ICE presence in LA curtails public school enrollment

In public school districts across the country, the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown has led to a stark decline in student enrollment. In particular, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) saw 7,000 fewer students than expected to start the school year last fall.

In its most recent annual benchmark for determining school staffing and resources, LAUSD reflected a 4.02% decrease in enrollment for 2025-26 compared to the previous year. They also reported this year’s enrollment is 1.79% lower than their projections developed during the budgeting process.

The number of “newcomer” students in LAUSD has consistently decreased over the last few years. In LAUSD, “newcomers” are students who have been in a U.S. school for three years or less, were born outside the United States (including Puerto Rico) and are identified as English Learners. This term refers to their education status, not their immigration status.

An LAUSD spokesperson told Annenberg Media that the district’s newcomer enrollment has been steadily declining over the past three years, dropping from 21,997 students (5.2% of the population) in 2023-24 to 17,342 students (4.4%) in 2025-26. This decrease of 4,655 students resulted in a 0.8% reduction in their percentage of the student body.

However, immigration is not the only factor in declining enrollment rates. An LAUSD spokesperson explained, “Enrollment continues to reflect a long-term downward trend observed across large urban districts in California and nationwide. Multiple factors contribute to these shifts, including declining birth rates, changes in housing and economic conditions, and student mobility trends.“

“These declines reflect a climate of fear and instability created by ongoing immigration crackdowns, which disrupt family stability, housing and mobility,” LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said in an email statement to Annenberg Media. “When families are afraid to be seen, or when they cannot afford to remain in their communities, they are less likely to enroll, reenroll, or stay in public schools.

LAUSD is the second-largest public school district in the nation and serves an overwhelmingly minority student body that is 73.8% Hispanic or Latino, according to the California Department of Education.

In June, LAUSD reaffirmed the status of schools as sanctuary spaces and advocated on behalf of equal legal protections for students regardless of immigration status.

“As the daughter of immigrants and an advocate for justice, I stand firmly against the criminalization of our communities. Our schools must be places of safety and hope — not fear,” Board Vice President Rocío Rivas said in a press release in June.

By declaring themselves as a sanctuary space under the law, law enforcement and immigration agents are not allowed to enter a school without the authorization of a subpoena or another court document.

“Our responsibility is to ensure every child – regardless of where they were born – feels safe in our schools. We will continue to stand firmly with our immigrant communities and protect every student’s right to a welcoming, stable, and supportive education,” wrote Carvalho in the statement.

These policies are important in creating a secure educational environment, according to a USC education expert.

“L.A. Unified has done an amazing job of reaching out to families and really letting them know what their rights are under the law,” said Maria G. Ott, a professor of clinical education at USC’s Rossier School of Education. “They’ve made it clear that they will do whatever they can within the law to protect students while they’re in school.”

“We want kids to be in school. We want them to get their education. We want them to feel safe,” said Ott.

L.A. is far from the only city struggling to maintain its immigrant students.

The Miami Herald reported that Miami-Dade public schools lost 5,300 new immigrant students compared to last year. According to ABC News, Denver Public Schools enrolled only 400 new-to-county students, compared to 1,500 the year prior.

“I think the fear is that personal information might be accessible to individuals whose job is to identify individuals who are not here legally,” said Ott. “That sense of everything I trusted and counted on, I can’t trust and count on at this moment in time–and so exacerbates the fear.”

Higher education has also seen a decline in students who have immigrated to the U.S., in large part due to the increased level of difficulty in acquiring student visas. The number of newly enrolled foreign students in U.S. universities dropped by 17% this fall, according to the Institute of International Education’s Open Doors Report.

The effect of these declines goes beyond enrollment figures.

“It’s traumatic for kids. It’s an issue of their emotional well-being to have the fear of going to school because of the possibility of something happening to them if they’re not here legally,” said Ott. “Then the loss of academic time. These are young people who could be contributing to society in positive ways…but they’re losing out on precious academic time.”