‘I’m really scared’: As immigrant students worry, advocates ask Philly School District for more protections

School is a haven for the high school senior, a strong student with a college scholarship already secured. But these days, she sometimes feels frightened to attend.

“I’m really scared, not for me, but for my parents,” said the young woman, a 12th grader in the Philadelphia School District. She asked that her name be withheld because she fears for her security. “I’m scared that one day, I’ll get home and someone will tell me my parents were detained.”

The fears of the young woman and thousands of students and families like her are at the heart of advocates’ and some teachers’ calls for the district to bolster its protections for newcomer families as President Donald Trump’s administration plans to deport millions of undocumented immigrants.

A number of community members plan to bring concerns to the school board Thursday night; a petition is also circulating with a similar call, with support from hundreds, including some elected officials.

On Wednesday, Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. said he was requiring all district staff to complete a 30-minute course in “Safe and Welcoming Schools” to reinforce district practices and positions.

A key concern in Philadelphia and schools across the country is a new federal policy that allows immigration enforcement at sensitive locations like schools and churches, where such action had previously been banned.

Denver public schools this month sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security over that change. Philadelphia has not gone that far, but officials have said they will honor their sanctuary schools policy, which commits school staff to shield immigrant students unless a judicial warrant is presented.

In passing that sanctuary schools policy in 2021, the Philadelphia School District also promised training for staff and emotional support for immigrant students.

Watlington has said the district remains committed “to creating safe, welcoming spaces for our students and families, in alignment with the U.S. Constitution, Pennsylvania state law, and in the spirit of the Board of Education’s Welcoming Sanctuary Schools Resolution.”

The district has also assembled an “immigrant and refugee toolkit” for schools, compiling resources to help staff support students and families. Officials earlier this school year announced with great fanfare that for the first time in a decade, the district’s enrollment is rising; that’s due, in part, to a rise in immigrant students.

But some staff say the school-level messaging around what to do if ICE were to enter a Philadelphia school has, to date, been mixed. And some schools have canceled “know your rights” trainings for immigrant youth and families planned by staff but administered by outside organizations. Those sessions previously had been conducted without incident, others indicate.

“The training is inadequate, and there’s still conflicting information,” said Erika Guadalupe Núñez, executive director of the immigrant rights group Juntos. “We had a teacher tell us, ‘My principal said that ICE can come into a school.’ The district is discouraging teachers from collaborating with outside partners, closing doors that should be opened during this critical time by denying staff requests for know-your-rights trainings for parents and students.”

Núñez said that the mandatory training announced Wednesday was a good step but that more is needed.

Community voices helped, she said, and it won’t stop.

“They’re feeling the pressure,” Núñez said. “But we want and deserve more.”

HIAS Pennsylvania has long provided support and trainings for immigrant families in district schools: For a time, it had a contract with the school system to do so. But even after the formal, paid pact expired, the nonprofit has continued its work.

The organization is still providing trainings at Furness High School in South Philadelphia, where more than half the students are English language learners. Typically, about 40 people would attend its trainings, held both in Spanish and English, said Stephanie Lubert, a lawyer who manages HIAS Pennsylvania’s immigrant youth advocacy work.

Two hundred people attended the most recent sessions at Furness, Lubert said. But other schools have backed out.

“There is a real need, but there’s a lot of uncertainty,” Lubert said. “So many schools are reaching out. I’ve had a few where we have things on the calendar, but the teachers are feeling a little uncomfortable, because they feel like they’re getting unclear messaging, and they don’t want to get in trouble. It’s frustrating; there are more roadblocks now than there were in the past.”

Lubert applauded the resources the district has compiled online but said they have little value if not well-communicated or widely used, and if they’re available only in English. And time, she said, is of the essence.

Among HIAS’ Pennsylvania’s clients, she said, “there’s a lot of fear. We’re getting asked questions by kids, ‘What if ICE pulls a gun?’ ‘What if ICE chases you?’ There’s a lot of fear, a lot of misinformation,” Lubert said.

Kristina Moon, a lawyer with the Education Law Center, agreed.

“The district needs to be actively talking about sanctuary and defending and protecting immigrant newcomers,” Moon said. “A child was threatened with deportation by a principal. We can’t wait for something horrible to happen before we respond.”

The stakes for families are high, say advocates and the 12th grade student.

“I barely see my Hispanic friends because they are not going that often into school, they are scared of the situation,” she said. Staff at some schools with significant numbers of immigrant students have said attendance has slipped since immigration enforcement efforts increased.

For a time, the student’s father, who works in construction, and her mother, who runs a business from home, were scared to leave the house altogether; her mother wept when she removed the flag of their home country from the family car.

The student, who has a citizenship application pending, said she feels supported by her school and teachers, but she knows that not every school is as welcoming.

One of her former teachers gave the student a card she keeps with her, information about what she can and cannot do if ever confronted by federal agents. She got an extra to give to her brother.

“I want him to know that he doesn’t have to speak to anyone if he doesn’t want to,” the student said. “He doesn’t have to give any information; he doesn’t have to show his papers.”