Undocumented children and adults carry a level of uncertainty and worry every day — and the burden has only intensified since the election of President Trump and the anti-immigrant sentiment and policies that have followed.
The Trump Administration's 2017 decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program has put recipients — and those eligible to enroll — on a precarious tilt-a-whirl as they await court decisions, contend with renewed fears of deportation, and wait to see if the program reopens.
For the more than 1 million undocumented students now in K–12 and college classrooms, and the more than 5 million children with at least one undocumented parent, this moment of anxiety requires a special kind of support. Caring teachers can help, through often-simple gestures and actions that can have deep significance.