School Counselors See Rising Trauma Linked to Immigration Enforcement

A rise in post-traumatic stress disorder diagnoses. Young children clinging to teachers in classrooms. School absences that turn into drops in enrollment as families leave town, and sometimes the country.

These are among the mental health effects school counselors, therapists, and researchers say they are seeing nationwide as immigration enforcement activity has intensified in the country’s interior over the last year.

In places like St. Paul, Minn., where large-scale immigration operations began before winter break, and reportedly ended this month according to officials, students spoke to counselors about their fears of going to school when their families might not be home when they got back. In January and February, students had to sometimes have recess inside because U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents parked in school pickup lines, said Sue Arvidson, a counselor on special assignment with the St. Paul school district.

“We cannot always promise that our schools are safe places,” she said.

Creating a sense of safety and belonging for all students is crucial for student wellbeing and academic success, counselors say.

In years prior, counselors serving immigrant student populations have had to, at times, address concerns stemming from fear of immigration enforcement. But now the frequency of enforcement activity, the shift in who gets detained—including legal residents and U.S. citizens—and the pervasive social media broadcasting of immigration enforcement have affected the mental health of more students, including those without immigrant relatives.

“Our whole community is experiencing trauma,” Arvidson said.

Mental health effects manifest in various ways

In places like Los Angeles, Chicago, and the Twin Cities, where the presence and activities of hundreds or even thousands of federal officers sparked fear and anxiety among residents, students have been acutely affected.

Counselors in the St. Paul district have shared with Arvidson the various ways students’ basic needs and daily stability have been disrupted.

Loud whistles from neighbors alerting residents on different city blocks within neighborhoods to agents’ presence kept students up at night, disrupting their sleep. Families that were too afraid to leave their homes ran out of food. Some families faced eviction due to unpaid rent after families were too afraid to go to work and lost income.

The St. Paul district, like the neighboring Minneapolis schools, offered temporary virtual learning to students who didn’t show up to school because of fear of immigration enforcement. As a result, students had to adjust to working with new teachers depending on whether they were online or in person. Those changes knocked students’ off their routines—from knowing which students they would sit next to in class to understanding teachers’ expectations, Arvidson said.

Students express their emotions in a variety of ways, she added. In young children, it can come out in behavioral concerns and withdrawal. Among other students, their eating patterns may change. Some become clingier in their interactions with adults.

In Bowling Green, Ky., students are showing signs of depression, social isolation, and are becoming disengaged, said Janet Rodriguez, a school-based therapist who works with the district.

Many of the students Rodriguez works with are immigrants and refugees who have experienced poverty, violence, and other upheaval in their home country.

“These sweet babies are already coming into our building traumatized,” she said.

Educators nationally are reporting some of these mental health concerns in all students, not just those from immigrant households, said Sophia Rodriguez, an associate professor of educational leadership and policy studies at New York University, Steinhardt.

Heightening operations nationally are further exacerbating these concerns.

Rodriguez studied the experiences of undocumented youth in the South in 2017 under the first Trump administration. It was common for families in communities she studied to hear about an immigration raid once every six to eight months, Rodriguez said. Now that she’s doing research on a school district in the mid-Atlantic, there’s a sighting of immigration agents almost every day.

“There is a larger disruption because of that frequency,” Rodriguez said. “There’s more spread of the fear. There’s more spread of the worry.”

Counselors play a role of creating a sense of belonging

While counselors are generally trained to support students’ social and emotional wellness, academic improvement, and college and career readiness, many of them don’t have expertise in navigating topics related to immigration.

Many counselors don’t feel equipped to work effectively with new immigrant students, often due to language barriers, Arvidson said.

“There’s a lack of understanding in some cases of, where did they come from, what trauma was experienced before they came here,” she said. “And there’s probably a lack of understanding of, what is the immigration process, what does a green card mean.”

Regardless of whether counselors are working in areas where there are extensive immigration enforcement operations underway, Arvidson, who is also a certified trainer with the American School Counselor Association, recommends that they work to better understand the experiences of immigrant students and families are going through by reaching out to experts in their school buildings.

“We all have our skill sets,” Arvidson said, “and the best professionals are the ones who are able to recognize that they’re not good at everything.”

Schools can also work with community partners to provide counselors with training on how to work with immigrant families, said Alma Lopez, a counselor at Livingston Middle School, and the 2022 ASCA school counselor of the year.

Schools cannot ask families and students about their immigration status, since it could dissaude undocumented families from enrolling their children in school, which would defy the 1982 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Plyler v. Doe that established these students’ right to a free, public education as legal precedent. And
students may not always seek out help on their own. It’s why Lopez recommends that counselors and educators take the initiative in supporting them, through steps such as making resources available in highly visible places on campus such as know-your-rights cards, often produced by legal aid groups that cover what to do in the event of an interaction with federal law enforcement.

Rodriguez in Kentucky also cautions counselors about making assurances to students they can’t keep about how immigration enforcement will affect them and their families.

“I can’t promise my clients and students that this isn’t going to impact [them]” Rodriguez said, “I can’t promise that they won’t be deported.”

Her advice to counselors is to help students and families struggling with anxiety over deportation by preparing them for worst-case scenarios. That could mean that encouraging families to establish an emergency contact in the event parents or guardians are detained and students are still in school. Such planning can help students and families feel like they have some control over their situation, she said.

Even as counselors and educators increasingly take on the work of addressing the mental health effects of immigration enforcement activity on students, experts say it’s important for adults to take care of themselves, as well.

Rodriguez at NYU heard from several teachers that they’ve volunteered their time to help get supplies to families hiding in their homes because they care about their students and want them to feel safe. That work takes an emotional toll.

Arvidson reminds educators and counselors alike that it’s important to share the workload during these stressful times.

“You are not singing a solo. You’re part of a choir. You can take a breath. The rest of the choir will keep singing,” she said. “Set some boundaries for yourself, and go back to the basics of our own wellbeing.”