Local News

‘A lot of work will need to be done’: Schools thread the needle of fear around immigration

by Itzel Andrea Luna, Bay City News March 5, 2025March 4, 2025

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: California schools have long been a place of refuge from federal immigration enforcement. But it is a challenging new landscape for districts across the state as they work to maintain relationships with immigrant families, who increasingly fear for their safety in schools following President Donald Trump’s series of executive orders related to deportation. (Photo illustration by Glenn Gehlke/Local News Matters. Image by U.S. Marshals Service/Flickr, CC0)

FAVIOLA AMBRIZ WORKS with preschool children in Oxnard and received frantic calls from parents 15 minutes before school started one day last month. ICE agents had been spotted near the school — news that spread rapidly through the local radio station.

Ambriz called as many parents as she could, informing them about possible Immigration and Customs Enforcement presence nearby.

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