The Chicago Metropolitan Area is home to one of the largest immigrant populations in the country. Over the last four years, the region has experienced an influx of foreign-born migrants, leading to thousands of new students enrolling in its public schools. Schools reported several difficulties in supporting newcomer students to adjust while managing diverse student needs in the classroom. Moreover, supporting immigrant-origin youth, specifically undocumented and newcomer students, has become increasingly difficult under the second Trump administration. Heightened immigration enforcement and mass deportations have had a disruptive impact on immigrant communities in the Chicagoland region, affecting student attendance and engagement. This thesis draws on interviews with administrators, teachers, and social workers to examine how staff make sense of undocumented and newcomer statuses, and the effect the political environment has had on their school-wide and individual practices. Based on these interviews, staff members decenter legal status to mitigate its effects on students in schools while also tasking themselves with remaining visible as trusted adults. However, the federal administration's stance on immigration has required significant improvisation and coordination between adults, revealing both strengths and gaps in institutional structures. Ultimately, school staff members navigate this political environment by leveraging their local and legal knowledge, empathy, and racial-ethnic identities to support their students. School staff are well-positioned to mitigate barriers to education among their undocumented and newcomer students, but this requires institutions to provide the structural support and resources that sustain their efforts in the long term.
Ximena Valverde Betancourt (Mon,) studied this question.