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As young people and their families are celebrating graduations, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been ramping up enforcement across the country. One new tactic: arresting teenage students.
Marcelo, a member of his high school volleyball team and the school band, who has attended Milford, Massachusetts schools since he was 7. Ximena, a 19-year-old college student in Georgia who was brought to the United States when she was 4. Two New York City high schoolers in the process of seeking asylum. A Connecticut student just days before his high school graduation.
These young people are among those swept up in ICE’s ever-expanding net.
Their arrests did not happen on school property. Instead, ICE arrested Marcelo on his way to volleyball practice. ICE took Ximena after local police pulled over the wrong car during a traffic stop. ICE arrested the New York City high schoolers when they appeared for immigration court hearings. And they arrested the Connecticut student at a regularly scheduled check-indays before he was supposed to graduate.
But even though ICE did not show up at their schools, their school communities were left reeling. Marcelo was supposed to play with the school band at graduation—instead, after their graduation ceremony, the Milford community held a rally demanding his release. The Bronx high school attended by Dylan, one of the arrested students, launched a letter-writing campaign that yielded hundreds of handwritten notes of support. And Ximena’s conservative Georgia community rallied around her after she was sent to an ICE detention center.
These schools are not alone. While May and June are supposed to be a time for families and students to celebrate academic accomplishments, ICE raids have separated families and left some afraid to attend these celebrations. In Los Angeles, where ICE has launched a dragnet, the LA Unified School District put in place new protective measures. Many families have nevertheless still opted to skip graduation and schools are streaming ceremonies for those who feel safer at home.
Of the students arrested, some are still in immigration detention. Dylan is detained at Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania, hundreds of miles from his home and school. ICE sent the Connecticut student all the way to Texas.
But Ximena and Marcelo were both eventually released on bond—though only after Ximena spent weeks at Stewart Detention Center, a facility known for mistreatment and medical neglect. They have been using their experience to speak out and advocate for others, including Ximena’s father, who remains detained at Stewart. Marcelo told NBC audiences, “I was seven years old when my visa expired. What could I have possibly done about that?”
Ximena told the Senate Judiciary Committee:
“Being shackled at the wrist, waist, and ankles—that is something I will never forget. It was dehumanizing. And what’s worse is knowing that millions of others have experienced and will continue to experience the same trauma.”
Marcelo and Ximena could not benefit from the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative, because they came to the United States after the cutoff date for eligibility and court orders have prevented its expansion.
As the Trump administration uses ever more draconian measures in its efforts to effectuate mass deportations, it is inevitable that more young people—including young Dreamers who have long considered the United States their home—will face arrest, detention, and deportation to countries they do not know.
FILED UNDER: Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Trump administration
