Skip to main content

‘There was a lot of fear’: Central Valley immigration raids drive up absences in schools, study finds

Immigration raids in California’s Central Valley earlier this year caused enough fear to keep nearly a quarter of the students in five districts home from school, according to a report released Monday by Stanford University.

The study evaluated daily student attendance in the districts over three school years and found a 22% increase in absences after immigration raids in the region in January and February.

Local experts react to President Trump's possible immigration policy change

President Donald Trump has acknowledged that immigration raids are impacting the agriculture business, stating that "our farmers are being hurt badly." Trump noted that many farm workers, who have been employed for years, are not citizens but have proven to be valuable. "We're gonna have to do something about that," he said.

Bains bill would create school funding waiver for immigration raids

Federal immigration raids could be added to the list of reasons schools can cite when seeking attendance-based funding if a bill from Assemblywoman Dr. Jasmeet Bains is signed into law. 

Under the bill from Bains, D-Delano, schools that see a decline in attendance following an immigration enforcement action could still receive funding as they would in the event of other outstanding circumstances.