School of Education, said even a public retreat in name only by those groups that serve immigrants marks a loss for the community. He worries that it will shrink these organizations鈥� reach and the families they assist will have fewer places where their identities are recognized and affirmed.

鈥淚t is not just less services and opportunities for these communities, but also a broader erosion of how individuals can see themselves as valued within the social fabric of this country,鈥� he said.  

But the man who works for the organization serving undocumented youth, who voiced concern about preserving its tax-exempt status, said it’s difficult to determine what types of comments or activities are considered over the line by the Trump administration. 

鈥淚t gets complicated because things that we think are normal and are legal, such as offering know-your-rights training, the administration could easily perceive that as obstructing their policies, making them hostile to us,鈥� he said. 

As for the written footprint, Marler, who has attended numerous conferences on how best to serve multilingual learners, has observed a telling shift in the types of in-class translating applications marketed to teachers. These tools were long promoted for their ability to keep records, allowing educators to go back and examine communications over time to learn more about students and families. 

Now, Marler said, those same companies are marketing privacy. 

鈥淥ne of their top-selling points was there was no record of the material that was translated,鈥� she said 鈥� so communications couldn鈥檛 be subpoenaed or subjected to public records requests. 鈥淣ow, that is their sales point.鈥�